I mentor at the Siftech accellerator in Jerusalem, and I’m always looking to help startups be more UX-focused. Startups that are founded by technology, business and marketing people always think about their products the same way – handling things very differently than a UX designer would. I sit down with startups and they always explain the problem, and then how their solution solves the problem. There’s always one question I ask, the first question I ask, which will get them to think about things differently.

The problem is, no matter how much you understand the problem, and no matter how great your solution is, it won’t be a good user experience until you ask yourself this one question.

So, what’s the question, you ask?!

Before embarking on trying to pitch someone your idea, or rolling out your solution to customers, always ask this one simple question:

“How does what you know about your customers affect your design?”

It’s not a complicated question. But if you ask yourself that, you’ll find you can do a whole lot to improve the experience. Let me give you a few examples.

Let’s start with an easy example- let’s say you service a community with a disability, where they literally cannot do certain things, such as the hot Jerusalem video messaging startup Glide. They found out that their app was being used by a huge number of deaf people. Video is so much better at communicating then texting, and members of the deaf and hard of hearing community gravitated toward the super fast and slick messaging app as a great way to communicate via sign language. After they found that out, as Jonathan Caras, CTO of Glide, told me, they started close-captioning their videos, and allowing video to be broadcast without sound (a slight technical hurdle). Improvements which their fans really appreciated.

A tailor might be an expert suit-maker, but it would be absolutely preposterous to make a suit for someone without taking some measurements first, right?? Basic user research! Even if the suit was lovingly and perfectly crafted, with all the right pockets and beautiful hand polished ivory buttons, it could look gorgeous, but it would most likely simply not fit the customer.

Another – designers love to test boundaries and we have a natural curiosity. We’re not afraid to click, tap or swipe to explore. So apps designed for me and my designer people tend to be very minimal, and may contain a bit of playfulness. They may actually sacrifice usability, lack affordance, or do away with button labels entirely. But an app geared toward a less tech-savvy, or enterprise business environment couldn’t get away with that. When designing business apps, I make sure the app teaches users along the way (what Facebook Design refers to as “Actions You Might Take”) so they know exactly what they’re about to do. One wrong click, after call, can cost a business significantly.

There’s always some way you can tailor the experience to your target market. There’s always something you can learn about your customers or users which can affect the design – even if it’s just a superficial style preference – and that can result in a better experience for your users, and a more successful company.

So ask yourself: how does what you know about your customers affect your design?