# Transcript: Beyond Beautiful: A Data-Driven Framework for Design ROI **Date:** March 18, 2026 · 10:00 PM **Session:** [Beyond Beautiful: A Data-Driven Framework for Design ROI](/sessions/2026-03-18/pp1162395-beyond-beautiful-a-data-driven-framework-for-design-roi) ## Summary James Damron and Pranshu Khanna from Merkle present the Design Delta framework, a quantitative method for measuring design's business impact. The framework multiplies three components—problem value, design influence, and execution quality—to calculate the financial ROI of design decisions, helping designers defend budgets with data rather than opinions. ## Topics `design roi` · `business value` · `design metrics` · `quantifying design` · `design framework` · `conversion optimization` · `data-driven design` · `design investment` ## Key Takeaways 1. Design value comes from what design changes, not from design itself—measure the impact (the 'fire that burns') rather than the input. 2. The Design Delta framework uses three multiplied components: problem value (how big is the issue), design influence (how much can design move the needle), and execution quality (how well it's built and tested). 3. Multiplication punishes weakness—if any component scores zero (brilliant design for a non-problem, huge problem with no design influence, or untested execution), the entire value becomes zero. 4. Real-world example: A fashion retailer's $12M checkout abandonment problem was solved with a $450K redesign investment, achieving 64% of max opportunity ($7.7M impact) and delivering 1,607% ROI. 5. Without numbers, design is just an opinion—and opinions lose to spreadsheets in budget meetings. Directionally rigorous models beat perfect precision. ## Full Transcript To have you here. Just going to start off really briefly here with the name of our presentation. Beyond beautiful the design Delta. Think is pretty appropriate for design conference, right? So we tried to get a little inspirational. And then we went to the second part, a data driven framework for design ROI, it's like somebody opened up an Excel spreadsheet during a poetry reading or something. So you know, it's a lot better than our first draft. Our first title was just math, and then the second draft was like, please don't leave. So thanks for being here. And if you're wondering why two people whose entire jobs is to create ROI models are speaking at a design conference, we wondered the same thing. So here's the contradiction we see everywhere. Everyone agrees that design matters, right? Everyone. Design drives differentiation. It builds brands. It creates great experiences. No one argues with them until budgets are discussed. So step into the mind design theater for me, just a moment, right? Act One, you're sitting in a meeting with the C suite and hearing design matters. Design is who we are, right? And get the slow play, yes. So good, right. Act Two, the budget meeting. Can we just use the existing template? People believe in lots of things, sustainability, work, life balance, design, UAVs, until someone asks what it costs, then everybody suddenly becomes very interested in the existing template. So quick introduction about us. Can you hear me? Quick introduction about us. Hi, I'm Pranshu. This is James Damron. We're both. We work in a group called Business Value architecture right at Merkle. Yes, we know that is an aggressively consultant name. Our job is to answer one question, How much money will this make? That's it. That's our entire job. There's also a lot of syllables to say. Is this worth it? And we know walking into a design conference and saying Our job is to put dollar values on things can feel a little threatening, but don't worry, we love design. We just also love spreadsheets a little too much. We're complicated people. We contain multitudes. And between the two of us, I understand the math and I understand the audience who hates the math. So now we have to admit something, right? So for a long time we were trying to measure the value of design itself. And that sounds reasonable, sounds logical, right, until we realize something we were wrong. And as consultants, we don't say that lightly. There were forms approvals, several Microsoft Teams threads, yeah, and we were just wrong, right? So we kept trying to focus on the value of design as a category. And that's not unlike a chef trying to prove to you that flavor matters. Of course it matters, right? But we really need to focus on what matters now here with this need, this problem. Not that food's a problem, but honestly, the part of the problem is that measuring the impact of design is fuzzy. I hope that you can agree. I know many of your designers here. You know design adjacent is tough. You know? I mean, it's not something that's necessarily objective and always quantifiable. We're in the business of quantifying the subjective, the less quantifiable stuff. And the thing is, like when the budget conversation starts, numbers start flying around, and nobody can really put a number to design, so kind of pushing at a disadvantage. And if there is no number, then design is simply just an opinion, and opinion loses to numbers every time. So just a little history lesson here. History is full of designs that almost didn't happen Apple retail stores, people said nobody would buy computers in showrooms like these. Slack enterprise buyers said it was too playful. Dyson banks refused loans. Retailers said no, but once they succeeded, everyone said, of course, that worked. And that's a really dangerous phrase in business, of course, right? I mean, everybody thinks they know is obvious, until you actually prove it out, until they see the reality. Does it feel real to you? I mean, does us? So here's the shift in changing how we think about design value. Design value doesn't come from design itself. Comes from what design changes. So one way to think about it is we've been like trying to measure a fire, right? How do you measure fire? Right? We need to measure with the fire burns. That's that's what we decided to do. That's how we change your mindset. And we call that change delta. And yes, we are aware it sounds like a fraternity Delta, Gamma, design, theta, whatever. I do want you to know that rush week starts tomorrow, bros, so... So the design Delta comes from three things. Number one comes from problem value. How big is that fire trying to put out? Number two, design influence. How much will design actually move the needle, right? Number three is execution quality, which is ultimately, you know, how well can it actually be built? I'm sure a lot of you are geniuses, experienced designers, professionals, right? But there's always going to be something in your way. And yes, I know that. You know, we reduced down to a few different things here, making the model more complicated. This kind of Miami, sorry, we reduced down to three. You're welcome. And I also know it was like a rubric, kind of, sorry, but, you know, bit of simple. It was a lot more complex before. Let's start with problem value, right? First component, how big is the problem you're trying to solve? At the bottom number one is the small crack in the wall isn't going but the building isn't falling. Right? It's not the worst thing in the world. It's kind of like, you know, not to minimize the importance design, but it's like mismatched icons of your app or your SaaS platform, right? But at the top is infrastructural, right? To use the foundation metaphor, something's wrong with foundation, right? And something can be catastrophic. I mean, I think an example could be like Ticketmaster 23 you know, Taylor Swift, ticket sales stuff crashed. Congress got involved, right? It's not a brand problem. That's an existential problem. And everything else on this scale kind of lives in between a one and five, right? You got strategic problems if you're a four, meaningful gaps at a three, friction points at a two. The question isn't whether we fix it, right? The question is, how big is that crack in your wall? The second component here is design influence, right? The photo on the slide is the mixing board. A sound engineer has the ability to push every single fader. Have total control on how a track is created and mastered. Sometimes design has that degree of control. That would be a five right. Think Duolingo. How many people have used that afternoon here? Right? Every tap, every street notification, every animation. That's a design decision, right? That helps keep you engaged in coming back to that app over and over. Right? Design owns that behavior at the other extreme, a one right? Imagine, instead of having this complex mixing board, you're recording directly into a cassette recorder. For those who remember cassettes, that would be a one, right? And most design work lives in the middle, right. You have influence, but you don't have full control, right? You can just hand off beautiful work, right? Can be a beautiful site, design, screenplay, you know the demo, right? But then production or dev or the engineers come back and they say, We can't build back, right? Does it feel real? The third and final, good comment, we execute quality here, the image here is a potter at the wheel, right? It's the same clay. It's the same hands. But you know the difference between a rough draft of something and something beautiful? That experience really has to come through the touch, feeling and shaping. The outcome there, that would be a five right at the bottom of our scale. Imagine, you know, there's products that you have, a piece of software that you're just simply shipping on instinct, right? Imagine it's Monday morning. Your founder had a crazy idea over the weekend. No testing, no data. Sometimes it works. Usually doesn't, though. Just to give another example of a good for data optimized for five think Netflix, right? We've all used the Netflix app, right? Every thumbnail that you see in Netflix when you open up an app has been AB tested. The rope order has been meticulously thought out. The image framing has been considered the title card size as well. All of that goes into having a optimal experience for the users to keep you coming back for more. And that's a five, right? Because it's been tested into oblivion and constantly optimizing. It's not because the design isn't necessarily better. I think Netflix people here to love your work breaks up, but it's because they never stop learning right? They're using the data right, and then, in the end, the data is going to help you win that, that battle, that debate. And what's cool, what's important here is that in the design, Delta, execution quality is the lever that you control as designers. So we combine the three components, right? We have problem value, design influence, execution quality, and we multiply them. And the reason why addition, addition is very forgiving of weakness. Multiplication punishes it. And the meme that I have my mind, I might be dating myself, but remember that meme with Kevin Chang? I think high school senior photo, he's like, it's not enough that I should succeed, others must fail. That's, that's multiplication. So just remember Kevin, right? The reason why, right, if you're doing this, you're thinking, oh, you know, I have a zero, right? So the way it manifested this is like, let's say you have a brilliant design that's facing a non problem zero, right? Let's say you have a huge problem. But design is just in the periphery. Has no ability touch it. It's a zero, right, and then finally, right, like, if you just ship it untested, just like, you know, shoot from the hip zero, that zero multiplies doubt. So we're trying to bring some reality, a little bit of quantitative structure, to stuff that can sometimes feel a little fuzzy, giving you something to equip you in that debate. All of those multiplied together, essentially makes design delta equal the maximum financial opportunity that we can attribute to design, right? And as we just talked about, the equation above, right, impacting the design and the change ultimately that's necessary is a team sport, right? Different people own different aspects of this, this triangle right from from from developers and engineers to helping create, make the design realistic and designers actually setting the tone, and then ultimately, from leaders and key stakeholders and executives to make sure they're all aligned and sponsored with the vision. Right. Change is a team support. But why should you trust us? Right? Like I think I mentioned before, we create ROI models for a living, right? And I'll tell you this, when we create models, we don't pretend to be perfectly precise, right? That would be fake math, right? Instead, we aim for something different, we try to be directionally rigorous. Make sure we have strong assumptions underlying all of our models, and making sure that all of our logic is transparent, so that we can share with our key stakeholders. Here, we really focus on this process of modeling, testing, refining and improving. That's because in the real world, you don't always have all the information, especially when we work with information. And my implants just job, you know, I think the analogy I like to give is that a lot of our clients will give us the jigsaw puzzle that's 1000 pieces, but, like, we have 500 and, you know, we just happen to be pretty good paintbrush. And the goal is not to be like perfectly, right, but to be less wrong, right? And that's how you have to have think about this, right? You can't have that ultimate precision. You can't predict it. It's really about minimizing the negative scenarios. Let's make this real, right? We talk a lot of abstract, theoretical framework stuff, but I think examples are way better, right? So we're going to take you through a story. It's an E commerce retailer, and the names are hidden to protect the innocent. And it's a story about designers who were screaming to their pillows. Here we have a client. They're a fashion and apparel retailer one $80 million in revenue, and they were bleeding check off. Abandonment was costing 12 million a year, right? Real problem you face anything similar, it's real, right? So the design team, of course, knew this immediately, and you know, it's because designers always know where the pain is. But finance didn't believe the number, which is another meaning that everyone here has experienced. So the designers like, Oh, this is killing conversion. And finance is like, Oh, really? And like, I don't see it. And designers like, Yeah, have you, like, tried this site? Then finance is like, no, but we have the spreadsheet over here, right? So instead of just showing one example, we built a calculator, because that's what we do, right? Which means we're about to do some math live at a design conference. Please remain calm. All right, so this is their calculator we created called the design Delta, right? This is intend to be an interactive tool. Let's see if I can get my mouse over to my other screen. Oh, there it is, right? So James just kind of set the stage for us here. I populated some of those, those inputs into our first step here in the model, where we have a fashion apparel company that works is in the E commerce space, 100 $80 million manualized revenue. You know, we're seeking to evolve their design, to make it something more effective, to help improve conversion. Right? This retailers currently has a four step checkout process. You know, there's four steps working for a customer upon entering the web page to get to final checkout. That's resulting in a 2.1% conversion rate. We've worked with the designers here, and they put forth a proposed redesign here that shrinks those four steps down to two right? We also want to help increase conversion and make it easier for folks to realize that you know to how to pay. So we're going to add a big fat Apple Pay button to make that even easier to understand and progress indicators along the way to show how close they are to getting to the end of their journey. Here, we've worked with designers to help scope out what the investment could be. In this case, we've, we've quantified it to be 450k for this example, and based on the, you know, the conversion rates that we think we could achieve, based on, you know, research benchmarks and all of the things that we've done, we believe this opportunity is close to $12 million right? If we're able to fix these design problems, we can increase conversion, which will lead to that much of an opportunity and max. So that's the setup, right? And let's get into the scoring part of it, right? So this is that same equation we were walking through. Live with you, right? So this is the same three attributes here. Apologize, is a little small on the screen here, but we've got problem value here on the left, design influence in the middle, and execution quality on the right here, right? So just scroll down here. So problem value, right? Again, this is like, how big is that fire you're trying to put out? How severe is this business problem design solves. And these are kind of dynamic sliders here. So right now we have to testify. But you know, if it was a one, essentially, you're saying that this problem is it's a minor annoyance. Users mention it, but it's not blocking business goals all the way to a five, right, which is that critical crisis, the business is bleeding revenue because of this. I'll skip design influence for a second and go jump to execution quality, right? So this is how well are we actually able to execute on this design right? We can go all the way from a one, which is, hey, this is shipped on end state, no user input required. We just, we felt good. Let's do it live right, all the way up to a five, right, which is, hey, we're doing ongoing testing. We've got a live iteration engine that's giving us real time feedback so that we can see how we're doing it in real time. Here, let's go a little bit deeper to design influence, right? So this is how responsive your user is to this type of design change. I've got a little self calculator thing here, just to kind of help us, help walk us through how we would attribute this score. And you know, the first thing for you trying to figure out the design influence is going to have the impact that you hope it'll have is step one for you, design the score, right? I've got a few different buyer personas here. You can see them here, price conscious shoppers, first time buyers, oil customers, mobile first users, enterprise buyers and impulse buyers. Let's say for the scenario, we're seeking to not only appeal to price conscious shoppers, maybe we want to make sure we convert some first time buyers as well. Why not some impulse buyers too? So I've selected those. Our tool here automatically kind of predicts some of the things that we might want to factor into our design influence for you know, we're the things that we're really trying to accomplish with this design is to help remove or reduce friction, right for those intended users that we selected on the previous page here to drive higher utility so they can do more on through the design that we're trying to elevate an emotional connection here, make it something so appealing that they want to keep coming back And and and they have trust in our brand and what our website is communicating and conveying. And then the last one is novelty, right? Surprise and delight. How are we able to really move the needle in terms of relative to our market and our other competitors? And are we? Are we? Are we adding some spice in this space? So after selecting that, we've got our design influence calculated here. It's automatically that we can modify some of these sliders too in real time to kind of to adjust them and fine tune them if we think that our predicted score has not landed. But we'll stick with this for now, and we'll go back to our main screen here and do your call. James talked about the value of multiplication and how it's how it's more useful than addition in this case. So we've multiplied all these three aspects of our design Delta framework to get to a score of 80, right? Well, what does that all mean? Let's, let's bring this home and go with our financial impact. One note, crunch you. Yes. So we did that kind of nested dolls for design influence. That is out of appreciation and respect for the fact that many of you have your own approaches or methodology to determine design influence. This is just super simplifying for the sake of our presentation. We know that there are way more sophisticated methods totally. So after we kind of arrived in our design Delta score, well, how do we translate this financial dollars so that we can get those finance stakeholders that CFOs approval and making on this design change happen right? So based on the score of 80 relative to the maximum score of our of our system here, we believe that this project reached 64% of the financial opportunity at stake here. And we know, based on the setup, that we believe there's 20 $12 million dollars of total opportunity. Simply multiplying the two gets the $7.7 million of projected design impact. But like I said before, when we create our models, we don't spit out one number and drop the mic and leave the room, right that that will never fly in the rooms of our clients, right? So we always make sure that we communicate us a scenario of possible outcomes here. In this case, we've got conservative base case and optimistic if we're able to possibly impact design in a more meaningful and effective way. What that really means is that we can, we can unlock different levels of ROI as we go from left to right here. But As James said, this is, this is, this is a simplified example for us to kind of walk through our methodology and our framework, to kind of show what it could really mean to help communicate, to help help arm you all in how you're talking about financial impacts related to design evolution. That's our little walk through here. I'm going to go back to our presentation here. All right, so let's recap, because math want you to try to remember some of it. So our opportunity, Max opportunity, was $12 million the company was bleeding 12 million from conversion problem. We determined that the design delta is 80 out of 125 which means that 64% of that $12 million opportunity is attributable directly to design. So next time you go to a budget meeting and you're joking for you know, for budget to solve a problem, if you use the design Delta to say, hey, you know this $12 million problem, well, design is fixing 64% of it, right? And the great thing is, right? So the design team work with engineering scoping down 450k investment. When you look at the the the impact this directly attributable borrow up to ROI, it comes down to 1,607% it's not small, right? And that's the moment where the people are really, oh yeah, design really, really matters. So we love showing this to all of you. It was really nice to, you know, give you a peek to our world. Just want to open it up. I know the content is a little bit short, but would love if you know Q and A, also, if you're brave, you want to volunteer. We love to you know you. --- *Source: stt · Language: en · Model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5* [← Back to session](/sessions/2026-03-18/pp1162395-beyond-beautiful-a-data-driven-framework-for-design-roi)