Most businesses racing to adopt AI are running into the same problem: it’s all starting to sound the same.
At the Six & Flow Summit, Sarah McDevitt from HubSpot called this out brilliantly. She dubbed it the machine trap—a state where everything is automated, efficient… and completely forgettable.
"AI is making us all the same." Sarah McDevitt, HubSpot
Her solution? Relational intelligence — and it’s the same principle behind how we approach UX.
Relational intelligence is about building trust, listening well, responding with empathy, and creating meaning.
In UX terms: it’s the difference between a website that speaks at you, and one that genuinely helps and delights.
UX is how businesses stand out in an AI world
You can’t out-AI your competitors anymore. The playing field’s levelling fast. Tools are accessible. Workflows are shared. Everyone’s automating, but the experience is what makes people choose you.
UX (User Experience) is your differentiator. It’s where people feel seen, understood, and supported. Sarah outlined five traits of relational intelligence, and here's how we bake those traits into your UX.
Awareness
This is about reading the room — digitally.
When a business lacks awareness, you can feel it. Users hit confusing flows. They get stuck in loops. They’re nudged toward actions they’re not ready to take. It’s the difference between “Here’s what we want you to do” and “Here’s what you might actually need.”
When we design a user journey, we don’t make assumptions about what users want. We look for friction points, signals of hesitation, and patterns of behaviour that reveal where something’s off, often subtly.
In our UX workshops, we start by mapping the current experience: where users land, where they drop off, what paths they follow, and where uncertainty creeps in. We use “How Might We” questions to reframe problems with curiosity — e.g. How might we reduce hesitation at the pricing stage? or How might we build more trust before the contact form?
We also run sailboat exercises — a collaborative workshop tool that surfaces what's helping users move forward (the wind in the sails) and what's holding them back (anchors or obstacles in the water). It’s a fast way to visualise hidden blockers and untapped accelerators. These insights directly shape how we structure, write, and design.
Presence
Good UX listens.
It adapts to what users are doing and what they need in that moment. That might look like progressive disclosure (only revealing the next step when it’s relevant) or CTAs that shift based on behaviour.
We combine this with CRM logic: where is this person in the journey? Are we nudging or overwhelming? We map this into the site using HubSpot tools: smart copy, behavioural triggers, lifecycle-aware CTAs.
Most marketing emails are opened once. Fewer are remembered. A truly present experience lands because it meets the user where they are rather than where we wish they were.
Empathic structuring
People don’t make decisions in straight lines.
We map the emotional state of users at each stage of their journey: What are they thinking? Fearing? Expecting? What don’t they know yet? And what’s going unsaid?
This helps us design flows that reflect not just what users should do next, but what they’re actually ready to do.
Because friction isn’t just UX, it’s often emotion.
Connection capital
Every interaction builds (or breaks) trust.
We define connection capital as the emotional equity you build through every touchpoint. It’s the residue of the experience: how people feel about you after they click away.
UX design isn’t just about one screen. It’s about the thread that connects every moment from first scroll to sales call to support email. Is it consistent? Is it coherent? Is it building trust?
In practice, this means no generic handovers between sales and marketing. No tone-deaf follow-ups. We audit the entire journey and build bridges where needed by connecting CRM logic with content timing, and ensuring the tone on your site matches the tone in your meetings.
Human differentiation
This is where UX shines.
In a world flooded with AI-written content, pre-trained prompts, and template workflows, most digital experiences are starting to blur together. Brands are becoming AI beige. They are neutral, polished, forgettable.
UX is how you break out of that.
Voice. Timing. Tone. Microcopy. Navigation logic. The way a confirmation email is written. Every touchpoint are opportunities for differentiation. They’re signals that remind your users, there are real humans here, and they care.
Every UX project we run is designed to extract your unique value that goes beyond your product benefits and really shares your brand’s rhythm. That’s what turns UX from usable to unmistakable.
How we apply this at elcap
At elcap, we combine UX strategy with integrated digital and CRM systems to create customer experiences that actually feel good to use and that work better as a result.
We:
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Map user journeys with real-world signals, not assumptions
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Understand the intent behind behaviours, and design flows that match
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Build CRM strategies that don’t just track prospects—they wow them
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Use AI tools to support the human side, not replace it
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Create feedback loops that allow your system to evolve with your users
One of our SaaS clients had a clear problem: trial signups were high, but activation was low.
We used heatmaps, interviews, and session data to find the friction. Then we rebuilt their onboarding to pre-empt questions and guide decisions more naturally. Add in smarter CRM logic? They saw a 28% lift in conversions.
That’s relational intelligence in action and UX done right.
Futureproofing through design
If you want to stay ahead of the AI curve, don’t just invest in tools. Invest in how those tools make people feel.
UX is what bridges the gap between automation and experience. It’s what helps AI listen, not just execute. And it’s what will separate the businesses that scale trust from the ones that just scale output.
Schedule your UX workshop with elcap to transform your conversion rates, experience, and build growth momentum. Email: hello@elcap.agency to check availability, or complete the form below.
