Here's the thing most people get wrong: improving UX doesn't start with a redesign. It starts with figuring out what's actually broken right now.
There's always a temptation to throw the whole interface out and start fresh. Resist that. The biggest improvements usually come from fixing a handful of specific pain points, not from a ground-up rebuild.
Find the friction first
Look at where people are dropping off. Check your analytics. Is there a step in your signup flow where you lose half your users? That's your starting point, not a new colour palette.
Support tickets are another goldmine. If your support team keeps answering the same question over and over, that's not a documentation problem. That's a UX problem wearing a disguise.
Cut things
Seriously. The single most effective UX improvement is usually removing stuff. That form with 10 fields? See what happens when you cut it to 5. That onboarding wizard with 7 steps? Try 3. Every extra thing on screen is one more thing competing for your user's attention, and attention is finite.
Nobody ever complained that a product was too simple to use.
Make the next step obvious
At any point in your interface, the user should be able to answer the question "what do I do now?" without thinking about it. If they have to hunt for the next button, or choose between too many options, you've lost momentum. One clear action per screen beats five options every time.
Then do it again
UX isn't a project with a finish line. It's a loop. Make a change, see if it helped, make another change. The teams that consistently ship great experiences aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who keep paying attention after launch.