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What makes a website easy to use? What distinguishes good design from bad design? How will your customers use your website? The only way to really know is to validate the design using some type of usability study. This is the best way to ensure that your website meets the goals of your users.

So what is usability, you ask? The International Organization for Standards defines usability as, “…the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment.” In layman’s terms, usability is defined by whether or not an average person can accomplish their goals within the framework of your website. For example, if your website provides online real estate listings, can your customers quickly and easily find properties on the market in their area? Are they able to access information on square footage, lot size, schools in the area? Can they compare the listing price to other recently sold homes in the neighborhood? Do you link to digital maps where they can see the location of any given home? If your website has a high level of usability, your customers will be able to intuitively accomplish all these tasks.

Many businesses assume that usability is a given, and if they have talented designers, their websites will be automatically be user-friendly. But usability is about more than just eye-catching graphics and pleasant-looking interfaces. It’s about the essential functionality of a site. There are many important factors to consider when designing for usability, including navigation techniques, clear and consistent language, minimizing errors, and providing access to help and support. One of the most overlooked factors, however, is user profiling. Consider the real estate listing example: who would be using this site, and what kind of information do they want? Homebuyers and sellers can be grouped by age, geographic location, even socio-economic class. In all likelihood, someone looking to purchase a home will have very different needs from someone looking to buy the latest version of Grand Theft Auto. These two users would also have a very different level of comfort and abilities when it comes to using the internet. You should take these differences into consideration before beginning your design.

There are a few different types of usability studies you can use to validate the quality of your design. The most common are known as lab studies and site/field studies, where a prototype design is tested by volunteers. Focus groups and surveys also help draw feedback from users in a less formal setting. Another way to gather feedback is a heuristic review, where a prototype is reviewed by usability & design experts, who point out shortcomings and provide recommendations. These recommendations are usually given back to business and design teams and used to overcome these usability limitations.

Putting usability into practice can reap numerous benefits for your business. It has for Google, whose corporate philosophy ranks this sentiment as number one: “Focus on the user and all else will follow” (http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/tenthings.html). If your user is your first priority, you can bet that customer loyalty, name recognition, and profits will be the rewards. A usable website will give you the edge over your competitors, reduce the need for continuous redevelopment, minimize tech support phone calls and emails, and enhance your ability to serve your customers or clients. Though some businesses dismiss usability as something they cannot afford to do, the rewards to your bottom-line mean that you can’t afford to pass up the opportunities that it creates.

Friday, October 19th, 2007 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

By Haley January Eckels