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Usability is not sector specific

I was just interviewed by a journalist who asked if we would be focusing on specific verticals in the coming year. Whatever that means! I think she meant 'are there particular business sectors that you will be targeting'. Answer: 'No, every sector needs help'.

Most of the internet is rubbish

There are about 200,000,000 websites. Most of them are awful, badly conceived, hard to use and ugly. Our mission is to chip away at some of that by giving people simple, intuitive, elegant web tools so that this amazing invention works for them, not against them. It doesn't matter what 'vertical' they're in.

The usability business case

There is simply no justification for not improving online user experience. Not any more. The business benefits are endless but the most obvious are:

• Increased site performance & visibility in search rankings
• Increased brand perception & customer loyalty

• Higher levels of customer advocacy and recommendation

Respect users, they'll thank you

If that isn't reason enough, you'll be sending out a signal that you understand and respect your site users. Improved user experience = happier customers, and happier staff.

That's got to be the way to go hasn't it.

People told us in a user survey that they can't always find basic information such as contact details. The negative experience of poor communications channels shows that perhaps it does pay to keep in touch.

Here's what they said...

"Contact details not prominent enough on first page, over complex layout."

"Sites that do not encourage phone calls but expect you to be content to email - that really really annoys me."

"Again, response time to queries is important particularly if I'm last-minute shopping."

"Failure to provide easily accessible contact details, in particular a telephone number."

"Not being able to easily find contact details. There should be a clear link to this on every page so wherever you are on the site you don't have to navigate back to the start to find it."

"Response times to queries is a big one for me, and where images are concerned slow loading."

"Response times to queries should obviously be as fast as possible. It must be clear that I am waiting for something to be processed."

"Response time to queries."

"Response times, accessibility to communication methods with website owners, trust."

"Response time to queries are very important - even if you can't help the customer this time, be honest and say so, they may come back again especially if they felt you gave them good service last time."

"I like to be able to find contact details easily."

No interpretation needed

Focusing your efforts on the user journey can deliver huge returns. From our user research comments the implications are clear.

What they said...

"Poor search facilities, buggy websites, baskets which don't keep your stuff in them, poor performance."

"Shopping basket options are good so not having these can be irritating. I might want to change my mind at the checkout when I realise how much I've spent!"

"The slot for filling in a credit card number usually doesn't tell you whether or not to include gaps - and it sometimes matters. It's irritating to guess one way or the other and then have to adjust it when it doesn't work."

"Having to register fairly early in the process. I sometimes abandon websites because I don't want to get that involved at that stage of my enquiries."

"Too much jargon. Websites that dont clearly state how to return an item or when the item will be delivered."

"Getting to the last part of a payment and the system falls over! Sites that ask me for the same info every time I visit - even though I am a regular. Slow/no response to email queries. Not knowing where the company is - ie: need the reassurance that there are real people behind it."

"Losing data when a transaction didn't work, having to type an address rather than a look up a postcode, that sort of thing."

"I think a confirmation page for the order that you can print and a confirmation e-mail are required - I want an acknowledgement that they have received an order sent from them."

"I want to be able to go back and review/change my order without losing all the details I have put in."

"Needing to refresh the page, having to login, having to supply too many personal details or create a password or username."

"When it takes you more than one attempt to complete your details - fields missing not marked as essential - feeling I am filling in information that is not essential for the financial transaction but for marketing purposes. I never bother using upper case on online forms and would expect the site to put it automatically on the postage label."

"Hate it when instructions on delivery address vs registered credit card address is not clear - you get to end of form and have to start again."

"We hate having to create an account with identifier and password just to find out what someone is selling."

"Anything that slows down the choosing process."

"Slowness, technical problems ie: going though all the entering of my details then get an error."

"I don't like music or sound effects on commerce sites except to confirm a click has been made."

"What features or functions would irritate you?"

The answers are helping us build up a clear picture of the frustrations that users experience online.

Out in front

What is defining the internet now is the user experience. As people better understand what to expect from a website they start to define good and bad user experience more effectively. And they become very clear about what they do and don't like.

Devil in the detail

As the comments from our user surveys show it's the details of the experience that matter. This can have a deep influence, not only on the immediate impressions and the decisions made whilst browsing, but also on the more lasting perceptions of the brand.

Stand out

Many successful online ventures have put user experience at the forefront of their business models. A good user experience is a clear differentiator in an overcrowded market, one that can pay dividends in longer term brand appreciation as well as in immediate sales.

Digging deeper

User research helps us understand the needs and expectations of a certain set of users for specific projects but also keeps us abreast of the changing ways people behave online. By listening to what people say, we can make informed choices and decisions when designing user centred websites.

Comments about website design

Comments about shopping

Comments about everything

We asked a simple question and the responses were overwhelming. So rather than harp on about our thoughts on usability, we think it's best to just publish people's views unabridged.

"What features or functions would irritate you?"

"Too much technical information. I am not interested in internal organisation management info."

"Flash and any other similar technologies only as a support - not as navigation (in the case of Flash)."

"Keep the website response FAST. Very fast."

"Make it very obvious where one is in the website. You know the drill - lower the cost of going down a wrong alley. Provide lots of cues in different forms, and multiple routes to the same information to allow for the different ways in which different people think. Make the website easy to index and thus be searched via the main search engines."

"Don't force me to watch movies of any nature."

"Provide alternative means of consuming/accessing the same information. Make it quick to consume, or longer if I have time, at my choice. "

"Don't take the easy way out and provide only (it often seems) pod casts for everything (like the BBC)."

"A busy interface - small type - non-inclusive design - any non-user-initiated movement / advertisements - graphical text - flashy menu system - colours used with poor contrast - JavaScript/AJAX used for the sake of it, and not to add to the user's experience."

"This is a website that will be used by a broad cross-section of the community. It's going to have to be built knowing that it will be used by colour blind, blind, deaf, dyslexic etc people, and should be designed and built with that in mind."

"Fancy fonts and scripts annoy me. Tiny font is difficult for many website users. I like colour, provided the important stuff I wish to print comes out in black and white. Difficult as it may be, depending upon your sponsor, I would work hard at a website that clearly knows the boundaries between the project management/progress and the political spin. So, no content-free text please! Performance matters that are intended for internal organizational accountability would not appear on the website."

"The biggest problem I have with websites is the finding the bits I want! Simplicity is key, there's no point having an encyclopaedic website if the negotiation of it is labyrinthine."

"Flash intros, whilst being very pretty can quickly become frustrating, despite the ubiquitous 'skip' option."

"Difficult to navigate, difficult to find key contact details (including phone numbers and addresses if desired instead of a web form)"

"Any clutter - and clutter is anything that I can't personalise, any obvious self-glorification, and any corporate w•••"

"All the usual, links that don't work, annoying graphics, news that is out of date, too many layers of information etc etc "