|
So long as the ultimate aim of a commercial site is to sell goods or services, usability issues become more and more important. Visitors are not interested in software you used for development of a website, elegance of technical solutions or subtlety of web design. They appreciate convenience, intelligibility, attractiveness and ease to use of a website. If a site is interesting and convenient, they will return to it again and again. In the long run such visitors will become your customers. Isn't it what you wish? To keep a client you should first attract him – it is true both for online and offline business. It is usability that makes users interested and prompts them to add your website to their bookmarks.
Forrester Research states that bad usability of websites leads to loss of potential customers and, consequently, reduction of income. For instance, online shops lose about 50% of customers who just cannot find a desired good. About 40% of customers never visit a website where they have experienced inconvenience or even frustration.
Jakob Nielsen says:
- “The Internet is about usability, ... The computer industry has been able to ship difficult-to-use products because you buy first, and then you try to use it. With the Web, usability comes first, then you click to buy or become a return visitor.”
- “If your users have many questions, it's a failure of your primary site design. It becomes not so much customer support, as much as customer complaints.”
Therefore it is very important to make a site user friendly during planning of the future website and making up requirements specification. It should be convenient not only for developers, but also for future visitors and customers:
- structure of the site should be intelligible at first sight;
- a user should always clearly understand where he can find necessary information;
- the text should be reconciled with the used presentation format;
Form and content of text representation weave into unity. It is the condition that makes information convenient for a user.
The most distressing pitfall of website planning as far as usability is concerned is inability of developers to “stand on the other side of the screen”, in other words, to be in the user's boots while looking at the site. A site may seem simple and convenient for its developer who is experienced in all issues connected with Internet. At the same time this very website may be a complicated puzzle for a user.
Therefore customers and web developers are recommended to carry out the so-called “usability testing”. In this case the biggest complication is to convince the customer to include certain expenses for usability testing into the total budget of website development.
Here are the main arguments which help to convince the client of the necessity of usability testing:
A bad website will never be successful and profitable; moreover, it can spoil the reputation of its owners.
For instance, if a bank allows itself negligent and careless attitude to its own website, most of the visitors may think, that this bank will treat their money in exactly the same way.
A user friendly website will help you to gain the respect of the users of your site. On the contrary, a bad website can only shake their faith in you and your organization. Numerous researches have shown that websites developed in accord with usability rules are the most popular and have higher attendance statistics. As far as online shops are concerned usability directly influences on sales volume.
Today there are two techniques of usability testing:
- Usability testing by specialized web studios. This service is expensive enough, that is why a lot of companies prefer to refuse usability testing at all.
- Usability testing by users who belong to estimated target audience of the website.
We have already gained positive experience in this very area.
We use two kinds of usability testing:
- with the help of a paper “prototype” of the site;
- with the help of HTML layout of the site.
The main thing is to get the following information from the tester (QA engineer):
- Does he understand what he can do on this website?
- Is the structure clear for him?
- Are the symbols and functions of navigation elements clear for him?
The earlier you start testing – the better. Thus you will have more opportunities to correct and improve something during website development. And one more rule: the more frequently you perform testing – the better. Usability testing of websites which belong to your competitors is a very effective technique. It helps to prevent many mistakes at the stage of project designing.
Usability testing is carried out once more after the “release” of a website into the Internet. It is better to remove serious usability problems later than to ignore them. Besides in the course of time new problems may appear and already existing drawbacks may disappear. Habits and attitudes of users may also change.
It is very important to remember: if you neglect usability or do not want to spend time and money on usability testing, you will inevitably lose your clients. Moreover, such attitude may lead to total collapse of your online business.
TAGS
usability,
commercial website,
site structure,
usability testing,
order site,
website development prices |
web design 
