Usability 101

The Questions

• > What is UX, anyway?
• > How do I make sure I end up with a good user experience?
• > Why do I care?
• > Don't my developers do this already?
• > Can't I just provide training instead?
• > When do we start?

The Info

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

> What is UX, anyway?

There are several stock definitions of user experience. Some call it “the degree of mismatch between a system's behavior and the user's expectations of that behavior.” The User Experience Network says it's “the quality of experience a person has when interacting with a specific design.” Yet another definition is “The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users can achieve tasks in a particular environment of a product.”

At 4ORCE, we think of it as all of the above – the entirety of a customer's experience with you. With your product. With your advertising. With your employees. All of it.

> How do I make sure I end up with a good user experience?

There are many established techniques that can be employed to help ensure that your end users have a positive experience. The beauty of these techniques is that they can be applied to just about anything—a transactional website, an informational website, a mobile device, a touch-screen kiosk, a paper statement or bill, or even your brick-and-mortar store, if you have one.

> Why do I care?

Beyond the altruistic reasons of doing the right thing and being kind to your customers, the bottom line is having a good user experience will increase your bottom line. Whether the end result is a reduction in costs (development costs and call/help center costs are two biggies), an increase in employee productivity (in the case of well-designed internal tools), or an increase in revenue (for transactional products), the benefits of these activities have been shown to dramatically outshine their costs.

Office Depot's recent redesign is a good example. They performed extensive user research activities throughout their redesign process. The new site, launched April 2009, has achieved*:

• > 17% reduction in bounce rate
• > 10% increase in conversions
• > 18% drop in cart abandonment
• > 2% increase in average order value

Imagine a 10% increase in conversions. For even the smallest business, that could mean tens of thousands of dollars in increased revenue. And the money you spend on user research in the beginning isn't even extra money. It's money you'll save by eliminating or minimizing extensive wheel spinning and last-minute design and development changes.

> Don't my developers do this already?

Probably not. Or if they do, they don't want to. Developers are usually well-intentioned, but they really like to, you know…develop and get lost in the world of objects, array and the like. Just as you wouldn't want an accountant to do your recruiting and hiring or a HR manager doing your web development, you don't really want your developers doing your user experience research, information architecture and interaction design.

> Can't I just provide training instead?

You sure could, but it wouldn't be as effective. A good guideline is that if something needs a label, it's not designed well. Even the most complex applications shouldn't need extensive help copy or training for people to be able to use them. (And certainly, regular consumers can't be expected to reliably consult online help or tutorials.)

> When do we start?

The short answer: Now. It doesn't matter where you are in the design and development cycle – chances are there is a usability technique you can employ right now to improve your final product.

The long answer: As soon as possible. The earlier and more often you begin employing these techniques, the higher your return on investment and the better for the quality of your final product.

*Source