Channel Dynamics
What is usability and how can we define it?
Simply put, usability is about making products and systems easier and more intuitive to use while matching them more closely to the requirements and needs of their end-users. Usability can be defined by a number of components, but most frequently we define it using the following five attributes:
User´s satisfaction: how is the user satisfied with the design?
Efficiency: how long does it take for a user to perform tasks in the interface once they are familiar with its design?
Memorability: how easy is for the user to remember the basics of the interface design after not using it for some time?
Learnability: how easy can users do their first simple tasks when they first encounter the interface?
Number of errors: how many errors do users make, how serious are the errors and how easy it is to recover from these errors?
Why is usability so important?
Basically, if you want to survive on the Internet, usability is of the essence. If visitors have trouble using your webpage, they will leave. If your homepage is not written clearly enough that your visitors can immediately see the things you are offering, they will leave. If your visitors get lost while browsing your website, they will leave as well.
Today, nobody has the time that they are willing to spend trying to understand your website. Your product or service is far from unique, so instead of trying to learn your website interface, they will simply Google their way out to your competitor´s website. There is one basic and most important law of selling online: If the users cannot find the product, they will not be able to buy it.
How to improve your usability?
While there is a number of ways to test your usability, the most useful is the following approach:
Find some users that have some knowledge of your area of interest
Ask them to do some tasks on your website
Observe their performance with the goal of identifying weak spots such as areas where they have difficulties using your website.
Typically, a group from 5 to 10 users will be enough to identify the biggest usability issues. You can always give them a couple of different website designs to test and see which performs the best. This approach is always the best due to its cost and time effectiveness.
When should you work on your usability?
Usability has an important role in each and every stage of your design process and this is why you should work on testing your usability from the very beginning. Here are some best practices on how to approach this task:
Before making any new upgrade to the interface, test your current one to identify its good and bad parts.
You can always test your competitors, as this will give you free information on what to have and what to avoid.
Make multiple prototypes of your new interface and test them thoroughly.
Refine these test results and test them in the process.
Once you decide on your new interface and implement it, test it again.
Starting your test from the day one is the best way to achieve a high-quality user experience
Some best practices on improving your website´s usability
Keep your content as concise as possible. Users have very little time and their attention span is very short. Your goal is to get to the point as quickly as possible and cut out all of the unnecessary information. Your words need to be easy to understand, common and short; same as your paragraphs and sentences.
Headings are your friend. When users look at the website, they do not see it as a whole but as chunks of information. The best strategy to follow their reading style is to break the text by using headings. Headings should be simple and concise with relevant keywords.
Help them read your website quickly. Make your words count. Visitors tend to read only the first couple of words in headings and articles so make those first words as important as possible.
Use bulleted lists and formatted text. Users tend to give more attention to those parts of content that is written in bulleted lists or formatted in bold. Consider breaking your texts into bulleted lists and use text formatting to highlight important information in bold or italic.
Give your content sufficient spacing. Spacing between letters, words and paragraphs is very important. Test your website´s typography and modify your CSS according to the results of your tests.
Use your images in a smart way. We all know that saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure all your images are relevant and support your content. Avoid stock photos and irrelevant images.
