USABILITY, IT'S PROFITABLE!
By Nadine Ozkan, Ph.D., and Renato Cudicio, M.B.A.
"Usability: The ease with which a user can learn to operate, prepare inputs for, and interpret outputs of a computer system or component, in particular a Web interface."
Adapted from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Standard Computer Dictionary
More than ever, after the Internet bubble burst, managers must address a number of questions: Is the Web site reaching its business objectives? Is it having a positive effect on sales volume or customer loyalty? Is the company's Internet component helping to acquire greater market share or to reach new clients?
In a total reversal over the euphoria of the past, the conclusion is all too often that the Internet has not met its obligations: the profits are simply not there. But were the right questions asked? And is usability not the missing link to push the balance in the right direction?
Web ergonomy, the core of the relation to the client
The table being set, the usability contribution can be put in perspective in the renewed notion of client relationship introduced by the Web. Contrary to the other medias, the Web is "interactive", meaning that consumers are in control of what they see and don't see and their relationship with the company is a direct one. But on the Web, the cost of leaving is also nil: Since access to the Web is voluntary and free, consumers can choose to visit or not and can go from one site to another with the greatest of freedom, if not disloyalty. This factor is even more critical when you consider that Internet users who are "repeat clients" spend twice as much online than those who are new clients.
The Web therefore places the company in contact with consumers who are active, demanding and above all potentially disloyal. The Web therefore requires a unique communicational approach where the consumer's point of view is important. In an ideal world, the Web should be an opportune place of convergence between the business objectives of companies and the concerns of their clienteles.
In practice, barely four out of every ten Internet users are capable of finding relevant information on a Web site even though it is there. In the area of transactional Web site, high failure rates in the finalization of the purchase process are a symptom that the final user was forgotten somewhere along the way. Squeezed by internal business limitations and technological constraints, the promoters of a Web project are too often required to minimize the fact that the Web is a completely unique media with its own language and rules for interaction with users. In so doing, they destroy their the entire Internet investments.
Usability to increase the ROI
The goal of usability, in fact, is the maximization of the Web interaction value from the point of view of the consumers: their needs, their expectations and their satisfaction. The usability perspective is also extremely practical: the effective and real use of a Web site. Thanks to specific methods and measures, complementary to both those of marketing and computer development, the injection of usability in the design, development and evaluation of Web sites has had tangible positive effects, documented over the last ten years or so. Hence, projects designed based on the principle of User Centred Design make it possible to increase the probability and volume of a return on investment for a Web site (including Intranets) by, either, increasing online sales, increasing the size of the audience and the site's visibility; by creating a loyal target audience; or by reducing the use of help other than online (ex. recourse to call centres or technical centres). Even better, properly thought-out usability reduces the costs and risks associated site development and maintenance. In the case of Intranets, it has been proven that a high level of usability increases the efficiency and work satisfaction of employees and reduces their training time.
In concrete terms, usability will serve on a site to:
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the interfaces
• Improve navigation, the information structure and the graphic presentation
• Establish typical user profiles for the target internet-user clientele
• Position the site in relation to its competitors based on user perspective
• Determine, based on real, objective and quantifiable data, how and why users use the site
• Understand the Web needs and expectations of the target Internet-user clientele
• Evaluate design ideas before they are firmly encoded
• Better target the Web presence by converging business objectives and the needs of Internet users
One click is enough...
On the Web, one click is enough to win… or lose a client. The acquisition cost for a new client, even over the Web, being quite high, no company can afford the luxury of wasting an Internet user. In the obstacle race to develop a winning Web site, usability is the ultimate test, for it determines the quality of the Web interface, which, although potentially small, will in the end be the only visible part of the investments made in both marketing and technology. And in that regard, usability is definitely very profitable.
© multiple-media.com 2003
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