Jakob Nielsen, “the guru of web page usability”, wrote an interesting column a while back entitled, Usability 101: Introduction to Usability, that spoke about the fundamentals of usability and why it matters. Usability, as Nielsen defines it, is a “quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use.” Usability also refers to “methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.”
This is an important reminder for the Enterprise Network. It’s sometimes easy to take for granted that the most crucial aspect of a website is the ability for users to navigate through it and accomplish their goals. If a website is difficult to use, fails to explain clearly who the company is and what they do, or if it’s content isn’t easy to read, there is a good chance the user will leave and not come back.
As Nielsen so clearly states, “If a user cannot find the product, they cannot buy the product either.”
Nielsen lists 3 key components to improving usability:
- Get hold of some representative users, such as home buyers and sellers.
- Have the users perform representative tasks with the design.
- Observe what the users do, where they succeed, and where they are having problems with the user interface. Be quiet and let the users do the talking.
By focusing on the consumer, we can address these above concerns in an effort to deliver what users want, and in the process, create happy, loyal, return customers. When we prioritize the needs and wants of our users, in the end we guarantee a higher success rate and higher ROI on any website efforts.
To read more from Nielsen’s column, sign up for the bi-weekly newsletter, and to read about some misconceptions about usability, go to Jakob Niesen’s Alertbox.
