Usability, your secret to more customers.

Monday 7/26/10 time 9:10 AM - Lisa Duddington

This weeks post is by Lisa Duddington who owns keepitusable, a web design and usability service provider. We have worked with Lisa before and totally recommend her services. Lisa is also an established blogger and you can read more of her thoughts on www.usabilitygal.com.

What is usability?

Usability is all about making things easy to use. Think about your everyday life... if something is easy to use doesnʼt it make you want to use it more? Donʼt you recommend it  to others? Itʼs exactly the same with websites. This is why as much as 95% of potential sales can be lost by a site that has poor usability.

Why will it increase my customers?

Youʼre effectively removing all the barriers to your end goal, be it purchasing your product or just contacting you about your services. A site can contain many barriers. Each barrier gives the user a reason to leave your site. We live in a fast paced world and people visiting your site donʼt have the time or inclination to stick around and try to figure out where the information they want is on your site. Thatʼs why you have to think like your user and design for them so the information and actions theyʼre most likely to want to take are immediately obvious to them. As Steve Krug famously says “Donʼt make me think!”

Ok, so what information do they want to know?

Your home page is your most important page. There are four things you need to make very clear to the user at this point (you only have their attention for 5 seconds before they decide to stay or leave!).

This is what they want to know:

Ensure your logo is not only on the page (left hand side is recommended, see example 1 below) but also readable - so many logos are impressive visually but fail when readers are asked what the company name is. For your branding, readability should be highly important.

bad example:

This is a real example of a logo I saw on a business card (and website) just a couple of days ago. Can you work out what the logo reads? This actually reads JME Graphic Design. Do you see how the brand name is completely lost?

2. "What can I do here?"

This is where you explain to the user via your strap line, good copywrite and pictures what your site does.

example:

Moogoʼs logo is easy to read, it is clear what their site does and they use persuasive copywrite - people respond to things that are low cost, quick and easy to do ʻin only 3 steps!ʼ

3. "Why is this site better than all the rest?"

Give the user a reason why they should use your site. Have you got a USP (unique selling point)? Hereʼs where you need to show it off! Check out the ʻwhatʼs in it for meʼ section in the next example.

4. ʻWhere can I go next?ʼ

Once youʼve got the user hooked, you need to reel them into your site to read more. The best way to do this is to use good ʻcall-to-actionsʼ (CTA). Call-to-actions are buttons that stand out on your page and draw the user to press them. You can use colour, persuasive wording, positioning, white space and size to draw attention to your CTAs.

example:

On the keepitusable homepage, our call-to-action is very clearly the contrasting, big green button to ʻread moreʼ as we want to direct site visitors to the special offer we currently have on usability reviews. Note how it also sits above the fold, even on my small 13 inch screen. Placement is important.

This sounds great, where can i find out more?

You can see statistics and read more about all the benefits of usability on keepitusable. You can also check out my blog where I often rant about poor usability! I also recommend reading Steve Krugʼs book Donʼt make me think!. If you think your website could benefit from a usability review or if you just want to ask me a question, email me at lisa@keepitusable.com.