Usability indicators directly affect the conversion of an Internet resource. In the online sphere, this criterion is important, since it directly affects the likelihood of a site's "survival" on the Internet among peers and competitors.
What does usability mean for a website?
If the site is difficult to use, users will close it. If the main page does not show the scope of the site or the data that the visitor can use, the result will be the same - the site will be closed.
Also, if the site is poorly adapted to the audience, the user will not be able to navigate on its pages and will close it in the first seconds. There can be many situations, but one thing unites them - a poor usability indicator, in which the site is not only difficult to navigate, but also does not provide informational benefit to the visitor.
Usability Evaluation Criteria
You can assess the usability of a website using five criteria:
- Orientation - how easy is it for site visitors to perform the simplest actions on it (whether ads, add-ons, auto-play and "pop-ups" interfere with navigating to other pages). That is, the fewer distracting elements on the site pages, the faster the information is needed and the more likely the user will visit the site again.
- Efficiency - the speed with which the user navigates the Internet resource and performs the actions for which he came here.
- Memorability is how remembered the site is and how quickly the user will act on it after a long absence.
- Errors - the number of software, design and interface errors, methods of eliminating them, etc.
- Satisfaction - subjective "satisfaction" of the user, emotional perception of the Internet resource.
At the same time, the last criterion is quite complex and important, since it is based on the parameters of the information usefulness of the site, the quality of its design and navigation, as well as the convenience of displaying the entire resource as a whole.
When to start working on your website usability
In fact, this is a permanent procedure that needs to be dealt with almost on the first day of the Internet resource. Many experts noted that usability is the criterion that should be one of the main criteria at all stages of website development, so it is worth testing it quickly and thoroughly. Here are just a few rules and conditions that allow you to get a correct assessment of usability at different stages of creating your Internet resource:
- Testing your old site before testing its new version. This simple action will help the owner identify the strengths and weaknesses of the previous version so that nothing is overlooked while creating the new version.
- Assessment of Internet resources of competing companies. This is a free and fairly effective method of obtaining competitive data to make your own site equal to or better than competing sites.
- Conducting field research to understand exactly how the user will behave on the site.
- Creation of printed on paper versions of the site and their provision to potential visitors. It is important to remember here that the less resources and time spent on adjusting and editing the interface, the more time will be on the edits after all other testing.
- Search for those adjustments that will make the level of usability better. Usability testing should be carried out after each change in its code, interface and functionality.
- Checking the final version of the resource for compliance with the usability criteria.
- Re-testing before the final launch of the site.
At the same time, it is important not to postpone website usability testing until the last moment, because most of the serious and minor errors will be difficult to correct at the finish line due to the inconsistency between the opinion of the designer, programmer, site goals, scripts and resource positioning on the Internet.
How to improve usability: work with the site and users
There is some basis for working with the site, which is important to know. By sticking to a few rules, you can minimize your usability testing work. You can also test and define a strategy for improving usability with the help of users. Both options will be presented below.
Working with the site
- Menu. It should be well-developed and easy to navigate. If there is any important information, you should put it on a separate page and put links on the main page.
- Correct linking. The presence of linking on the site will allow both to increase the position of the site in the search results and to improve the factors of user behavior.
- Bread crumbs. They are usually presented in the form of a horizontal strip at the top of the site. Breadcrumbs are an indication of the page on which the user is located (equivalent to the path to a folder on a computer).
- Site `s map. The presence of a sitemap will allow you to organically show all sections, categories and pages located on the site.
- Important information. For greater convenience, you should display the most important information on the main page or on the visible part of the site (side or top).
Important: users read the text from left to right, so their attention is concentrated mainly on the left half of the site and on those elements that are located there.
Working with the audience
Another way is to conduct an audit of your Internet resource and obtain an assessment of usability. There are 3 main components of site testing:
- Gathering a group in which there should be an overwhelming number of representatives of the target audience.
- Issuance of tasks to a group, consisting in performing the simplest and most primitive actions on the site.
- Observing the actions of each individual member of the group, analyzing what came out and what did not work out.
It is important that the observer sits quietly and does not draw attention to himself with movements or advice. Any advice or help instantly introduces other directions of action into the head, which causes incorrect test results to appear.
Usability specialist work
First and foremost, a usability specialist is a consultant trying to find agreement between users and the needs of customers. While completing tasks, a usability specialist can do the following:
- Conducting research on users and their opinions to identify user requirements for the site.
- Collecting business and customer requirements for the site.
- Assessment of the site interface, if available (in this case, a specialist can make an assessment both independently and with the involvement of experts).
- Creation of layouts (if there is no website) that can fully satisfy the requirements of the customer and users.
- Provide guidance on navigation structure, text and terminology.
Nevertheless, as noted above, the ultimate success of an Internet resource will depend on both the convenience of the chosen interface and the quality of the site. A conscientious and honest specialist will be able to report all noticed problems, even if these problems have nothing to do with the interface.
When enrolling a usability specialist in the staff, his main task will be not only to optimize the site, but also to establish working interaction between employees and divisions of the company. This is part of a well-chosen workflow improvement strategy.
