USABILITY: Wikipedia definition: A term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool Providing people an easy to use service for a need The user should know exactly where she is, and should know fairly well what’s next For an application site, giving access to start of all use-cases is critical Be available to help users (just like in a real world store, office) Allow users to easily recover from mistakes Make it easy to recover from system failures The ultimate in giving control to the user! Gives the user higher sense of control Remember what the user did last, and if appropriate, start from there – logins, passwords, recent searches, recent transactions, etc. Make things look as you want users to interact with them (affordance) If an interaction has been made simple, check if you can make it simpler! Focusing on Usability is no different than focusing on Customer Experience! And marketers ARE focused on Customer Experience It is just that Customer Experience in context of web applications has become a specialized science, and Marketers need to focus on it Usability of your systems can increase ROI. Some examples: “We want to increase the registration rate on our site from the current 3%, to 5% or above.” [Web2.0 Photo Application Site] “The average time it takes our customer service representative (CSR) to service a customer is about 8 minutes. We wish to reduce this to 6.5 minutes.” [Banking Firm] “The average time a customer stands in the queue to transact is about 4 minutes. We wish to reduce it to sub 3 minutes.” [Library] Is the end-to-end process usable? Are the different touch points usable? Lead form fill-up Call-back, calling process Application process Reaction times Information collateral Is the customer happy with the product? Do more in less time Explore more things that you have on offer

1. Website Usability Best Practices: A Marketing Perspective
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© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 1

2. Contents
 Getting familiar with usability
Making a website usable: 10 Principles
Usability, Customer Experience & ROI
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 2

3. Usability: What is it??
Wikipedia definition: A term used to denote the ease with which
people can employ a particular tool
Providing people an easy to use service for a need
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 3

4. Unusable Stuff Around Us
The audio output of
the system can take
on one of the modes
ROCK, POP or JAZZ.
How would you put
the system into one
of these output
modes?
Are “Repeat” and “Shuffle”
related?
How would you
change the band
from FM to AM?
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 4

5. Unusable Stuff Around Us
Which floor is the
lift currently on,
and what is the
Red digital panel
next stop?
(showing 1)
Green digital panel
(showing 0)
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 5

6. Unusable Stuff Around Us
Touchpad with no
audio (click), visual What would
(state of button does visually impaired
not change – color, people do?
position) or sensory
(button does not
move up or down)
feedback
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 6

7. Unusable Stuff Around Us
What does “-” What does “.”
stand for? stand for?
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 7

8. Unusable Web Applications/Sites
This is the only album I Where do you think
have. But the interface is clicking this link will take
not intelligent enough to me, anyways??
detect that.
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 8

9. Unusable Web Applications/Sites
It magically takes me to
“View & Enhance” tab! With
“My Albums” as a sub tab.
What is “Next” doing here? I
came to this screen just to
My Albums page has “View all Albums”
another sub tab called
“Albums”. What does it
denote?
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 9

10. Unusable Web Applications/Sites
What do you think will
happen if I click “Pictures”?
(Keep an eye on the “My
Albums” tab.
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 10

11. Unusable Web Applications/Sites
The tabs here disappear!!
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 11

12. Contents
Getting familiar with usability
 Making a website usable: 7 Principles
Usability, Customer Experience & ROI
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 12

13. 1. “Where Am I? Where Else Can I Go?”
The user should know exactly where she is, and should know
fairly well what’s next
Current step
Next steps
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 13

14. 1. “Where Am I? Where Else Can I Go?”
For an application site, giving access to start of all use-cases is
critical
For application sites areas such as these
need to be carefully designed
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 14

15. 2. Help the User At Every Step
Provide users contextual help
Contextual help
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 15

16. 2. Help the User At Every Step
Be available to help users (just like in a real world store, office)
24/7
customer
service
numbers
Live chat
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 16

17. 3. Be Tolerant: Allow Errors
Allow users to easily recover from mistakes
Make it easy for users to recover
from their errors
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 17

18. 3. Be Tolerant: Allow Errors
Make it easy to recover from system failures
Save buttons as intermediate steps,
or breaking long tasks into small
steps, helps
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 18

19. 3. Be Tolerant: Allow Undo
The ultimate in giving control to the user!
Undo
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 19

20. 4. Allow Users to Cancel Operations
Gives the user higher sense of control
There is no “Cancel” while
uploading files. One is not sure if
closing the window will cancel the
upload.
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 20

21. 5. Remember User Actions
Remember what the user did last, and if appropriate, start from
there – logins, passwords, recent searches, recent transactions,
etc.
Firefox offers to remember
the open tabs
Remember recent
activities
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 21

22. 6. Make Things Look As Per Their Function
Make things look as you want users to interact with them
(affordance)
The small dashes make
the scroll bar look
scrollable
The small dots afford the
mails being “pulled” and
“dragged”
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 22

23. 7. Make It Simpler. Even Simpler!
If an interaction has been made simple, check if you can make it
simpler!
Value proposition in
the headline
Simple demo of how
it works
Some more reasons,
bulleted
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 23

24. Contents
Getting familiar with usability
Making a website usable: 7 Principles
 Usability, Customer Experience & ROI
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 24

25. Usability and Customer Experience
 Focusing on Usability is no different
than focusing on Customer
Experience!
 And marketers ARE focused on
Customer Experience
 It is just that Customer Experience
in context of web applications has
All marketers want their users happy!
become a specialized science, and
Marketers need to focus on it
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 25

26. Usability and ROI
 Usability of your systems can increase
ROI. Some examples:
 “We want to increase the registration
rate on our site from the current 3%, to
5% or above.” [Web2.0 Photo
Application Site]
 “The average time it takes our customer
service representative (CSR) to service a
customer is about 8 minutes. We wish to
reduce this to 6.5 minutes.” [Banking
Firm]
 “The average time a customer stands in
the queue to transact is about 4 minutes.
We wish to reduce it to sub 3 minutes.”
[Library]
Usability gives additional ROI
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 26

27. Beyond Website: Systems Usability
Is the end-to-end process usable?
Are the different touch points usable?
 Lead form fill-up
 Call-back, calling process
 Application process
 Reaction times
 Information collateral
Is the customer happy with the product?
 Do more in less time
 Explore more things that you have on offer
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 27

28. Thank You!
© 2009 Confidential | Think Innovation 28