For websites, good usability is a matter of survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. For intranets and applications the question is one of productivity. In many organisations employees waste inordinate amounts of time searching for and assimilating the information they need to do their jobs. This lost time has a real, tangible value so ROI for designing internal systems with User Experience in mind, and spending some time testing and improving the usability of the system, is pretty compelling. As people with a strong User Experience focus we don’t need to be convinced of the value of good usability, but for many companies who are thinking of revamping their site, intranet or portal it isn’t quite so clear cut. Presented by Chris Bush, www.wearesigma.com and Paul Rouke, www.prwd.co.uk

1. Usability, What’s the use? Paul Rouke Head of Usability, PRWD Christopher Bush UX and Design Consultant, Sigma

3. Sigma Clients include

5. PRWD clients include

7. We all know how important it is to be considerate of what people want… especially when buying presents… …look what can happen when we ’ re not!

10. How does a good experience improve the effectiveness of your site?

13. “ Our in house UX team spent weeks wireframing, designing, prototyping and usability testing a whole raft of new features that our customers had told us they wanted over the years” James Hart, eCommerce Director @ ASOS An example of what they do

15. Transparency

16. ASOS and their usable shopping basket

17. Waitrose

18. A great design doesn’t make something usable

19. At first glance these navigation categories seem sensible…

20. … but it’s not how we shop offline. You wouldn't go to a Waitrose store and look for the cupboard aisles

21. In the cupboard section we have…

22. Food, which makes sense…

23. Drink, which would also makes sense… If it didn’t also exist in the main groceries section.

24. But, Home and Garden, Pets and Baby and Child… … in a cupboard?

25. Notice the Books and Newspapers section?

26. because of the truncating of the title. It looks like you get cigarettes from the Books and Newspapers section

27. Waitrose only delivers if you spend over £50.

28. But its not obvious The minimum order text is too small

29. You cant click the dimmed check out button, And if you miss the text

30. You don’t know why it wont let you order.

31. A good solution would be to have a small alert when you click the button

32. This would allow you to get some important feedback when you need it.

33. Turning the negative around Its not all bad though.

34. Waitrose have been very open about the bugs and issues.

35. They have taken on lots of feedback from users…

36. … and post regular updates on the site to allow their users see and follow their fixes and progress

37. Its all about being transparent, open and honest with your users.

38. Mobile experiences

39. Mobile experiences Mobile commerce is a small but growing market

40. Mobile experiences 8% of shoppers completed purchases over Christmas 2010 survey of 10,000 shoppers by ForeSee Results, Jan 2011

41. Common uses of mobile So what is everyone doing?

42. Common uses of mobile Location based services

43. Common uses of mobile Small purchases & Micro payments

44. Common uses of mobile Product research & reviews

45. Common uses of mobile Product comparison

46. Amazon

47. Amazon Simple UI

48. Amazon Simple & predictable UI

49. Amazon Focus on browsing

50. Core navigation at foot of page Amazon

51. Amazon Lots of supporting information

52. Case studies

53. Case studies Lakeland

57. “ It’s good information and a quick way of finding things. I like it” Mega menus make browsing easy “ Product grouping is good, and there's not too much of it, it's all there, not needing to scroll. I prefer to click and go to another page than scroll so this is good”

58. “ If I'm looking for something that I've never owned before, I love it if there are customer reviews” “ I like them, its better to hear off someone who's already got one rather than the person who's selling it” “ Customer reviews are good, if people are boring enough to write them , I wouldn't. I would definitely read for expensive items” Users love rating & reviews

59. “ I do expect to see videos now - they have them with clothes now. I wouldn't have expected it in the past but you see it a lot more so for a new website I'd definitely expect it and do find it really helpful” “ I like the video, it's giving me information that isn't in the description” Video demonstrations help the user

60. “ Free postage over £50 is a good thing, it would make me buy more just to not pay the postage” “ Free delivery is a big plus, even if it's incorporated within the price – I’m happy for it to be incorporated into the price” Cost of delivery can be a deal breaker

63. Which form will visitors use most?

64. 14% 86% Which form do visitors use most?

65. What is the sales conversion rate?

66. What is the sales conversion rate? 17%

67. What is the sales conversion rate? 17% 55%

69. Case studies Brand Central

71. Features sweet spot Graph from http://headrush.typepad.com/ Something became apparent very quickly

72. Features sweet spot Graph from http://headrush.typepad.com/ Too many, or overly complicated features confuse users

73. Features sweet spot Graph from http://headrush.typepad.com/ Users tend to blame themselves. See the ‘I suck’?

74. Features sweet spot Graph from http://headrush.typepad.com/ That REALLY happens

75. Features sweet spot Graph from http://headrush.typepad.com/ Don’t be afraid to remove features if it benefits more of your users.

77. Case studies Brand Central feedback "At last – everything a creative agency could possibly need for each IHG brand, in one place and always up to date – genius!!! ” Hotcake marketing

78. Case studies Brand Central feedback "Brand Central has provided a quicker than average route to market and excellent resource for our hotels, enabling them to access new artwork designs which can be harnessed for far reaching marketing activity that in turn converts to commercial gain within our estate. ”

79. Citizens Advice

80. The old site focused on getting users to advice content and contacts

82. The new site built on that need

83. With clearer calls to action and improved navigation

84. It also had clearer information about the charities activities and community work

85. Looking for advice This is an eye tracking study

86. Looking for advice The task was to find advice on a predefined topic

87. Looking for advice See how the two users look at different things for the same task

88. Looking for advice The user on the left uses the main navigation and doesn’t notice the big blue buttons

89. Looking for advice While the user on the right skips the main navigation and tends to focus on the buttons and images

90. Looking for advice We used this information to refine our designs

91. Looking for advice To ensure that the multiple routes to information are easily found by the various user types

92. Usability for lead generation

93. Original version Impact Vs Content?

94. Test version A Which test won?

95. Original v Test version A - RESULTS + 9% Which test won?

97. Buttons, don’t you just love ‘em! Use button size, style and colour to focus the user and increase conversions

98. Test version A Which test won?

99. Test version B Which test won?

100. How do Ultralase do this?

101. Who What Why Lets do it How do Ultralase do this?

102. Test version A v Test version B - RESULTS + 66% Which test won?

104. The use of usability… Understand users Inform design Eliminate problems Improve service & profitability Reach more people

105. Thank you. Questions?

106. Office: 0161 228 0585 Email: paulrouke @ prwd.co.uk Web: http://www.prwd.co.uk PRWD 22 Lever Street Manchester M1 1EA Sigma PRWD Office: 01625 427718 Email: Hello @ wearesigma.com Web: http://www.wearesigma.com Sigma Ropewalks, Newton street Macclesfield SK11 6QJ Mobile: 07739 745 126 @WeAreSigma @PRWD / @paulrouke

107. Usability articles, Case studies, resources & best practice available here: PRWD http :// blog.prwd.co.uk/usability/UX101 Sigma http:// www.wearesigma.com/blog