When creating a website, you MUST keep usability in mind from day 1. In today’s day and age, usability is an absolute necessity for survival on the Internet . And why is this? Well, if your website is difficult to use, people will leave and go elsewhere. If your homepage fails to clearly state what you do and what you offer, people will leave. If users get lost while using your website, they will leave. If users cannot find the information that they want when they want it, they will leave. If your customers cannot find your product or service, they will not buy it. So, if they are not buying from you…where do you think they are buying from? I’ll let you take a guess on that one.
While I was in college, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a group of students to take part in a usability analysis of a major Fortune 200 truck rental corporation. We were given the task of analyzing a section of their website and then presenting how to make it more “usable” and easier for their customers to rent trucks (close more sales). So, not only was this a usability analysis project, it was also a project to optimize their selling or landing page – it was a marketing project in disguise.
What we were extremely shocked about when we saw their website, was that there was absolutely no “selling language” on the page whatsoever. Additionally, there were no blatant sections on the webpage that even begun to lead the user to a rental. So, over the 4 months we complied all kinds of data, redesigned the webpage, conducted a number of live usability testing sessions, and wrote up a 50-page document telling them what they needed to know. We even suggested they create a cartoon character for their brand. Ha ha.
And when we were finished, we presented our findings and solutions at a special dinner with the corporation executives and IT department in attendance. You can imagine what this was like, getting up in front of the big wigs of a Fortune 200 company, and then telling them…in so many words…that their website sucks, and that there was absolutely no thought behind what they currently had live on the website. But, I guess that they knew that, else we would not have been doing what we were doing. And there we were, 20-year-old college students telling 40-50 year olds how to make more money and essentially close more sales.
Our presentation lasted about 45 minutes…about 15 minutes completely ripping on the current webpage and about 30 minutes explaining (and showing – we had a PowerPoint) how to fix their problems. Well, you can imagine the stare downs we got from their designers and web developers after the dinner. It came as a “shock and awe” type of deal. (They were all shocked, and sat there in awe…with their mouths on the floor.) There was no clapping or congratulations after the presentation, there were no questions, comments…only quiet.
Eventually, my group then went on to compete in a state wide competition, presenting again, in front of another gathering of big wigs from a bunch of other Fortune 500 corporations. We tied for first place….lost on a tie breaker…didn’t win any money, but it was definitely a great learning experience.
So…the moral of the story is: Even the big boys mess up big time when it comes to usability.
Take the time to make sure that your website is usable. Make sure your website presents the most relevant information and make it blatantly available. Otherwise, you might as well put a link on your website pointing to your closest competitor.
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