Website Usability Prioritizing –
Delivering the Ultimate User Experience

Do you wonder if your Website is working for or against you?  Do you wonder why your Website does not convert traffic into leads or orders?

Assessing a Website’s usability (user experience) is critical, regardless if you already have a Website, are re-developing a site or developing a new Website.  Delivering a great user experience is an ongoing process and therefore recurrent usability studies should be conducted by a usability consultant. 

Common Pitfalls

Any project, (large or small), benefits from early Website usability prioritizing assessments.  Too often, Websites are doomed from the start because they fall prey to common pitfalls:

1. Design is implemented too soon
2. Content is developed without end - user feedback
3. Failure to assess target market (end-user) requirements
4. Failure to conduct ongoing usability studies

Understanding the Usability Life Cycle

The Website Usability Prioritizing Life Cycle consists of 4 Phases: Analysis, Design, Implementation and Deployment.  It is critical to formulate a seamless, collaborative process throughout the usability cycle phases.  Analysis dictates design, while design must meet the usability requirements of the end user and accommodate technical requirements... all without being detrimental to branding and search engine ranking.

Phase 1: Website Usability Prioritizing Analysis – Pre-Design

1. Meet with your client to discuss their vision
2. Develop usability goals and objectives
3. Create user profiles – document user categories, characteristics, demographics, technical experience etc.
4. Develop a task analysis – the process behind how a user does his/her work. Look for task frequency, task importance, work flow diagram
5. Document end user scenarios – how a task is performed... how actual people do their work
6. Document user performance requirements
7. Study the competition

Phase II: Website Usability Prioritizing – Design

1. Brainstorm design concepts
2. Develop screen flow and navigation – use a flow diagram
3. Conduct a walk through of design concepts to capture work flow models and to evaluate how it works with real tasks
4. Create the design using low – fidelity prototypes (drawings, sketches). Low – fidelity concepts encourage user feedback and can be modified with minimal cost. Upon design consensus, high – fidelity (online) prototypes can be developed

It is very important to conduct usability assessments at this juncture to insure user satisfaction.  Changes to the high – fidelity prototype can be incorporated based on user feedback and assessment results.

Phase III: Website Usability Prioritizing – Implementation

1. Conduct ongoing usability assessments to uncover and address design issues that may pose problems for end user
2. It is very important to work closely with the implementation team as the design is being implemented
3. Insure problems areas identified through your usability studies are addressed and corrected

Phase IV: Website Usability Prioritizing – Deployment

1. Conduct user surveys
2. Conduct workplace field studies to obtain actual in – use data
3. Insure original objectives have been met

Field studies by usability consultants include interviewing or observing user behavior in the workplace.  Workplace field studies inform the development team about user profiles, task analysis and usability testing protocols.

Website Usability Prioritizing Studies for Existing Websites

TICG usability consultants study your Website in an unbiased manner to assess key areas of your site such as structure, design, navigational flaws, content and credibility.  The purpose of this assessment is to provide you with insight and guidance to improve your overall Website performance and end user experience.

Areas assessed:

1. Content
2. Design/Presentation
3. Navigation
4. Credibility/Persuasiveness
5. Site Performance Based on Sample Market Research Study

Upon assessment completion, our usability consultants prepare a detailed report.  The report details everything we uncover... good and bad and provides valuable recommendations for site improvement.

Let TICG usability consultants uncover the problems that drive your visitors away without acting.  Call 216.831.6742 today!