Raman Saxena : Principal Design & Innovation Strategist

Organizations are spending lot of money and countless efforts making sure their site has everything they think an on-line visitor would want. Web sites are loaded heavily with content and technology - But, are these sites Inviting, Intuitive and Helpful? Perhaps the designers must have used too much color and graphics, making the site appear loud and distracting. May be they have tried too much of technology show-off without much need. On the other hand, the navigation and controls could turnout vague, providing little information about what lies ahead. Therefore, it is important that users feel comfortable navigating your web pages, for the site's success. It is important to make their experience effortless and worthwhile. Success lies on the fact that how usable the website is, apart from being, highly functional!

The success of a product, system and service purely depends on how usable they are. Whatever high tech solution with number of features one provides, the fact remains that without this solution being usable by the end users no one would like to buy it. Usability is best understood in terms of three criteria which can be used to judge any interface - whether software, web, or hardware.

Can the user perform the given simple task without any significant difficulty? Or did the user give up or met with total failure?

Any product interface that makes such tasks impossible to achieve for some users is, in a sense - 'failing' the product & the technology behind it.

A product that sends the user 'round the houses' in order to perform the routine tasks is - 'clearly an inefficient solution' <,strong>in terms of making their jobs as simple as possible.

Is the product enjoyable to use? Does the product feel 'right' and is the user in control at all times?

Users demand value for their time. One result is that they require increasingly large incentives in the form of rewards, discounts, or promotions in order to break existing habits and carry out transactions online rather than over the phone or face-to-face with a customer service representative. They also expect customization and personalization, not as afterthoughts or options but as key features designed to save them time and money (after all, time is money). Look is important but functionality (feel & experience) is much more important most of the users. They will still use a not very aesthetically applying site as long as it offers useful functionality. Well-planned information architecture is crucial for users to complete their tasks quickly.

Lack of confidence in pure online transactions continues to affect user perceptions and behavior. Unless the brand is very strong and/or the company has a physical presence, they need to offer clear and measurable value to induce users to switch from accustomed offline methods of purchasing, calling for help, banking, or even obtaining information.

It is important to understand the end users cultural and social aspects in order to deliver a system or a product e.g. website which fits into their model. The methodologies such as contextual research, focus group studies, requirement gathering and user profiling etc. help in to reveal more unique characteristics of the end users in a cultural & social context.

Easy to Locate Information/Products:Searching for information is an experience. It is either a good experience, when one finds what he/she wants quickly and painlessly or turns into frustrating one, when one is unable to find at all the information he/she is looking for. At the end of the day, any commerce would want their customers to walk away happily with good impressions and with intentions to return.

"How do people find information on the web?" ….They sniff it out.

Information essentially has a "scent" and the users link from page to page they pick-up the scent of the data they are searching. If at some point, they lose the scent (often by following a link that does not lead where the user thinks it will), they have to loop back to pick up the scent all over again".

Unfortunately, this un-glamorous approach is often ignored by many Web sites, which sought instead to differentiate themselves with advanced and sometimes complicated features that users do not need. This strategy is dangerous because it tends to lead to compromised performance, instability, and confusing design, all of which detract from usability and discourage users.

Designing a usable and commercially effective web site is not a simple task. When users find Web sites difficult to use or hard to understand, they simply click away to another site or abandon their shopping cart in frustration. Properly applied, usability can help retain users by making interfaces, processes, and applications easier for people to use, thereby enhancing the user experience. Simply stated, usable sites encourage users to return and sample more of the site's functions.

Unfortunately, this unglamorous approach has long been ignored by many Web sites, which sought instead to differentiate themselves with advanced and sometimes complicated features that users don't need. This strategy is dangerous because it tends to lead to compromised performance, instability, and confusing design, all of which detract from usability and discourage users.