Our Approach

The Usability Company has a distinct philosophy from which we approach usability. Whilst the discipline is rooted in the academic world, we believe that organisations will only invest in usability if they can measure the benefits of it.

As a result, we focus on helping organisations understand and measure the performance of their digital interfaces in addition to providing a comprehensive range of usability services and consultancy.

Strategic Usability

Usability is no longer a qualitative science. It has now matured to the point where a demonstration of the ROI is possible. Metrics have now evolved that allow companies to measure how successful their site is. These metrics, or performance indicators, include the ratio of unique visitors to purchasers, order values, repeat visits and similar measures. Usability directly influences these metrics.

By analysing these metrics businesses can gauge how usability actually impacts performance indicators. With the correct analysis tools and a programme of usability testing organisations can assure that their goals are met.

Usability Programme

Figure: Usability Programme diagram. Cycle starts with setting metrics from which data is collected and usability analysed. Changes are made and further data collected from which the ROI is measured then the cycle begins again.

A comprehensive and continuous usability testing programme is the best means of obtaining concrete data on ROI and the extent to which you are meeting your organisation's goals. This kind of programme enables companies to understand how the business is performing (by benchmarking the metrics), assess the usability of the design, increase usability by implementing changes and measuring the impact by re-calculating the metrics.

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© The Usability Company 2007