USEworthy June 2003
The monthly Newsletter from The Usability Company

Welcome to June's edition of USEworthy. In this issue, we focus on the business case for usability. In the article "Why Usability Matters", we discuss the many business areas that can be improved by good usability practices or in fact weakened through neglect of usability issues. In addition, we demonstrate the commercial benefits of User Centered Design by presenting a case study outlining the work carried out by The Usability Company to refine the online offering of international bookmaker Victor Chandler.

We also present an article that analyses the most pertinent issues concerning Intranet usability. It is claimed that badly designed company Intranets are costing employers up to £1,000 a year per employee so this article, which appeared in HR Gateway April 24 2003, discusses the usability issues surrounding poorly performing Intranet sites and includes excerpts from an interview with Paul Blunden, CEO of The Usability Company.

Company News

The Usability Company is sponsoring the usability supplement in the June 19 issue of The New Media Age. The usability supplement will serve as a guide to usability issues. It will give a comprehensive introduction to usability and a good overview of usability issues.

The Office of the e-Envoy launches its "Quality Framework for UK Government Website Design" document in June. Catriona Campbell, founder of The Usability Company was one of the two usability specialists who assisted the Office of the e-Envoy to write the document. The Quality Framework for UK Government Website Design document seeks to provide Government web managers with specific guidance around usability issues relevant to public sector websites and, in particular, awareness of issues that need to be addressed under the relevant human centred design standards. Having high quality, accessible and easy to maintain public sector websites is vital if the government is to meet its dual objectives of having all services online and achieving high levels of use for key services. Online copies of this document will be made available at: http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk

June promises to be a busy month for Catriona Campbell. She will be speaking at the CIPFA e-Government Forum on Making e-Services Accessible to People with Disabilities, July 3. Catriona will be discussing the accessibility issues affecting government websites in particular, with regards to legal requirements, and the Quality Framework for Government Websites document developed by the Office of e-Envoy that Catriona helped to write. Catriona will also summarise some of the findings from the testing and research that The Usability Company has conducted with and on users with disabilities. This seminar is highly topical, as public sector organisations are required by law to put all suitable services online by 2005.

For more information about the conference, please visit the CIPFA website: http://www.ipf.co.uk/egovernment/egovforum/events/prog030703.htm

And Finally...

We hope to see some of you at the New Media Age's Effectiveness Awards ceremony. This is of particular interest to The Usability Company as catriona Campbell is a member of this year's judging panel. The 2003 awards marks the awards' seventh year, which makes the awards the new media industry's largest and longest-running awards event. This year saw a record 660 entries, which Catriona and the other members of the judging panel have diligently whittled down to a shortlist of under 70 contenders!

Usability, a Valid Business Proposition: Victor Chandler Case Study

The case study below, outlining the work carried out by The Usability Company to refine the online offering of international bookmaker Victor Chandler, demonstrates the commercial benefits brought by User Centered Design or User Centred Design in putting the user experience at the heart of the design process from a project’s inception. User Centered Design involves scientifically structuring your content so that it is more logical for the users. This case study illustrates how getting a thorough understanding of usability implications before and during the building process not only considerably reduces development costs and timelines but also increases revenue.

Victor Chandler Sites:

www.victorchandler.com
www.victorchandler.co.uk
www.victor.com

Objectives:

The Usability Company and Victor Chandler identified four main objectives for the website:

• To consolidate three sportsbook websites into one
• To improve customer experience in four main areas: bet process, registration, account management, and home page
• To enhance brand experience
• To improve cross-selling across business activities

Development overview

The boxed area in the following diagram illustrates the areas of activity within the overall development framework. Developing a website is a complex process that requires a phased approach. User Centered Design is at the beginning of the chain and drives all subsequent development and improvements. ISO 13407 outlines the steps involved in interactive product development.

Stage 1 - Workshops

The main purpose of these workshops was to structure the redevelopment project. The workshops also gave the Victor Chandler team an opportunity to learn about user-centred web site development and simultaneously afforded The Usability Company's Information Architect an opportunity to gain knowledge of vital information about the sportsbook business and terminology.

Stage 2 - Site structure mapped out

To reflect the structure and organisation of Victor Chandler’s web pages, the Information Architect created

• Wireframes that provided a page-by-page storyboard and descriptions of page elements and features
• Sitemaps that provided a graphical overview of the proposed structure in the form of a hierarchical diagram
• Flow charts

The site structure templates were then tested with real users. Recommendations made by The Usability Company from the findings were then applied to streamline and optimise the design. Through this, Victor Chandler was able to avoid over-development by exploring and testing User Centered Design possibilities at the early stages of web design. For example, two solutions were identified for the betting slip. One solution was considered to be more appealing to the more experienced gambler as it offered all relevant information and functionality on one page and the other was considered more appealing to the less experienced gambler with the intention of making the bet process as easy as possible. Test results showed that the majority of the users tested preferred the second solution.

Having decided on the optimal site structure, web pages were then mocked up and usability research was carried out with participants trying to complete the true-to-life tasks. The true-to-life tasks are designed, among other things, to test that the sites’ design allows the user to complete tasks that are essential if the site is to meet its objectives. These tests allowed Victor Chandler to both explore the alternative solutions offered by our User Centered Design specialist cost-effectively and to minimise the risk of making erroneous design decisions that would have damaged the end product.

Stage 3 - Completed wireframes handed over to design team

At this stage, our Information Architect delivered the optimised wireframes. These wireframes were then handed over to the design team as templates from which the look and feel of the site was developed.

Stage 4 - Usability research carried out on prototype web pages

At this point, the focus shifted from the assessment of processes to the assessment of the effects of design on page understanding and navigation. Usability research at this stage determined that design did indeed complement process and navigation. This demonstrates that user centred design not only optimises the information architecture but also the look and feel of the site.

Results:

Victor Chandler and The Usability Company are happy to announce that both the project and business objectives were achieved. The major achievement is the increased revenue witnessed by Victor chandler in the following areas:

• Additional sportsbook business
• Improved customer acquisition
• Increased Cross-selling

The above is a short version of the case study. If you would like to read the full version, please email with your request.

Why Usability Matters to your Business

By Marc Sparrow, Midnight Communications

Most, if not all, Internet users are familiar with the hallmarks of poor usability. How often have you invested time at a site only to be frustrated because you were unable to complete a purchase or registration process, or couldn’t find the information you sought? More importantly for commercial websites, how was your perception of the brand behind the website affected by your experience?

On the Internet of course, a competitor’s website is just a few clicks away, and although high-profile websites continue to make errors, most businesses are now well aware of the commercial benefits brought by a website with good usability. It’s clear that no commercial online venture can afford damaging brand reputation by annoying website visitors, and it’s equally apparent that addressing usability problems, for instance in simplifying registration and purchase processes, can raise online revenue.

Usability considerations however extend way beyond website design. Take-up of digital television continues apace, and interactive television is opening up new avenues to the consumer. Developers have to some extent learnt the lessons of early iTV development - the remote control is not a mouse, and accordingly iTV pages should not be laid out like web pages- but the medium is still at a very early stage, and good usability will be key in ensuring iTV fulfils its vast potential. The capabilities of mobile phones too grow ever more sophisticated, yet users rightly expect simple and intuitive digital interfaces to control the increasingly complex functions. Again, usability analysis will remain paramount in ensuring users’ expectations are met.

How humans interact with digital interfaces is determined by psychological, physiological and sociological factors (e.g. reading from right to left). Drawing on a number of academic disciplines, usability analysis is about taking advantage of this sort of knowledge and accepted conventions (e.g. a website’s ‘home’ button) to encourage interface designs that allows users to achieve their goals with the minimum of fuss, time and effort. Observing participants as they complete true-to-life tasks, usability specialists are able draw up a detailed picture of the interface as experienced by the end user, and provide recommendations to refine and improve its performance.

Of course, ensuring good usability will be just one of many requirements to be satisfied in any digital interface project. Commercial imperatives will be the driving force behind any development and it’s vital that key business objectives are met. There will also be aesthetic considerations- no business wants to be associated with drab, uninspiring design. What is needed is a design process that can balance all of these requirements to deliver a finished product that delivers on all fronts. And this is where user centred design (UCD) comes into its own.

Working closely with project developers, usability specialists are able to deliver interfaces which not only meet project and business objectives, but also which the end user can navigate through as quickly and effortlessly as possible. In allowing alternative solutions to be tried out cost effectively, helping to avoid over-development and wasted investment during a project, and assisting in the creation of an interface that keeps satisfied users coming back, an User Centered Design approach reaps significant financial rewards.

Intranets: Depots for 'Limited Value Information'

This article appeared in HR Gateway April 24 2003

Time and money is being wasted by employers as workers take longer to do tasks because of badly designed or ill thought out Intranets claimed a leading consultancy.

Badly designed and unmanaged company Intranets are costing employers up to £1,000 a year per employee, claims Nick Throp of Mercer HR, and end up as 'repositories for information of limited value':

'Many sites are created by self-serving departments with little regard for the needs of other employees. Many companies fail to recognise how their Intranet fits into an overall communication and knowledge management strategy,' he said.

Intranets often mirror how organisations see and structure themselves, he says, and it's apparent where information flows from the top down or is created by people working in silos:

'The key is to understand employees' perceptions and experiences of the Intranet. An audit by a usability expert, or a comprehensive test on a group of users will identify what needs to be improved,' said Throp.

Paul Blunden, CEO of The Usability Company who have their own usability testing software called WebIQ, told HR Gateway today that while he agreed with Throp's £1,000 estimate, the problem of Intranet usability was one of measurement:

'Very little work has been done of measuring the usability of Intranets but this is changing slowly. Measuring it would allow HR to understand the behaviour of people when they use the Intranet and what can be done to improve matters.

'All IT departments have web analysis tools such as Web Trends that could be used to measure employee behaviour which would allow HR to come up with concrete figures rather than the intangible figures that are thrown around,' he said.

Most firms never discuss usability issues with employees, they simply get the standard two hours' training and then when they come to use the system for HR processes a few months later, for example, they have to learn over again, he says:

'The problem is that many systems are simply not intuitive and are usually based on an internal database with an entry page that is full of confusing links. HR and IT need to consider the usability of such as system,' said Blunden.

If you want to assess employees' experience of using your Intranet, then here are some pointers from Mercer HR's Nick Throp:

1. Intranet business strategy - do you have one? How are users' needs understood and incorporated into this document?
2. User needs - do you understand how the Intranet might help employees and the management population to be more effective in their job?
3. Site architecture - what is the rationale behind it? Has it been tested? Is it intuitive?
4. Site content - how much content is up there? Would anyone notice if you got rid of any of it? What process exists to get content up on the Intranet?
5. Usage statistics - are you getting good data? Do you interrogate it? How do you feed this back into the content creation process?
6. Site visual appeal - is the site engaging? Do people feel good about using it?
7. Site branding - is it consistent? Is the User Experience consistent with brand values? (Remember that branding is not just a logo but is the whole experience of interacting with the organisation).
8. Access - can your site be accessed from everywhere in the company? What about when employees are at home?
9. Site usability - can employees find the information they want easily and in good time?
10. Communication strategy - how does the Intranet integrate with other communication channels? How do they reinforce each other?

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