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The practical application of usability research is described in a case study that illustrates the use of a Usability Evaluation immediately prior to the launch of a new transactional website by Smile-On, a company part owned by Boots the Chemist.
Smile-on was launched in April 2000 and has quickly become the leading UK provider of online services for the whole dental team. Their aim is to provide members of the dental community with a partner throughout their professional life and has more than 7,000 members. The online store offers over 20,000 products for the Dental practice, which enables clients to order all of their supplies and equipment in one place, 24 hours a day.
The report, produced as a result of our Usability Evaluation, documented a range of problems and associated recommendations across a number of areas including: Registration & Login; Search; Navigation; Product Catalogue; Shopping Basket; Custom Basket; Checkout; Order History; and Advertising.
Overall the report identified 46 separate issues that had a negative impact on the user experience and made over 60 recommendations, providing multiple options and suggestions for many of problems.
Summary of the benefits:
The Usability Company's research validated some of the problems that the Smile-on team had already found but it also identified a number of unknown issues. The benefits have been demonstrated both through increased revenue and reduced costs.
The number of orders taken on a monthly basis has increased 350% with the associated value also increasing. For new customers the average order value has increased by 186% whilst repeat or existing customers have increased their order size by 237%.
The number of new clients purchasing from the site has also increased, by 244% and the number of repeat customers has increased by 173%.
The improved user satisfaction with the site has lead to a significant reduction in support costs. The number of calls asking for support has reduced by a factor of 20:1.
The ROI for the project was greater than 10:1 in a twelve month period.
Clearly there are a number of factors that have lead to the overall improvements, such as the site re-launch itself and associated press coverage. But the significant reductions in support costs and increases in basket size and conversion rate suggest that usability improvements have had a major impact.
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