Lisa Halabi, Usability Specialist, The Usability Company
It's amazing how often the same design mistakes appear on different websites. Testing in our usability laboratories enables us to critique and study a wide range of websites with end users running through a series of tasks that they might perform on the site in the real world. Alarmingly, we often see the same issues occur with regular frequency on a number of sites. The sectors might be different, from banking and insurance to gaming and entertainment, but the mistakes stay the same. These mistakes tend to frustrate and annoy your customers to the extent that they can't complete the tasks that they came on the site to accomplish and may go elsewhere. Below we've put together a list of some of the five common usability mistakes we see. Have a look and ask yourself, how does your site compare?
1) Not telling people in advance about information required to complete a process.
Many of you may have experienced the frustration of getting to the end of a lengthy online process only to find that you're missing a piece of vital information. The sheer irritation of having spent an hour completing your online mortgage application only to find you need your previous employers post code. "If only I was told I would need this in advance" you wail. A sure fire way to waste your customer's time and send them packing elsewhere. Best to tell them in advance about any necessary information they will need to have to hand. Failing that, allow them to save the session for later.
2) Forcing people to register with your site.
Registration is often seen as a barrier to users unless there is a clear reason for it. Why? Because it forces your users to work and who wants to do that unless you really have to? Imagine a friend has sent you a link to an interesting news article. You click on it only to discover you must register with the site first. There's a good chance you simply won't bother. So if it isn't strictly necessary to do so, consider whether you are prepared to loose a significant proportion of visitors before you force them to register with your site. In many instances removing this barrier is advantageous to both you and them.
3) Hiding prices.
When people visit your website, they will want to find out the necessary information to enable them to make a decision about a product or service. For many e-commerce sites, one of the most important aspects is naturally the cost. Yet, during usability testing sessions, we often observe people unable to find prices on sites because they have been hidden away. "All I want is the price! Where is it?" Holiday websites are often notoriously bad at this. Most people would rather see the prices displayed alongside the descriptions to which they relate rather than on a cryptic table hidden away somewhere. Being clear and upfront about prices is good for your customers because it means that they are not required to hunt them down. Furthermore, this transparency can often increase the customer's trust in your website
4) Not writing for the web.
Writing for the web is not the same as writing for any other medium. It is not okay to take printed matter and place it on your website mostly because it will be too lengthy. Users do not like to read information online and presenting them with wall-to-wall text shows a lack of understanding of how people read online. So how do they read online? In essence, they don't. Eye tracking studies have shown that people don't read screens of text; instead they scan, stopping only to look at things that look interesting or relevant to them. So the key is to make information as short and concise as possible and to enhance "scanability" by using lists and bullet points. Less is definitely more in this instance, but make sure your content is good.
5) Search engines that don't work.
The 'hunter gathers' of the web world know exactly what they're looking for and will often use the search facility to help them find it quicker than browsing. If people don't get good search results and if they can't find what they're looking for after a couple of attempts, there's a strong chance they will leave your site and try their luck on your competitors. It therefore makes good business sense to help your customers find what they're looking for. You need to ensure your Search is up to the task for natural queries and that results are helpful and informative. Google is a really good example, it anticipates that people make spelling mistakes and goes the extra mile by providing assistance when you do. Indeed, some people have even started to use Google as an alternative dictionary to find the correct spelling of words they don't know!
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