What Is Poor Usability Costing You?

In a tough economic environment, companies are looking for ways to maximize their investment in the Internet. Unfortunately, many of these same companies do not realize that their efforts on the web may be falling far short of their true potential due to problems with the usability of their web projects. To gain the attention of upper management, usability professionals must frame these problems in terms that are significant to the company. That is, we must speak about the financial impact of poor usability.

Far too many companies take a "Field of Dreams" approach to the web. They believe that "if they build it, they will come." Often, there is no one overseeing the web portion of their business after a web site is launched. Being on the web is a process that requires continual analysis and refinement to be successful. "Usability Expert," "User Experience Designer," and "Web Analyst" are among the titles being used to describe a new breed of web professionals who help companies maintain their competitive advantage on the web by employing the techniques of usability analysis and testing. This field of specialty appears poised for tremendous growth over the next several years.

Terms like "Return on Investment," "Opportunity Cost" and "Conversion Rate" are often thrown around with little consideration of the underlying factors that impact the success of a web venture. Cost justifying a proactive and strategic approach to usability and user experience design is a critical part to gaining broader acceptance within the traditional corporate environment.

Client Examples

We analyze a number of variables in evaluating the success of a web site. Even simple web site log analysis can provide a wealth of information that can be used to improve a company's web presence. More sophisticated measures of things like "conversion rate" and "shopping cart abandonment" can lead to even greater gains.