What is usability?

Usability is a measure of how well users of a website, app, or product can interact with the interface to achieve a defined goal effectively and efficiently.

Usability is a component of an overall user experience design and is vital for producing exceptional customer experiences.

Here are some important considerations about usability:

  • 88% of online shoppers say they wouldn’t return to a website after having a bad user experience.
  • 70% of failed online businesses failed because of bad usability.
  • 53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
  • People form 75% of their opinion on a website’s credibility based on its aesthetics.

A product or interface with good usability should contain the following elements:

  • Effectiveness – users should be able to accurately navigate to where they want to go and complete their desired action.
  • Efficiency – users should be able to easily complete tasks and navigate the product or interface.
  • Engagement – users should have a pleasant experience with the product or interface.
  • Error tolerance – users should be notified of errors when navigating the produce or interface and be able to easily recover from errors. The product or interface should be accurate in displaying errors.
  • Ease of learning – new users can navigate the website and accomplish goals easily.

Designers are responsible for considering usability features when designing a product or interface, such as an app or website.

They have to think about:

  • Navigational menus and features.
  • Familiarity of the features and interface.
  • Consistency between website pages.
  • Error prevention.
  • The visual clarity of each website page.
  • Flexibility and efficiency for users to complete actions easily.
  • User feedback collection.

If you need help designing or improving the usability of your digital marketing assets to provide an optimized user experience for your visitors, contact us today.