To create a truly effective and professional website, you need a balanced combination of practicality, business goals and the right principles of usability. For most resources, the problem lies precisely in the last paragraph – this is due to the fact that not everyone understands usability and there are many myths and misconceptions.
As a result, errors arise in design, usability, sales, and so on. Therefore, we will consider the 11 most common myths and misconceptions of usability so that you do not commit them on your resources.
1. User experience is just usability
In order for a client to like your site, it must be for him to satisfy him as much as possible. This is called resource usability. This concept includes several factors at once:
- Utility. How does the site meet and satisfy user needs?
- Clearness. Is it possible to easily understand the operation of the resource even to an inexperienced user? Is it easy to use or do you need special knowledge and skills?
- Scalability. Can a resource evolve and scale?
- Pleasure. How aesthetically pleasing is the user to use this resource?
- Sociality. Is there any interaction with social networks?
An ideal site option is when all of the above conditions are met. If at least one of them fails, the likelihood that a visitor leaves the site can increase several times at once.
2. Usability – User Only
Usability is not just for users. First of all, it is aimed at making your site consistent with the main business goals. Therefore, before developing usability, it is necessary to understand the vision of the product from the point of view of the business, study the target audience and develop the most effective solutions for the market.
In the event that, when developing usability, the developer will focus solely on the problems and convenience of users, but will ignore business goals, he is doomed to failure. This is especially true for beginner usability professionals.
One way to effectively look at the needs of your own business or the customer’s business is to use SMART goals to determine the business goals of the project.
3. Usability is not necessary
Probably the most harmful misconception. As statistics show, it is usability in the B2B segment that plays one of the most important roles. The reason is precisely that the business does not need a momentary sale – it works with a long-term aim and perspective, therefore it is more interested in receiving not an instant emotional response, but a positive long-term response.
4. It is enough to order once
Another very common misconception. Even many of those who recognize the importance of usability think this is a one-time service. Those. in their opinion, usability is important and necessary, but it is enough to carry it out once, and then not even remember.
In order for your site to constantly evolve, you constantly need to work to meet the needs of users, re-evaluate goals and integrate them towards the end products. This is the only way the site will develop. You can do this by regularly working on user feedback and incorporating all the points into your site’s structure.
5. Home is the most important
Until recently, it was believed that the most important page was the main one. Indeed, once it was, but now the user is not very interested in the main page – he wants specifics and wants to get a clear result.
In addition, search engines basically send the user to specific pages, such as product or catalog cards. This is due to new features of ranking in Google and Yandex, as well as links in social networks. Therefore, in this case, the main page plays a purely nominal role, and instead of improving it exclusively, make good usability for all pages without exceptions.
First of all, you should focus on those pages that are most important for your users, and, as resources are released, complete the remaining pages.
6. Nice design is simple and suitable for all occasions.
There is no universal design. If you try to please everyone, the result will be bad for everyone. Therefore, it must be developed for a specific, specific user or group of users. This will make it understandable and friendly for its target audience.
7. Design based on user feedback
Using A / V tests allows you to study the reaction of users to changes in design and usability. Unfortunately, the reaction of users does not always lead to a constant increase in conversion – due to the novelty effect from one of your actions, conversion can really increase, but only for a short time. After the mentioned effect of novelty passes, the conversion will return to the previous indicator in 95% of cases.
Therefore, focusing solely on the wishes of customers is not necessary – this can lead to real chaos, as the client’s vision of the ideal site and what he does on the site in everyday life differ dramatically. It’s worth considering the opinions of users, but you need to do this in conjunction with market conditions, the characteristics of your business, technological capabilities and so on.
8. Many functions needed
There is a misconception that the more functions a resource is ready to provide, the more user satisfaction. In reality, the effect will be exactly the opposite – an excess of functions will lead to paralysis of decision-making. Users will simply be lost on what exactly they need to do or what choice is best to make. Therefore, it is recommended to simplify the task and use simpler analogues.
At the same time, you cannot make a mistake and bring the site’s simplicity to primitivism. If your users use most of these 30% of the functions, this does not mean that the remaining 70% must be discarded. This indicates that the most used functions must be distributed in such a way as to facilitate and accelerate access to them for users. Do not clog all the free space with interface elements – it is better to try to achieve harmony.
9. Innovative design is better
Who said? Users have their own comfort zone and often innovations knock them out of this zone, which will lead to negative consequences. Therefore, it is possible and necessary to introduce innovations, but this must be done gently, always taking into account the characteristics of your target audience and its needs.
In addition, when introducing innovations and creating something new, be sure to follow three simple rules:
- There should be more familiar elements for users than new ones;
- The interface should remain simple and straightforward;
- For new elements, you must have hints and tips.
10. Usability is easy
Yes, there is some truth to this – the usability audit can really be carried out by anyone who has the slightest knowledge in this area. The question is different – how high-quality and effective will such an audit be? Hundreds, even thousands of web resources with a terrible interface, are a vivid confirmation of this.
Usability is a set of measures that include not only research and testing, but also analysis, strategic planning and the ability to find the optimal balance between the needs of users and the main tasks of your resource.
11. No visual cues needed
They are not needed if the user has experience using this resource. But for everyone else, it is imperative to use clear navigation, visual cues, calls to action, and the like. Here are some tips for making the best use of visualization in terms of creating tooltips:
- Call to action buttons. Seeing such a button, the user receives a hint that it must be pressed and then some action will occur. If this element is inexpressive, they simply will not notice it.
- Content-enabled images. The user pays attention only to those photos that carry a real informative load, for example, photos of people, some completed objects, and so on. The main thing is that these images correspond to the content, otherwise users will ignore them.
