Category Archives: Small Business

Design, Small Business, Usability, User Experience, Website Design

Why Features Are Problems

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It has long been the notion that features sell more products. Logic suggests that if my competitor adds feature ‘x’ then of course I need to add feature ‘x’ plus feature ‘y’ and ‘z’ to create a better product. However, with each feature that gets added you also add complexity and choice.

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Choice Leads to Decisions, Then Questions

Since a person has the choice of one product with feature ‘x’ and another product with features ‘x, y and z’ a person must choose which product and feature set they want. The person is forced to make a decision. “Do I choose ‘product a’ or do I choose ‘product b’?”

And with every decision comes a series of questions. “Does ‘product a’ do the same thing as ‘product b’ ?” “Do I need ‘feature z’, will I ever use it?”

Since most people are looking to validate their choice they will look to maximize the amount of value they receive. Assuming cost is the same, the product that has more features logically indicates that the person would be getting a better value (why would buy only one feature if I can get three at the same price?) by choosing it over the product with fewer features.

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When It Becomes Too Much

However there comes a point when the number of new features adds so much complexity that they outweigh the product’s usefulness. The person begins to question how to use the product and if they will actually be able to complete their task. When this happens the person quickly becomes frustrated, throws their hands up in the air and begins to look for a simpler solution (What the F*ck Moment).

The person has lost all confidence that the product will actually let them do their job.

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Elegant Solutions

So then how do you overcome this? By designing an elegant solution. An elegant solution is a solution focuses on what a person really cares about. The person doesn’t really care about any one feature instead they care about completing their task. Find a way that allows them to complete their task while at the same time feeling really good about themselves for doing it.

Don’t force the person to understand the complexity of your product, you do that. Let them be awesome.

Need Help Creating Elegant Solutions?

If you would like help creating elegant solutions that make your customers be awesome email me or give me a call at 330.648.FARM

Small Business, Strategy, User Experience

Adding Features Isn’t Innovation

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New features aren’t really innovations. They’re only new features. New features are like the toppings that get added to an ice cream sundae. Fun at times, but when you have too many you loose that simple bowl of ice cream.

Don’t ask can we, ask should we?

There comes a point in any product’s life cycle when small or “slightly better” improvements stop being meaningful to your customers. This point is called overshooting. When you overshoot you start adding clutter and confusion to your application and it quickly becomes frustrating to use and your customers start looking for something simpler. Think Microsoft Word.

Customers will almost always accept improved products or services, but when overshooting sets in, they won’t pay for improvements that used to be valuable to them.Scott Anthony – Harvard Business Review

Instead of bloating your website or application with a bunch of new features first ask yourself if any of them are solving a real problem your customers have. Are the features useful? Will your customs see the value in adding them? If the answers are no then you need to question why you are adding the features in the first place.

Sometimes removing features is the best innovation of all.

If you would like help on understanding how innovation makes sense for your business website or application email me or give me a call at 330.648.FARM.

Small Business, User Experience

Don’t Just Add Features Add Features That Make Sense

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maristtaxipoll

A while back NYC added TVs to the back seat of cabs, however it appears they missed the mark.

The majority of riders either turn it off or simply ignore it. This is a good example of adding a feature without adding much value for the end user (or the cabbie).

Think how much more useful it could be if instead of reruns of Jerry Springer they allowed a rider to figure out the cab fare plus correct tip amount, directions, places nearby to eat, etc. Maybe for Manhattenites who use cabs on a regular basis, traffic status so they can communicate with whomever they are meeting about how late they will be, or a listing flight schedules (on time / delayed).

At times it’s hard to resist. Features are fun, sexy and cool. But all too often to get these features user experience is sacrificed. The role of any good UX designer or UX team should be that of dissuading teams from creating products that are bloated with features that most users won’t find useful or use.

Contact me if you’re interesting in learning more about usability design, best practices, or how usability can increase your ROI.

Small Business, Usability, User Experience, Website Design

The Way Customers Think

Potential customers come to a website to achieve a specific goal. The thought process for the way a person goes about this is the same for everyone. You can create a more effective and user friendly site, page, or user flow by understanding the way a customer thinks when viewing your website.

People Have ‘Real-Time’ Needs

People’s attention focuses almost completely on the task at hand. Things that fall outside of this goal will be ignored.

People do not want to be taken on a wild goose chase when looking to complete a task. As such, marketing messages that are thrown in front of a person will be missed unless they specifically address the ‘real-time’ need.

Think about the needs of the people coming to your site in the first place and then create areas that will guide them closer to task completion.

Example of the Customer Thought Process

Take at look at the following example of a person who needs to buy an airline ticket to an April conference in Phoenix, AZ.

Diagram of the customer thought process when viewing a website

Diagram of the customer thought process when viewing a website. Download printable version (pdf).

Goal: Purchase a ticket to Phoenix

Step 1: Go to travel website (i.e. Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.)

Step 2: Enter location and date. Search.

Step 3: View flight options – Refine – View Again

Step 4: Purchase Ticket

Step 5: Receive Confirmation / Print Ticket

Since the person is looking for tickets to a specific location (Phoenix) during a specific time period (April) any messages being displayed that aren’t relevant to these two facts are going to be ignored. If on the other hand the person was casually looking for a trip to an unspecified location then the messages about quick getaways or airfare deals will have more relevance.

It is important to realize, however, that most visitors are coming to a site with a very specific goal in mind and anything that is perceived as irrelevant to completing that goal will be ignored.

Understanding what the human thought process is (first establish goal, next take actions, then evaluate result) as well as understanding why people are coming to your website will help you create a site that is more useful, usable and effective.

If you would like help finding ways to make your website better match how customers think drop me a line or check out the website review service.

Design, Small Business, Website Design

The Role of Website Design

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It is important not to overlook the impact of design in any website project. The look and feel of your website has a major influence on your visitors and to their overall impression of your company.

Website Design Supports 4 Key Areas

  1. Your site design has an important role in your company’s perception i.e. the image that is being portrayed. The combination of your site’s functionality and design both affect how well your message is being communicated.
  2. The design must support the message you are trying to communicating. When the design, functionality and navigational aspects all communicate the same way your overall site is more user-friendly.
  3. Your design must match the genre of your website. The credibility of your company will be severely damaged if the design doesn’t match your users expectations. For example, if the design of a financial consulting firm tried to emulate an entertainment site how much confidence would you have in their ability to manage your money?
  4. Similarly, the website design should match your targeted audience. If your company serves a younger demographic (i.e. teens) it would be advised not be overly stodgy.

The most successful sites are those in which the design is able to blend together the above four areas company image, website functionality, genre and audience.

Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how to achieve their goals, and do their work.

Bruce Tognazzini, Nielsen Norman Group

Design to Facilitate Communication

The design elements used should help your site visitors complete the tasks they are attempting. Design choices such as layout and typography will enable you to highlight important information or play down items of less importance.

Firstly, upon landing on any page the visitor must be able to tell what website they are on.

After arriving on your site visitors are very quickly scanning the page for something to click. For your website to be effective this message must be communicated in a moments glance. Design is a key to this process.

Leverage the design to highlight the important elements. Ensure that links (trigger words) and action items are visually different and stand out from the content. Elements such a trigger words, calls to action and buttons need to be immediately obvious.

The page layout should clearly organize your content. Keep like information together and where your visitors expect to find it. Typography and the use of white space will help create a clear hierarchy within your site.

Design, Don’t Distract

While the design of your website is important, you should work to not let your design get in the way and distract the user. Making smart design choices and don’t be afraid to edit elements out that don’t support your overall site’s message.

Conclusion

Website design is critical to creating a useful and engaging website that enables your visitors to find the information they are searching for. It adds credibility to your company, supports your message and facilitates a better user experience.

If you would like to understanding how the design of your website can better help your business goals drop us a line.

Small Business, Usability, Website Design

Using Usability Design To Improve Your Overall Business

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More and more businesses are recognizing the value of having a website with a usable design. They understand that by focusing on the needs of their visitors and then building a site to best match those needs they will gain a big return on their website investment.

By improving the usability design of your website you will gain a better return on your investment than any other business action can produce.

A recent study showed an increase in Key Performance Indicators of over 83% by just correcting small usability problems.

Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, January 22, 2008:

The good news is focusing on the visitor isn’t all that difficult. Jakob Nielsen (a forefather of website usability) has shown that just by trying to improve your site’s usability design you can double your site conversions.

Other increases that have been shown by improving the usability of your site are:

  • 150% increase of traffic
  • 161% increase in visitor performance
  • 202% increase in usage of targeted features

I realize that these findings are from some of the largest sites on the internet. It is also important to note that there are other factors that can all affect your companies returns. However, no matter how large or small your website or what your business is you will see an increase in your conversions.

By adhering to usability and design best practices your results will follow a similar pattern.

Here are some real client examples:

  1. I have one client who within months of launching their new website were completely booked with new clients through the year.
  2. Another client is averaging one new website inquiry per week from their new site. The site is also currently the number three link on the first page of Google for one of their key search terms.
  3. Finally all my clients have seen an increase in traffic. Overall traffic was up over 43% for all of 2008.

These are just a couple of examples of how designing a usable site will have a positive impact on your ROI. The upside for your business is huge. Focusing on creating a usable website isn’t just for the big guys — it’s for you.

Small Business, Website Design

Gas Prices Are High, Is Your Website Ready

It is amazing how much we depend on driving. With the price of gas making records daily that may be changing.

According to a new iCongo & Harris Interactive study “one-third (33%) of online US adults say they are more likely to shop online rather than at a store because of high gas prices.“

With 1 out of 3 people turning to high speed versus high octane now is the time to make sure your website is ready.

To help you get website ready check out some past posts:

If you need a help with a new website, want to improve an existing site or just get some questions answered drop me a line.

Small Business, Website Design

Do It Myself or Hire a Web Designer

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Nowadays creating a website is relatively simple. Do it yourself software comes with hosting packages from large companies like Yahoo! and GoDaddy. However, there is so much more to a well designed website than using an out-of-the-box template.

Web design requires knowledge in graphic communications, page optimization to make it easy to be read by search engines and utilizing best practices in usability and user experience.

I’ve listed the usual reasons that I’ve heard from clients:

  1. Save Money. On the surface your site may appear to cost you less if you decide to design it yourself. However, one or two mistakes could cost you in the long run. If your site doesn’t perform you could loose out on potential clients or lost sales costing you much more than the cost of the site.
  2. More Control. By designing the site yourself it is true you have control over the design. Be prepared, however, if you are using an online site builder to give up some control due to limitations of the WYSIWYG tools.
  3. You Know Best. It would be expected that you know your business better than anyone else. The question is do you understand what your website visitors are looking for? Do you their navigation patterns and how they are searching for information? If not, you may be building your site for yourself and not your visitors.

As you should start to see building a website requires quite a lot of considerations.

Now, let’s look at the benefits of hiring a professional website designer.

  1. High Quality. You will get a high quality designed website that will communicate your company’s story.
  2. One of Kind. A professional designer will design a one of kind website that will not only meet your business needs but also the needs of your visitors.
  3. Easy to Use. By hiring a professional designer your website should be easy to use and simple to navigate. Having an easy to use site will enable visitors to find the answers to their questions or the products they are in search of.
  4. SEO Benefits. A professional designer should build your site using web design standards that will help gain organic search engine traffic.
  5. Build Trust. A professionally designed website will help establish trust into your products and services. If your website looks amateurish so will your company, products and services
  6. Competitive Advantage. A professional website designer will be able to design a site that stands out from your competition giving you an advantage.
  7. Focus on Your Business. Hiring a professional designer enables you to focus onyour day to day business. It is one less thing you need to worry about doing yourself.

This is only a short list of the benefits or hiring a professional website designer.

Website design is something that requires numerous skills such as design, information architecture, marketing and SEO. Hiring a professional designer may cost more upfront but the benefits to your business in sales or customers certainly outweigh these initial costs.

Small Business, Usability, Website Design

How Design Affects Your Website Visitors

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The design of your website will greatly how visitors use your website. Confusion will cause your visitors to leave resulting in lost engagement or lost sales.

You have a golden opportunity with every visitor that comes to your website. To capitalize on each and every opportunity take a critical look at your website and ask yourself some key questions.

Is it easy for visitors to navigate your site? The navigation on your site should clearly indicate to your visitors where they are, what they can do and where they can go.

If you are registering users or taking online orders is your process smooth and logical? Gather only the most needed information. This should only be the information needed to complete the transaction. For example, don’t ask for my birthday just so you have it. Reduce ‘friction points’ – the fewer the better.

Is critical information not being seen by your visitors? Jacob Nielsen is a leading authority on website usability and recently reported that visitors are conditioned to overlook information that looks too much like banner advertising. Over-designing the textual information on your website will cause visitors to ignore it. Be considerate about how you’re designing your information.

Does your site speak in jargon and buzzwords? Visitors do not have the time or desire to learn your business lingo. Make it a point to write in terms your visitors are familiar with. The language should be simple to understand.

Are you consistent throughout the site? Consistency is important to eliminate user confusion. The terminology being used to describe a process, for example, should remain the same throughout the site. When linking to a page make sure the link and the title of the page being linked to match. The same color and style should be used for all text links.

Does your site design provide clarity? While the design of your website is important it shouldn’t get in the way of completing a task. Keep your site clean and reduce the amount of visual clutter. Make use of white space to break up information and provide your visitors with visual resting places.

By thoroughly looking at your website and asking critical questions you can greatly affect your visitors experience with your website.