R.O.I. MEDIA

In Part 1: Online Brand Communication, we discussed the best methods of online branding and how this relates to the online user’s experience of your brand and website. The next step in claiming the online user’s attention is through effective web usability and brand interaction which can lead to increased sales and brand loyalty. By following this outline of best usability practices, results will be certain to follow.

What is Web Usability?

In a nutshell, usability is the art of ensuring visitors to your website can easily find what they are looking for, reach the relevant pages and take the desired actions before getting frustrated, generating negative feelings towards your brand and leaving your site feeling unfulfilled, never to return. Here we will present only the basics to give an impression of what is involved in the best usability process.

Understanding the Online User

One must understand how users relate to the web, the content therein and the desired actions to be taken. Online users can be divided into 3 general groups:

Click focussed, Search focussed and those in-between. Click focussed users will always look for links or buttons in order to proceed through a site while those search focussed will instantly look for a search field. In-between users will initially look for links related to what they are looking for and if they cannot find something relevant they will revert to the search field.

Furthermore, these points about how users interact with the web should be taken into consideration:

• Users will take the first reasonable option. When navigating through a site, it is not always the optimal decision that is taken; rather the quickest and easiest action presented is the one taken.
• Users scan pages. A user will very rarely read a whole page when looking for a specific item. Through scanning, a user can quickly target the keywords that reflect what they are looking for and decide whether there is any value in continuing to stay on your website.
• Users will muddle through. A user will risk making mistakes and having to click the back button instead of taking the time to correctly go through a page or without fully understanding the process will risk taking an action that may not be the correct one.

There are many reasons why users work in such ways; the important thing however is in learning the best methods to deal with usability requirements by adhering to a basic set of principles. These points may seem obvious; however they are too often overlooked:

• Create a clear visual hierarchy. Correct text use for headers, sub headers & body content to be used as visual cues.
• Use existing conventions. They wouldn’t be conventions if they didn’t work!
• Clear page headings.
• Make links & buttons obvious as clickable items.
• Reduce clutter & unnecessary busyness on a page.
• Use of clear navigation elements such as tabs and breadcrumb navigation.
• Use of effective site branding and identification.
• Displaying relevant information to the user at all times.

Usability is a great set of guidelines focussed on obtaining results. It relates to many areas of our lives and influences decisions we make on a daily basis. It is a broad subject and cannot be summarised into a singular blog post. As such, the ideas proposed above are more like helpful hints than rules to take to heart and merely touch the surface of usability related issues.

Reach through NOW!

Should you wish to find out more about our approach to usability or more information on R.O.I.Media and our services offered, please visit www.roimedia.co.za