The benefits of usability

Usability has a number of benefits - designing for usability means that visitors can use a website more easily, and staff can use software with less training and make less errors. This means that the benefits of usability are reflected in your organisation's bottom-line.

UKinsite define usability as 'Target users can quickly and easily achieve those goals that the site supports' - see our article Usability: a new definition for more information.

Designing for usability has a number of benefits that can potentially affect any business or organisation. A simple rule of thumb has emerged: every dollar invested in ease of use returns $10 to $100 (Cost Justifying Ease of Use, IBM Report).

Usability helps with...

Reduced development costs

One of the main causes of delay in a project is the discovery of previously unforeseen user requirements. Changing a system costs more, the further along the development process a project is. It is obviously better to catch these problems as early in the development process as possible.

Reduced support/ maintenance costs

Changing a design at the last minute may be costly - but not changing a design can cost even more. Launching a site or application containing major problems can lead to loss of reputation and market share and increased customer demand on Help desks. Hasty re-designs, product recalls and bad customer experiences are best avoided!

Increased revenue from websites

Research shows that many website users abandon shopping trolleys before completing the checkout process. How often do you see this in High St. shops? People abandon online trolleys for a number of reasons - chief of these being problems in finding a product or completing the checkout process. Unlike 'real life', where there are costs involved in going elsewhere, on the internet your competition is 'only a click away'.

Decreased training costs and productivity

Most websites are supposed to be easy to use by a first-time user. An application for business use - such as a timecard calculator on an intranet - may require some training. This can be minimised if the application is easy to use and matches the way your staff work. And by making sure that your staff's key needs are met, you can make sure that the application is used, not ignored.

Greater market share

The evidence shows that people consistently return to a favourite few sites. It can take a large amount of money spent on advertising to tempt people into trying a new site. This money will be wasted if they get frustrated and go elsewhere. Worse, people are likely to tell their friends how bad the site is.

The bottom line

It would be easy to go on, noting how usability can benefit a variety of different products. The 'take home' message is this: If you make a site usable, you make it more likely that people will keep on using it. And this can only have a positive impact on your bottom line.