Understanding the value of usability – notes from the @UKUPA event on UX and ROI

The UKUPA is the UK Chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association. It brings together UK professionals from the design, technology and research communities who share a vision of creating compelling technology that meets users’ needs and abilities.

Once a month they hold events and Bunnyfoot had the pleasure of sponsoring the July event on the theme of UX and ROI.

The event sold out in 48 hours and the crowd were treated to the following talks.

Joe Leech – CX Partners
Joe kicked off and reminded us that improving conversion rates is much tougher these days and as an industry we need to be justifying the work we are do. Using metrics is one way to do this.

For a metric to be useful we need to understand the following:

1. Timescale
2. Benchmark
3. A reason to be reported
4. An associated action

But what’s a good conversion? Well, it depends…

How much can I expect my metrics to improve by? Again, it depends…

And this set the scene for the rest of the evening’s talks, proving ROI for UX depends on many different factors…

Jamie Knight + Lion from the BBC
Jamie gave us a timely reminder that as we are an ageing population, accessibility considerations will become even more important. And we’re not only talking about blindness and impaired motor skills; Jamie discussed the importance of designing for mild disabilities e.g. forgetting your glasses or cognitive impairment due to tiredness.

John Mildinhall – Electronic lnk
John Mildinhall talked about the importance of ‘value for money’ rather than ROI and outlined the ‘Value for money framework’:

• Economy: The raw materials – cost
• Efficiency: How well can you convert these raw materials to do the job
• Effectiveness: How well did you solve the problem – outcomes

Using a low, medium or high score for each of these can indicate whether a project proved to be good value for the client and the business.

Ian Worley – Morgan Stanley
To further prove the point that UX and ROI is a complex one to consider, Ian Worley made the point that we can do the best work for the client, but if the product is then built poorly, or the competition beats them to it, the ROI could still be poor which makes proving the ROI very difficult.

Ian took us through many examples of design projects his teams had worked on where the user experience had undoubtedly improved as a result of the work. But increased conversions didn’t always equate to higher margins. Also, what kind of return are you looking for, is it conversions, basket value or satisfaction with your brand?

ROI can be demonstrated and depends very much on each company and each project. With this in mind Ian left us with the following advice:

• Surround yourself with talent
• Get the right process
• Get the right clients
• Balance the needs of the business with those of the user
• And finally, care. Do the right thing for your customers

We won’t argue with any of that.

Thanks to all speakers and organisers for making the night such a success.

You can also read highlights on Twitter under the hashtag #uxroi

Nick

Usability solves some of the biggest headaches in marketing today

At the end of June, we packed up an eyetracker, a ton of leaflets and our stand and headed to the Online Marketing Show, part of Marketing Week Live.

I wasn’t just there to sell our service. Yes, I wanted people to know we exist and end the sleepless nights I used to have over design, but mostly I was  interested in the challenges marketers face these days. When we were asked “what is usability” our first reaction was to ask “well, what do you do and I will tell you how we can help”. This is what we learned:

You want to reduce drop outs across channels

There are so many channels these days, marketers are keeping their fingers crossed that customers are able to make a smooth transition between all communications to a sale. To add to the complication, there are online and offline teams and it’s just so hard to keep focus.

Personas are a tool which will help you focus on the client across teams and across the business. User testing, starting from multiple entry points, will help you to find improvement areas that will make the journey smoother for the customer, and get them to that shopping basket and beyond!

Your are nervous about entering international markets

We heard a few people talk about their thoughts and feelings about being in charge of launching into a new market. It’s understandably nerve wracking! You want to make this a success the first time, especially as the costs will be high.

International testing is not as hard as it may sound. We have built up a network or partnerships to make in country testing quick and simple. Technology even allows us to test internationally from right here in the UK.

You are looking for advice on how to design apps

We expected quite a surge of people being set to launch apps and mobile sites, but what we found was that many marketers are waiting for best practice to emerge as they want their app to be immediately adopted.

Make your own best practice with mobile usability testing. Start simple with some sketches and wireframes and test at every stage. You will find that your audience not only validate your designs, but bring in new ideas for features they would like.

Intranets are the biggest, scariest projects you face

I found a guy in the aisle, looking absolutely bewildered. When I asked what was wrong he told me he had an intranet to build and he had no idea where to start looking for help. Just the amount of people who had to use it, their abilities, their different roles. How was he going to make sure it was useful enough to be adopted?

I  talked to him about all the work we have done on intranets. How we have helped with the information architecture, facilitated the workshops, worked with the designers and tested at every stage to make sure it would be adopted. Well…I thought he was going to cry with happiness. That’s the look I aim for at these shows!

There is more of a need for user centred design than ever

Marketers have more responsibility than ever, and yet more demands on them to provide bigger and better experiences.

Although usability and user centred design have been around for over 10 years now, it’s still a service that surprises and delights marketers when they hear about it. Knowing there is a support for structuring content, language and design before it gets to market takes a huge weight off the marketing shoulders.

There’s still a lot of work to be done on communicating our service to the world. The massive range of services we offer are usually far too great to distil into a quick pitch – that’s why we want to hear from you! Drop us a line, let us know what keeps you awake at night and I am sure we can help.

Your guide to personas and how to use them

Personas. You’ve probably heard of them and maybe you understand them, or maybe you don’t. That’s OK – these little chaps seem to receive a lot of attention and yet we are frequently asked by our clients what they actually are.

They are a key part of ensuring you stick to your user centred design principles. This post will hopefully give you a bit of an overview of what a persona is and isn’t, how we’ve used them and why you should too. There are also some suggestions for further reading at the end if you’d like to get your teeth sunk a little deeper into this topic.

… Read the rest of this entry »

Creativity without considering usability

Effective mobile usability testing – the rig matters

Technology’s moving fast, isn’t it?  Too fast for natural and effective mobile usability testing solutions to be on the market for the increase in apps and mobile sites we are seeing. Taking inspiration as we go, and getting as close to natural behaviour as we can, we are building the Dream Mobile Testing Rig. This blog is about that journey and will help you to understand the pros and cons of what is out there when choosing mobile testing solutions.

There are many types of mobile usability testing rig, how do you choose?

… Read the rest of this entry »

We love…

I asked for a list of apps and websites we love for a few Valentine’s tweets. I didn’t expect quite such a sea of responses from our consultants across the UK. Have a read here and see what we are using for work, social life and our interests. Maybe you will fall in love with a few too? Do let us know if there are some we should be using!

… Read the rest of this entry »

Optimise Accessibility, Optimise Search

I’ve been watching with interest as the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) era has helped to naturally help make the web more accessible. I have attempted here to strip back the WCAG guidelines and the technicalities of SEO and give you the basics of how to use both to make both the web more accessible and your web presence more visible.

… Read the rest of this entry »

Age of the Avatar (Part II)

This is Part II of a two part blog on avatars. If you haven’t already you can read Part I below.

So what’s the point? How can this technology be applied to provide us with something useful?

For online businesses, developing a virtual sales agent that is capable of motivating the sites visitors into investigating the company or product further by engaging them in a conversation is powerful. This interaction should make a connection with the visitor and provide them with information regarding products and services, in turn creating the opportunity to convert investigating visitors into customers. At Bunnyfoot we have undertaken numerous testing projects involving the use of agents to support the sales journey. The most successful agents support a wide variety of user enquiries and provide the company with valuable information about customer likes, dislikes and behaviour. … Read the rest of this entry »

What did Bunnyfoot look like in 2010?

Ever wondered what a year of Bunnyfoot looks like?

Here’s a collection of the weird and the wonderful world of Bunnyfoot… … Read the rest of this entry »

Making your customer experience amazing can change lives

We had a guest speaker come in to talk to my Brownie Guide group on Monday for their Disability Awareness Badge. In a wheelchair at 21, Anne has gone on to become a successful solicitor who has sailed the Atlantic well before the internet was established. But Anne has offered me a view about how making experiences amazing, beyond simply functional, is the key to her living her life to the full.

We talked about Christmas shopping, working from home, sources of information to improve life with a disability and how charities are behind the times with technology. Nowadays, with the technology available, Anne can be just as able as I am, but she is also more bound to using it than I am. Focussing on just Christmas shopping, this is when it really drills home that when you make an effort to make an experience amazing for your customer, for some you are massively enhancing the quality of their life.

… Read the rest of this entry »