The importance of UX

Who Am I?An (ex) html jockey & web designerA UX evangelistA customerA consumerA user

UXSharepointUXintranetwebapplications

Does this sound familiar?“It’s hard to use& ugly!”“I just don’t understand how to use this!”“The performance of this application sucks!”“Was this application designed for me or an engineer?”

The User’s experience is failing

?Why?

WHAT IS Ux??

User ExperienceMakes the difference between being merely functional and actually improving the way business is done via software.User Experience is a CREATIVE part of Software Development.

“I thought it was just about making it pretty”

Questions about whether design is necessary or affordable are quite beside the point: design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all. Douglas MartinBook Design: A Practical Introduction

Turns out, no

Turns out, noDesign is about making business sense

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

User Experience(if designed well) well)Differentiates a product or serviceCreates business opportunitiesImproves efficiency

It affects your bottom line$

UX differentiates

Creates business opportunity

Improves efficiency

Click Stream AnalysisBeforeAfterPage Interactivity: high % of users left the page without even interacting. 0%10%Link Analysis: Links distracted users from the registration process. 20%Click Density Analysis: Users frequently clicked the non-linked image30%Field Analysis: Small % of users interacted with the form fields. 40%Scrolling Analysis: Over half of users did not even see the first form field.50%Last Field Changed Analysis: High pct. of users who abandoned last changed the State field before leaving, indicating friction. 60%70%The page was redesigned based on AO recommendations and resulted in a 50% increase in registration conversions

The proof is in the returnsStock performance of 63 “Design Oriented Companies” versus the S&P 500 over 1, 3 and 5 years Courtesy, Peer Research 2007, Fast Company, October 2007

A valuable investment“Every $1 invested in usability returns between $10 and $100” -- IBM, Cost-Justifying Ease of Use Investing 10% of a total project budget yields:Jakob Nielson, Return on Investment for Usability

Tales from the fieldA mid-western utility was able to cut average customer support call cost from ~$10 to less that $1.00 per incident as a result of redesigning their web presenceA major eCommerce retailer saw a 45% increase in average order size as a result of redesigning their shopping experienceThe same retailer saw a 10% conversion increase as a result of better organizing product informationImplementation / customization costs for an Enterprise Software Vendor were cut by 40% as a result of a better “out-of-the-box” experienceWill Tschumy, Microsoft User Experience Evangelist

Just in caseYou need a bit more...

The cost to business of poor user experience and satisfaction is equivalent to $40,000 per person in lost business each year, based on one hour a day being spent sorting out software usability problems (Marketing Opinion Research International/MORI)Users will wait a maximum of 10 seconds for a software response before become distracted or losing interest (Constantine/Lockwood, 1999)63% of Web projects overrun their budgetary estimates, with the top four reasons being usability problemsMore than 40% of ERP implementations show user adoption issues or lack significant ROI (AMR research)57% of SAP customers don’t believe they’ve achieved a positive ROI from their project because of poor user acceptance (Nucleus Research) *Source: APO UX FY08

It affects your bottom line$

Our entire online existence is based on UX

Our entire online existence is based on UX(good or bad)

The User Experience LifecycleHow do users find you?Do they know what to do?Will they tell their friends?Do you make them feel good?Will they use you again?

Put a different way

Put a different wayAdvocacy is the key indicator of long term customer value and retention

How do I do it?

Maslow’s Hierarchy

A Design View of MaslowCourtesy of Rob Girling, Artefact Group

So if I’m desirable, I’m all set?

So if I’m desirable, I’m all set?Not exactly. There are other considerations…

So if I’m desirable, I’m all set?Not exactly. There are other considerations… Design is a process that balancesconflicting sets of constraints

What’s Viable?What’s Possible?What’s Desirable?For every problem, 3 ConstraintsLarry Keeley, Doblin Group, among others

What’s Viable?Business: What can I bear?How much can we sell it for?How much can it cost?Is there acceptable ROI/NPV?What’s Possible?What’s Desirable?For every problem, 3 ConstraintsLarry Keeley, Doblin Group, among others

How much can we sell it for?

How much can it cost?

Is there acceptable ROI/NPV?

What’s Viable?What’s Possible?What’s Desirable?Technology: What can I do?With my technology?Within regulatory constraints?Within business constraints?For every problem, 3 ConstraintsLarry Keeley, Doblin Group, among others

With my technology?

Within regulatory constraints?

Within business constraints?

What’s Viable?What’s Possible?What’s Desirable?Design: What should I do?Who are my users?What are their needs?What is their mental model?For every problem, 3 ConstraintsLarry Keeley, Doblin Group, among others

Who are my users?

What are their needs?

What is their mental model?

GUIDELINES

What does the UX proVisual designerUsability designermotion designerdo?

Robbie Ingebretsen “ Design Fundamentals for Developers” MIX09

UX MethodologyProject StartsUse cases createdIT + User / BAPrototypingITDevelopmentof ServicesITUI is createdITUser TestingUser / BAProject Complete

UX MethodologyProject StartsUse cases createdIT + User / BAPrototypingITUI PolishingDevelopmentof ServicesUI DesignerITUI is createdITUser TestingUser / BAProject Complete

UX MethodologyProject StartsUse cases createdIT + User / BAPrototypingITDevelopmentof ServicesIT+ UX Professional + User/BADevelopment Of UXDevelopment OfSoftwareUX Professional + User/BAIT + UX ProfessionalUI & ServicesIntegratedITUser TestingUser / BAProject Complete

UX MethodologyProject StartsUse cases createdIT + User / BAPrototypingITDevelopmentof ServicesDevelopment of ServicesIT+ UX Professional + User/BADevelopment Of UXDevelopment OfSoftwareIT + UX Professional + User/BAUX Professional + User/BAIT + UX ProfessionalUI & ServicesIntegratedITUser TestingUser / BAProject Complete

What users wantUsers don’t care about how the software is built. They want performance, convenience and resultsUnless it allows them to get their work/task done faster, they don’t want to learn a new/different way of doing somethingThey want a responsive UI with visual clues as to ‘what next’. They don’t want to guess what to do (or hunt for it)As far as they’re concerned the experience is the product

Robbie Ingebretsen “ Design Fundamentals for Developers” MIX09

A few basic rulesMake your application consistentLet users know what's going onKeep It simple and prettyPut the user in controlForgive the User

WEB 101

BannerSearchWebsiteLife use to be simple

Paid SearchOrganic SearchBannerGamesWidgetsVideoMobileSocialIP TVEmailWebsiteconvertinformentertainassistconnectBut the consumer/user changed

Paid SearchOrganic SearchDirectMailLeadGenRatingSitesWeb siteBannerWidgetsVideoMobileSocialGamesIP TVEmailPrintTVBlogsBranchCall CentreconvertinformentertainassistconnectAnd integrated

What is Social Media and Web 2.0?Groundswell: A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies. Web 2.0: A set of applications enabling efficient interaction among people, content, and data to collectively fostering new business practices and social structures.Social media: Blending Web 2.0 tactics into the marketing mix to engage with customer communities and draw value from social interaction.According to a 10/2008 Forrester report “3 in 4 US Online adults now use social tools to connect with each other.”Forrester Research

Social Media: What’s the fuss?1. It’s enormous2. Broadening demographic3. Everyday routine

Impact of Social Influence MarketingTMRazorfish Digital Outlook Report 09: March 2009 – “Social Influence Measurement: What’s It Worth?”

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UXSharepointintranetwebapplicationsDocumentManagementCustomer InformationApplicationsLearning

UXSharepointintranetwebDocumentManagementCustomer InformationApplicationsLearning

Similarities & differencesINTRANETTaxonomy Document storage*Potentially large volumes of documentsTraditionally narrow scope of content and little attention to how user accesses or finds info.WEBNavigationCustomer information*Copy kept brief, to the pointTraditionally rich in types of media and ways for user to access. Experience is key.

Similarities & differences – cont.INTRANETBrand low priorityA designer and/or devs involved in UINo SEOInternal facing applications get low UI prioritySocial media, web 2.0, web 3.0 not yet part of every day use within corporate structureWEBBrand representation is everythingDesigners/IA/UX involved in UISites lives or dies by SEO rankingsExternal applications get high UI prioritySocial media, web 2.0 etc key for reaching users and creating community around brand

LastlyINTRANET Accessibility low priority*WEBAccessiblity is becoming law*

IN CLOSING

UX = ROI (TIME & $)GOOD UX REQUIRES EMPATHY FROM BOTH DESIGNER & DEVELOPERA WEBSITE IS PRIMARILY A BRAND EXERCISE IN ALL THAT IT DOES (AND MORE THAN JUST A LOGO)WEB & INTRANET ARE CONVERGINGWEBSITES CONTINUE TO EVOLVE, THE PLATFORM NEEDS TO BE AGILE

AcknowledgementsWill Tschumy: Design Matters (Microsoft)Robbie Ingebretsen: Design Fundamentals for Developers (Pixel Lab)Michael Köster: Introduction to UX (Microsoft)Forrester Research: GroundswellRob Girling: Artefact GroupLarry Keely: Dablin Group