You only really notice the usability of a product when it’s not there. It’s very easy to come up with examples of poor usability, but for the most part, people don’t usually know the reasons for why one product is easy to use, and one is difficult and frustrating to use. Well, it doesn’t happen by accident! Most of the great products out there that we enjoy using have been through intensive user experience design and usability testing.

Here’s our ten most common reasons for why a product has poor usability:

1) Too much focus on features and technology

Many projects start off with project leaders and stakeholders having a strong desire to use latest technology or to develop a product with endless features. Feature development and testing are given a high priority and will often have a dedicated technical team responsible for them. The projects which go wrong are the ones that fail to balance these features against what users really need. Instead user requirements are an afterthought thrown in towards the end of development when much of the interface has already been developed.

2) Designers and developers ’scratch their own itch’

In absence of any contact with real end users, designers and developers have no option than to use their own experiences as a guide.  They end up designing the system according to their own capabilities, understanding and beliefs. Often they will be so deep into the project that they rarely question their decisions. If it works for the way they would use it, then that is good enough.

3) No-one has considered what people really need to use the interface for

It’s easy to get caught up in the detail of a project and immerse yourself in the complexities of how to make a product work well. Sometimes, a project team can be so focused on the inner workings of the system that they fail to step back and question their design decisions from a user perspective. Understanding what users really need, and what situations they are likely to be in when they use the product can completely change the direction of the design.

4) The person with the final say has little or no interface design experience

Often, we will come across a competent and well meaning project leader responsible for the end product who has to make the call on how the product looks and operates. More often than not, this person has little or no experience of user interface design and unwittingly makes decisions without fully considering the impact on the users.

5) Too much focus on quantitative measurement

When a website is doing well, you’ll hear the project team talking about numbers. The number of unique visits, the number of conversions, the number of page views and so on. Unfortunately, the usability of a product or website is not so easily measured. Whilst project teams may know they have a problem with basket abandonment, or low page views on key pages of the site, they rarely understand why users behave the way they do which is key to understanding how to improve usability to fix the issue.

Part 2 of the 10 most common reasons for poor usability will be coming soon. In the meantime, consider this question:

Do your products or services suffer from any of the most common reasons for poor usability?

Related Services: Customer requirements capture, Usability testing, and Customer experience research

I paid for a train ticket over the counter yesterday. As I completed the transaction I nearly walked off leaving my Debit card in the PIN machine. As I turned back to the machine to retrieve the card the chap behind the counter said something along the lines of, “That was lucky. We’ve already had three people leave their cards here this morning.”

Three people, this morning, have walked away leaving their card in the machine. Can you imagine arriving for a day in London and realising you’ve left your Debit card somewhere? Pretty stressful huh?

If your customers are suffering – take action

So having already experienced people leaving their cards, would it not be courteous to remind customers to remove their cards after the transaction?

Since Chip & PIN, all organisations have had to invest heavily in installing new equipment to cater to the new technology. However, I can’t help but ask myself if some of this technology either hasn’t been thought through properly, or is not being used properly.

Technology shouldn’t create customer experience issues

If the staff working behind a counter are unable to see the Chip & PIN machine it would be useful for their screen to inform them that the card has not been removed. They can then prompt the customer. Like most ‘simple’ fixes, it becomes less simple to fix once the technology is complete.

If the full customer journey and scenarios are planned and mapped out prior to build, these minor details will be catered for. And if customers are introduced to the project early, to test a prototype, the barriers will be highlight and dealt with before these ‘simple’ issues become costly fixes.

Do you involve customers in your project process early enough?

Related services: Customer Journey Mapping and Usability Evaluation & Testing

In recent months I have experienced behaviour from restaurants which I can’t quite fathom. When I receive the bill a service charge has already been added. And not just at my usual 10% rate, which I thought was standard in the UK, but at 12.5% or even 15%.

A tip should reward good customer experience

I am not a skinflint, but I have my own rules for paying a tip. The waiter/waitress has to be a bit special, by doing something nice that makes me enjoy my experience that little bit more. It’s not difficult to wait on me with a smile, to be there when I need a new bottle of wine, to provide a recommendation, or to know where my food is sourced from. And I am happy to pay 10% in cash to the particular waiter or waitress who has made my eating experience a good one.

So when I sit at a cramped table, eating average quality food that I could have made at home, and have difficulty in attracting the attention of the waiting staff (or receive too much attention), I don’t feel inclined to leave a tip. But wait. This already expensive meal, of average quality, has a 15% service charge automatically added to the bill.

The credit card machine provides no obvious option to remove the service charge from my bill payment. The only way to do this is to request it, making the process more confrontational for customers. I’m sure leaving a tip used to be a discreet affair!

In true British style I decide not to make a fuss. But I muse on it for days. Who decided to change the rules? Who has suddenly decided that us Brits are always happy to pay a tip? Who decided that this tip was to be 15%?

My answer? I won’t visit this restaurant again and I’ll warn my friends of it.

Delivering beyond customer expectations must become a priority business objective

I believe this is a case where internal process and business objectives have become the main focus without considering the customer. Yes, the business needs to make more money, and yes the waiting staff would like tips. But surely you are more likely to build loyal customers by focusing on the experience and the food? And surely the customer should have the choice to leave a tip to waiting staff that have waited particularly well?

There are reports that take-away food is becoming more popular as customers “Trade down”, by wishing to spend less with the economic uncertainty that looms. So a restaurant that automatically increases its pricing by adding a 15% service charge is not going to entice customers.

It is also important for restaurateurs to ensure their customers know what will happen to the tips they leave. It is disheartening to think that my tip is being used to top up salary. So it is comforting to see that the law is being updated. However, the choice must remain with the customer.

Understanding customer needs, meeting their expectations, and giving them the choice to tip is far more likely to encourage repeat visits. So companies must balance the business and customer objectives to ensure a sustainable and successful service.

Have you pushed forward your business goals without considering your customers’ goals?

Related services: Customer Profiling, Customer Experience Research, and Customer Requirements Capture

It’s easy to see why retailers are turning to more and more self-service kiosks. They put the customer in control, they can reduce operational costs and they save on staff costs. When they are designed well they can improve customer experience because customers grab their goods and leave the store with minimal fuss. When they are designed poorly, they can be time consuming and frustrating having a negative impact on customer experience.

What we’ve noticed in our research is that many of the problems are due to designers and engineers not paying enough attention to customer needs. What the kiosk developers appear to do is take the service tills used by trained retail staff and then redesign the interface for customer use. Trained staff use equipment hundreds of times a day and learn ‘work arounds’ to their frustrations. Customers on the other hand use the equipment infrequently and have much less tolerance for frustration.

To help you make sure your kiosk provides a smooth customer experience rather than a frustrating one, we’ve put together a list of the most common frustrations customers experience when using self-service kiosks/checkouts:

• Poor product or service categorisation - Most kiosks require customers to identify the item before they scan it. Many kiosks haven’t spent enough time researching which categorisation systems are most logical to their customers, leaving customers struggling to locate the best match for their item. When they have a number of items to process, and the queues are building behind them, this can be a real source of stress for customers.

• Kiosks can’t support the speed of input - When customers gain confidence with the checkout and speed their rate of scanning items and placing them on the conveyer or into their ‘bag area’, the system tends to ‘get confused’ and appears to lag behind, issuing confusing error commands to customers asking them to perform actions they have already completed.

• Physical layout and ergonomics don’t support common tasks - Some of the popular self-service checkouts tend to force customers to shuffle between the main screen, and the payment mechanism placed beyond stretching distance away. Before completing their transaction they need to return to the main screen again. This often leads to customers over stretching or shuffling their bags while they struggle to complete their purchase.

• Touchscreens can be unclear - Many checkouts use touchscreen input and a common source of frustration with these are the readability of the screen due to glare from overhead lighting or from the size of the text on the screen. We have observed customers also struggling to know which areas are ‘clickable’ and which are not.

Whilst self-service kiosks become more popular, we feel it is important that they don’t fall into the trap that many websites did in the early days of web development: to assume that customers will adapt to the technology, rather than adapting the technology to the customers. In order for retailers to gain the benefits from self-service, they must ensure that the technology provides a smooth customer experience by focusing upon usability and customer needs very early in the product development lifecycle.

Does your self-service kiosk frustrate your customers?

Related services: Usability testing, Customer-centred design, & Customer experience research

It’s that time of year again when many of us are stuck for ideas for Christmas gifts to buy our friends and family. Many people this Christmas will give and receive ‘experience gifts’ in the form of concert tickets, theatre tickets, short breaks, spa days and so on. It seems that we’re no longer content to have the material possessions we once were, instead we now crave new and exciting experiences.

In fact, this is the premise behind the term ‘experience economy’ which many commentators feel is a phase we have now entered. Its thought to be an age where our material needs are more commonly satisfied and instead of upgrading our gadgets we’re increasingly seeking to spend our money on the experiences offered by hotels, coffee shops and so on. Retailers are increasingly coming to terms with the notion that the experience of shopping is slightly more important than the items we buy and take home with us.

The experience economy brings with it a strong need for companies to truly understand their customers wider goals. It’s no longer enough for a company to anticipate and deliver the products people want, instead they must understand the wider goals customers have such as the need to belong to a group, the need for status, and the need for personal growth to name just a few. Those companies who truly understand their customer’s needs and offer experiences which generate an emotional connection between the customer and the brand are going to be the leaders of this new age. Apple, Starbucks, Innocent, Abel and Cole are just a few of the stand out companies who seem to be doing this and they are leaving their competition standing.

In the experience economy, where many customers appear to be seeking meaning and self actualisation in their lives, does your company really understand how to offer an emotional connection with your customers?

A good customer experience is one which integrates business goals with customer goals. So the first thing a company should do is clearly identify their business goals and then talk to their customers to build an understating of their customers’ goals. Then they need to look at ways to integrate them in a seamless experience. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it is a simple principle, but in reality it can be hard for companies to let go of some of their business goals to even up the balance. A great example of this is with the Post Office.

If you ask most British people (or indeed non-brits) about their experience in their local Post Office, I’d lay a hefty wager that at least 70% of customers would complain about the queues. In my experience, the total time spent in the post office is about 90% waiting in a line and about 10% actually being served. This situation was no different for me the other day when I spent 10 minutes in a queue to send a parcel abroad which took less than a minute once I was at the counter. Half way through my wait I was frustrated to find that reason for the delay was not because of the usual lack of staff, instead it was due to Post Office staff trying to sell broadband to pensioners who needed every detail to be explained to them. For some reason, management at the Post Office felt that it was more important to push their own broadband service than it was to help customers achieve their goals as quickly as possible. So, not only are they increasing an already annoying waiting time for customers, but they are also encouraging their staff to sell broadband to people in a context which doesn’t support their goal. Why the Post Office want to offer broadband to their already strange set of services is a topic for another day, but this example shows a clear imbalance between Post Office business goals and customer goals.

More often than not, we find that poor customer experience is the direct result of too much emphasis placed on business goals and not enough on customer goals. Quite often it is simply due to a disconnect between the board room and their customers. We try to help senior management gain a better understanding and empathy with their customers to ensure that every business decision has a balance between what the business needs and what the customer needs.

How do you ensure your business goals aren’t overpowering your customer’s goals?

Adverts are everywhere. Everyday we are bombarded by efforts to persuade us to buy this or use that. They raise our expectations by making promises about a product or service. When those promises aren’t kept, customers have a poor experience.

Recently we talked about how customers’ expectations are key to a good experience. Following similar thinking, we believe that when advertising raises customer expectations the customer experience must go beyond expectations in order to deliver a great customer experience.

Good Experience offer a brilliantly simple summary of the relationship between advertising and customer experience:

“Advertising is a promise of something.
Customer experience is the something.”

If companies are pouring money into advertising and raising their customer’s expectations, but they don’t match their investment in customer experience, it would follow that they risk investing in delivering a poor customer experience. As ICE suggest:

“If you were throwing a party, wouldn’t you clean up your house before you invited people over?”

Shouldn’t the people responsible for customer experience be driving the advertising? Only when they are confident the customer experience is consistently excellent should they start advertising. I suspect this is idealistic, but I wonder how much involvement or warning the departments contributing to customer experience have before an advertising campaign goes out.

What do you think? Is your advertising creating unfulfilled customer expectations? Are you spending too much on advertising and not enough on customer experience?

It was only a matter of time before Amazon outgrew their old tab navigation system. They have just launched a new design which maximises the screen real estate while retaining a lot of what customers are familiar with.

The main changes appear to be the navigation where they have used a more traditional left navigation which works well. The navigation minimizes once in a specific section and is revealed by a rollover ensuring they have as much screen real estate as possible. They have obviously done extensive usability testing and conducted a thorough customer-centred design process. Here’s what they have to say about it:

“We consulted the foremost experts in the field: our customers.

We travelled around the world, inviting customers like you to come and try out the new features and design. We listened to their feedback and made changes based on their opinions. Then we asked more customers for their advice, and we made more changes from their feedback. The design you see today reflects the input of many real-life customers of our UK and international websites.”

Overall they appear to have done a great job and I’m really pleased to see that they have continued to offer a good customer experience by understanding what their customers’ goals are. They say that after speaking to their customers they found the four most important customer goals were shopping, searching, saving and buying, so they made those areas a priority. After having a good look around though, I don’t see any big changes which would improve my experience in these four areas so I can only assume that they made minor tweaks as they felt that those areas worked well as is.

Teams which follow a thorough customer-centred design process on their website can be confident that when they launch their new site, customers will continue to have a good customer experience. In our eyes it’s no longer a nice to have, it is an essential part of a website redesign process. How confident are you that your web team will follow a customer-centred design process?

Let’s say you have a large internal team. Although they’re great at what they do, you might find it hard to get them to really focus on delivering great customer experiences. You may have tried setting new targets, team structures, motivational techniques, and away days to focus on a new customer-centric vision, but you’re still not getting what you want from them.

How do you get your internal team to unite behind a common customer-centred vision?

Here’s what we’d suggest to get your team to focus more on customers:

1) Run some usability tests on your website and get your team to attend - usability tests are great eye openers for people who’ve never seen them before. If you can get an external company or a separate internal team to run usability tests at your location for 2 or 3 days, you can invite as many people as you can to go along and watch. An hour of watching customers struggle to use your website is a great way for people to really understand customer behaviour.

2) Set your team some typical customer goals to achieve - get them to follow them to their conclusion without using shortcuts, technical tricks or internal knowledge. By getting your team to put themselves in the shoes of your customers, they can see firsthand some of the barriers they experience. The shift from an internal perspective to an external one can be a great way to realign their understanding and focus.

3) Work with your team to generate customer profiles - brainstorming customer characteristics and needs in a group helps people to incorporate a wider view of customers into their perception. Once the customer profiles are committed to paper and everyone agrees to them, you’ll find that the team no longer uses elastic terms like ‘customer’, ‘user’, or ‘consumer’ to justify their own personal opinion. Instead they remove their ego and talk about what Bob, Mary and Joe need.

4) Challenge your team to justify their work from a customer perspective - whenever your team present an idea, proposal, new product, or feature, ask them how it helps the customer. If they tell you all about how it will help Mary to achieve her goals then you know you’re starting to see a more customer-centred view from your team.

5) Appoint a ‘customer representative’ in each team - by ensuring that every project team has someone who represents the customers’ best interests at all times, you help to promote more customer-centred debate within your team. The more they get used to anticipating questions and concerns raised by the customer representative, the more you’ll get results which really improve customer experience.

These are just a few of our ideas. What do you think? How else could a team unite to be more customer-centred?