Good usability cannot be found behind a login screen

The recent launch of Google Website Optimiser probably got a lot of web-masters thinking “Great! a free, off the shelf solution to usability”, just like Google Analytics was a free, off the shelf equivalent to all the big names such as Omniture, Nedstad and Hitbox.

Multivariate testing can provide insight into effective landing page rotations and web analytics can provide insight into navigation paths, dwell times and user journeys. Whilst these snippets of information are useful, I believe they cannot replace the expertise delivered by UE creatives and IA’s.

Working with UE creatives has made me realise that their day-to-day work involves:

- Detailed qualitative and quantitive research
- Defining typical user personas and user journeys
- Accessibility auditing and consulting
- Information architecture design
- User interface design and optimisation
- Content consulting and landing page design
- User testing

In addition to their practices and output, they have an understanding of web technologies, web design, consumer psychology and many of them come from backgrounds in design, web-design or product design.

User centered design has never been so important and even when I speak to clients about the design of basic things such as blogs, I always reiterate the importance of taking UI design and overall usability into consideration.

Good usability increases dwell times, lowers bounce rates, increases repeat visitors and most importantly helps the end user achieve their goal or purpose for using your website.

Whilst the mentioned benefits seem fairly straight forward, people often overlook the benefits that user centered design has on Natural Search Optimisation. Approaches adopted to improve usability and accessibility often simultaneously facilitate more efficient search engine crawling and indexing too.

In an economic and digital climate where the customer really has become King and every penny really does count, ensuring your website is user friendly is essential for maximising efficiencies and gaining the most value from website traffic.