2004

Welcome to the spring edition of USEworthy. In this issue, we focus on e-commerce and public sector websites. The Argos website, said to be one of the three most visited sites in the UK, undergoes some usability scrutiny by Arlene Kline, Usability and Accessibility Specialist at The Usability Company.

Arlene conducted a usability assessment of the Argos website for Internet World magazine Jan-Feb 2004 issue. The Usability Company will be conducting a website usability assessment each month for Internet World magazine. If you would like The Usability Company to assess how well your website shapes up, please drop the editor of Internet World a line at: janine.milne@fastnet.co.uk

Lisa Halabi, Usability and Accessibility Specialist at The Usability Company provides an assessment of the five most common e-commerce web usability mistakes that she encounters through testing in our usability labs on a wide range of e-commerce sites across various sectors.

In the Rules of Attraction article, which first appeared in Internet World Jan-Feb 2004 edition, Paul Blunden, CEO of The Usability Company discusses the business case for usability, especially the issue of Return on Investment. The article explains how poor design equals poor sales suggesting that the quickest ways to double the amount of money you get from your website is to either increase the number of visitors by 100% - or double the amount they spend once they're there. The article suggests that the latter is easier and cheaper and will only cost around 10% of the investment the former would.

These comments are further supported by Joe Coughlin from Victor Chandler and Russell Gould from Charcol Online both long term clients of The Usability Company. According to Russell Gould, Head of eCommerce at Charcol Online, 'Customers were getting kicked back a lot by things we wouldn't have seen without (usability) testing. But a few quick changes resulted in happier customers, a drop in calls to the call centre, and almost immediate hikes in conversion rates…." This article is a must read for clients or those who are considering commissioning some usability work as it illustrates the benefits of usability from the clients' perspective.

In addition, the Guardian article "Is your website friend or foe?" Catriona Campbell, Chairman of The Usability Company comments on the usability issues facing public sector websites. The article discusses the general state of public sector websites and the usability challenges they are facing.

The Usability Company is pleased to announce that we recently celebrated our 3rd Birthday, which took place at Century Members bar Thursday March 11. Thank you to the staff, clients and suppliers who attended the party and made it such a great success!

There was much cause for celebration at The Usability Company this past quarter as we opened our new Edinburgh office! The Edinburgh office was opened in February this year in order to fully explore the opportunities Scotland's growing economy presents. Scotland is a particularly attractive location to The Usability Company due to its very strong IT and financial services industries and, of course, it is the homeland of our founder!

The Usability Company has tied up with the New Media Age (NMA) Effectiveness Awards, the biggest prize in new media! Usability will be one of the key tests for would-be NMA Effectiveness Awards winners this year, following an accord between The Usability Company and NMA. The Awards ceremony, which celebrates the best of interactive media for 2004, takes place in May. The Usability Company will assess all the shortlisted entries for the Awards in appropriate categories for usability and the findings will be included in the judging process. Furthermore, Catriona Campbell has been asked back to resume her place on the judging panel for the NMA Awards again this year!

The Usability Company welcomes Toby Turner to our sales team as Senior Account Manager. Toby comes to us from Hemscott Group Plc where he worked as an Online Investor Relations consultant for three years. Toby is now working in The Usability Company's corporate accounts department.

Catriona Campbell was invited to speak to some Brighton University PHD students alongside Guy Winter, Head of HCI at the BBC, January 12 2004. The event focused on iTV and Catriona gave a presentation on "Designing usable and engaging interactivity".

Marty Carroll, Head of Usability Practice, was asked to speak at the Comino conference in January. The conference, which is specifically for local government took place this January in Hinckley, Leicester where Marty spoke about and demonstrated the major usability issues concerning local government websites.

Marty was also one of the guest speakers at the eConsultancy/NetImperative Web Analytics seminar March 11, 2004. Other guest speakers included Jim Sterne and Matthew Tod. To learn more about the seminar and download the presentations please visit the e-Consultancy website.

This April, Catriona Campbell will be speaking at the International Classified Media Association, ICMA General Meeting at The Hague, Netherlands. ICMA represents market-leading publishing companies within the classified media from 38 countries worldwide. Catriona will be speaking and chairing the debate on who the target audience is for classified media and what they want from the online service offerings provided by publishing companies. For more information on this event, please go to the ICMA website.

It's amazing how often the same design mistakes appear on different websites.

Arlene Kline, Usability Specialist, The Usability Company

Websites are put to the test every time someone visits them, but the software used to record the popularity of a government site does not assess how easy it is to use. Sally Whittle explains why.

So your new website is fast, slick, got loads of content, and you can buy all your company's goods online off it over a highly secure link. Time to sit back and count the millions as customers stream to your virtual shop front, right?