How many times have you tried make a purchase Or have you tried to look for information but the website itself was not making it easy for you and you decided to look elsewhere?
Jakob Nielsen, known as the father of usabilityin 1995, formulated the 10 basic principles of web usability, which we will see below and which are still used today.
But first of all, you may be wondering what usability is.
What is usability?
Web usability can be defined as the degree of user-friendliness that a web site has for the users who browse it. Web usability measures mainly three factors:
- Effectiveness: whether the user achieves what he wants, i.e. whether he has met his objective.
- Efficiency: whether it has been accomplished or has been achieved without effort
- Satisfaction: whether the user is satisfied with the site or, on the contrary, has a negative experience.
Therefore, the main usability keys to optimize a website are:
- Have a clean design with a logical classification that facilitates user navigation.
- Granting control to the user trying not to make it feel lost at any time.
- Synthesizing and avoiding redundancy. If something is not necessary, we can do without it.
- Web adaptable to all types of devices. More and more users are using cell phones and tablets to surf the web.
Thus, working on usability when creating a website or improving it will bring us many advantages such as to increase revenues and saless, decrease the bounce rate, increase session duration, build user loyalty and achieve better communication with them.
Jakob Nielsen's 10 Principles of Web Usability
Now that we know what web usability is all about, let's go on to the Nielsen's 10 basic principles of web usability.
1. Visibility of system status
The user needs to know that they are doing it right. So the system, whether it's a website, an app or any other digital product, must always keep the user informed of what is going on and provide a response as quickly as possible. Therefore, each action performed by the user must generate a perceptible response by the user and in a short time. Some examples or practices of this principle would be:
- Confirmation messages when the user has submitted a form.
- Process bars when uploading or downloading files.
- Change the status of the elements of the website on mouseover or click.
- Breadcrumbs that indicate to the user where he/she is at any given moment.
2. Relationship between the system and the real world
We have to speak the same language as the user and connect with it. Make use of words, phrases and images that the user can easily recognize and that are clear, maintaining a logical and natural order.
For example, the trash can icon for file deletion on the computer or items in the shopping cart, the user intuits what it is for. However, if instead of this trash can we put any other icon for this function, we will give rise to the user to make a mistake.
3. User control and freedom
Users are human and sometimes it is normal for them to make mistakes. Therefore, we have to give them the opportunity to be able to undo or repeat a previously performed action.
If the user has the facility to go back or repeat a process, it will increase his or her sense of freedom and control of the situation.
To comply with this principle we must give the user the option to:
- Make and remake.
- Cancel actions in progress.
- Request confirmation from the user for important processes such as final payment on a purchase.
- Allow the user to return to a previous point.
4. Consistency and standards
We have to be coherent and give importance to maintain the same consistency throughout the web, that is to say, maintain the language, colors, navigation, etc..
Using similar elements to perform similar functions will be more predictable, easier and more intuitive to use. What can we do?
- Icons and aesthetics must be consistent.
- Instructions should appear in a similar place.
- Vary text size by up to four levels, text intensity by two and use no more than three different fonts.
- No more than four or seven colors should be used on a regular basis. Additional colors should only be used occasionally.
- Maintain the same components and behavior in the different pages of the website.
5. Improve web usability by preventing errors.
The system must prevent the user from making mistakes before he/she falls into error. What does this mean? It must help the user to see their error before they take action.
An example of this principle would be when completing the shipping address data when making a purchase. If the user has left a mandatory field blank, there are let you know which field is missingwithout the user having to search for it.
6. Recognize rather than remember
It will always be better help the user to recognize, than forcing you to have to memorize the different elements and actions so that you can achieve your goal.
For example, we will be facilitating the user's objectives if in an online store we add the option to save articlesThis way, the next time the user enters the site, he will not have to remember the name of the product and search for it again.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
The website must be adapted to all types of users. Some functions such as shortcuts The keyboard shortcuts will make interaction faster for more advanced users but will not complicate navigation for those with less experience.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
We must omit all those elements that generate "noise", do not provide information, distract the user's attention or diminish its visibility.
Therefore, we have to avoid overloading the web designIn order to achieve this, users want to find clean designs that do not take too long to load. To this end:
- Keep only the most important, if it is not, you don't need to put it.
- Be careful with sizes. Having larger elements will not make them work better.
- Play with the spaces, if you use them properly you can create a clean design.
- Colors are also key, choosing the right one is important to convey the desired feeling.
9. Error diagnosis and correction
Try to make each and every one of the errors that may occur on the web understandable to all users. For it, we will have to use a simple and understandable language for all. communicating errors in a user-friendly manner and providing a solution or alternative to the user.
Surely on multiple occasions you have encountered a 404 error, if you are an experienced user you probably know what it is and what the solution is.
However, if we are dealing with a less experienced user, it would be better to the system informs you that the page you are trying to access does not work, is not found, and therefore the solution is to exit it.
10. Help and documentation
Sometimes the user needs help during the process to achieve his or her objective, therefore the system shall provide relevant information to the user that is easy to find and not too broad. Some examples of this principle could be:
- Guided navigation through the web or application, as soon as it is installed or opened, showing the basics and essentials.
- Section of FAQs or frequently asked questions that users may have.
- Online chat, much faster than other options such as e-mail.
Now that we have seen the simplicity of these principles, you will certainly be able to put them into practice in order to improve user experience of your website.
Like digital marketing agencyAt Geotelecom we carry out SEO audits for companies and eCommerce, in which we make a report related to the speed and user experience on your website.
Contact us and ask for more information!