Q&A: Web Usability Expert Jared Spool

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with web usability expert Jared Spool. Jared is CEO and founder of User Interface Engineering the largest research, training and consulting company specializing in web and product usability.

Watch Jared speaking at SXSW 2009:
Journey to the Center of Design Pt. 1 and Journey to the Center of Design Pt. 2

Over the 20+ years Jared has been working in the industry, he has helped countless companies reach their business goals, both online and offline.

Jared was kind enough to agree to a short interview and share some invaluable insights into web usability.

What are the common mistakes made by designers?

I think the most common mistake is not spending enough time watching users work with their designs. They assume they know who their users are, what they are trying to do, and how they go about doing it. However, when they finally sit down and watch the users, they quickly discover their assumptions have been wrong, and therefore the decisions they made weren’t creating the great experience they thought they were.

“The best designers spend at least two hours every six weeks, just watching their users use their design or a competitor’s design”

The best designers spend at least two hours every six weeks, just watching their users use their design or a competitor’s design. If you’re not doing that, you’re missing important information. It’s not difficult or expensive, yet it’s something we all treat as a nice-to-have instead of a requirement. And that’s what gets us into trouble.

Over the past 5 years do you think in general web usability has improved?

I think there are more sites that have paid attention to their users’ online experience. So, that could be a ‘yes’ to improved usability. But there are still a ton of sites that are really hard to use. For example, many people regularly complain about their online banking site. Or that expense reporting application on the intranet.

I think, proportionally to the number of sites and applications now online, the percentage of sites that deliver frustrating experiences is still probably the same. But the high profile sites are better than they were. Mostly. Facebook recently redesigned their site and 97% of the users reported they wanted the old design back. They were frustrated by the changes.

A major retailer, in the top 15 e-commerce sites, redesigned their site in 2008 and immediately saw a 40% drop in purchases, because they made it more frustrating that it had previously been. It’s easy to break an experience, especially if you haven’t done your homework. So, I think it’s fallacious to say things are better in any major way. I think we all have frustrating experiences every day.

Which websites do you admire from a usability perspective?

I think Netflix has done an amazing job of really understanding how the design of the site drives their business. They make changes all the time, pushing new releases out every two weeks. Yet, they don’t make major redesigns or changes to the site.

Each time the user visits the site, it feels familiar, even though subtle things are now different. They can only do this because they spend hours each week studying how people use their site.

An important part of making a more usable website is about sticking to conventions, do you think the spread of blogging platforms such as Wordpress helped or hindered this?

I’m not big into sticking to conventions. I think that’s the wrong approach. Instead, I like to ask, “What are our specific users’ expectations?” “What do these users come having previous experience with?” And, “What pre-existing knowledge do we want to take advantage of?”

If you go into the design thinking you need to stick to conventions, you’re likely to pick the wrong conventions and thereby make a more difficult design than is needed. However, if you go into the design thinking you need to learn these answers about your specific users, you’ll end up designing something that works specifically for them. It’ll match conventions when it needs to and innovate when it’s the best time to do so.

Can a businesses online usability effect its brand in a negative way?

Absolutely! Of course, it depends on how engaged the customer is with the brand to begin with. Customers who are strongly engaged with a brand will put up with more usability issues than customers who are weakly engaged.

Take a brand you love, whether it be a e-commerce site, type of technology, or favorite restaurant. If their site is hard to use, you’ll likely give them some slack and just say, well, they are good in other ways. Now think of a company you regularly find frustrates you. Maybe it’s an airline or government agency. If their site gives you any problems, will you cut them slack? Or will it just frustrate you more?

“It’s important that designers focus on eliminating frustration and creating delight.”

The thing is that every little frustration reduces brand engagement, even if just by a little. And it adds up. We regularly watch people who go into a site with a high engagement and come out thinking they’ll never do business again. Frustration weakens a brand and delight strengthens it. It’s important that designers focus on eliminating frustration and creating delight.

Do all websites need to do some form of usability testing? and if they do, how should they get started?

No. Websites where the designers don’t care if anyone uses them (or don’t care if the users become very frustrated when they do) don’t need any testing. But, all other sites need testing. It’s really simple. Find a user, ask them what they do with the site, sit them down in front of it, and ask them to do just that.

Like anything, there are tricks and techniques for getting the most out of your testing, but it’s really just as simple as sitting and watching. You can do it anywhere with practically anyone and get useful information. Remember, usability testing is all about informing all the decisions that you need to make in the process of creating a great design. Every usability problem that has ever been introduced into a design has done so because the designer didn’t have a key piece of information.

When you conduct usability tests, you collect the information that will make your designs better going forward. So, if you want to get better designs, you need to conduct usability tests

If I wanted my website tested professionally how much would it cost?

It’ll cost you two hours every six weeks. If you want to go whole hog, you can spend two hours every week, like the best folks do. You can hire someone to do your testing for you, but I don’t recommend it. It’s sorta like hiring someone to take your vacation for you. It gets the job done, but it’s probably not what you were really looking for.

It’s easy to learn how to do usability test. My favorite book for learning is Dana Chisnell & Jeff Rubin’s Handbook of Usability Testing. They’ve just revised it and it’s a perfect way to learn how to do testing yourself.

“Usability testing isn’t hard to do. It’s not rocket science.”

Usability testing isn’t hard to do. It’s not rocket science. (We know it’s not rocket science because NASA is one of our clients and they have very strict definitions as to what rocket science is. They’ve told us this is not it.) Buy the book, read the chapters, and you’ll be up and running with a test in no time, learning cool things that will make your design rock.

What kind of people and businesses attend your conferences?

100% human. (We’ve never found that other species are that interested. Seriously, our conferences are attended by anyone working with technology and wanting to create great experiences.

For example, we’ve just launched our second UIE Roadshow series for this year. At these sessions, we’ll have people who design sites for all different types of applications and organizations.

Typically, the people who come are designers and managers in charge of their design’s user experience. They are all looking for ways to get better at what they do. And, because our teachings are all based on our years of research, they get more than they come for. We regularly hear that they took what they learned in our sessions and make instant, measurable changes that put their organization light years ahead.

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