5 key steps to improve your website' usability

Today we will talk about the usability of a website and why it is important. Firstly, what is usability? A definition from Web Wise Wording is the following one: ‘Web Usability is a ‘measure of the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which a user can achieve his or her goals on a website’. (Jana Brech, 2020, Web Usability Definition, Web Wise Wording). This means that you need to design your website around the user, his needs, and requirements. We will take the example of Nike to explain the 5 principles in web usability.

Step 1: Availability and accessibility

Firstly, it can be obvious but your website needs to work, the user needs to be able to access all the pages. You need to check regularly your links to be sure that they are still on the server you use so that your users can access the pages and that your website is responsible. It means that even if you look at a website from a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, ... it will be nice and easy to use for your users.

You can see on the example below that the website of Nike is adapting itself to the screen you use.

Step 2: Clarity

Your website needs to be clear and easy to use. Your users need to get to what they are looking for quickly, if not, they might just leave for a competitor. You need to follow a guideline while creating your website so that everything makes sense to the user and the information needs to be easy to find (with categories, …)

Nike uses a simple system by categorizing its products, the information is clear, there are no distractions from the page and you get quickly where you want to go.

Step 3: Learnability

Your website needs to be intuitive for the users so that they can navigate easily without having to research how to use it.

If you want to innovate, you should explain to the users how it works step by step. We usually like 

familiar products/services that we already know because it keeps us in our comfort zone. This something we have to keep in mind when designing a website.

For example, on the Nike app, there is new functionality in which you can find a pair of shoes by only downloading the picture of those shoes in the research tab.

Since it is a new functionality that we are not used to, the app explains it in a simple and clear way.

Step 4: Credibility

Your users need to trust your company and your website because they will give you private information. With an “about us”, “contact” section, you can reassure your users. Transparency is also a key nowadays, by saying what are the components of your products, your expertise in a field, … you can create a trustable relationship with your users.

Here you can find a “company details” section with the most asked questions so that we can be reassured of the service you will get.

On the contact section, you have access to different ways to talk to the brand. 

Step 5: Relevancy

You can have the best-designed website in the world, if your content is not relevant, nobody will use it.

To know what to put on your website, you need to know your users, what are their needs and interests. To know that you can organize surveys, talk to them on social media, analyze their behavior on your website, … (Sabina Idler, 2013, 5 Key Principles of Good Webstite Usability, the Daily Egg).

Nike does it well since it also categorizes its products through the sport you are practicing.

They adapted their website to the user's needs and behaviors. 

To conclude, having a website that uses good usability is primordial to get customers and traffic. Your website needs to be clear, efficient, and quick so that your users are understanding how it works and what it is doing for them.

Anaïs Meuret

#website #usability #web #accessibility #clarity #efficiency #nike 

Jana Brech, 2020, Web Usability Definition, Web Wise Wording, https://www.webwisewording.com/usability-definition/, 28/02/2021

Sabina Idler, 2013, 5 Key Principles of Good Webstite Usability, the Daily Egg, https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/principles-website-usability/, 28/02/2021