Importance of Usability

The science of usability emerged during World War II from a need to optimize the designs of increasingly complex military offensive weapons systems and to optimize the connections between people and machines. It was discovered that the application of formal research methods to human-machine interaction could dramatically improve the efficiency of weapons systems, make their development more predictable, accurate, and reliable in achieving mission objectives.

Since then, usability methods and principles had been successfully applied to the design of products and systems, from simple consumer goods to aerospace systems. Until recently most critical user-interface web site design decisions were left to the intuition and visual bias of the development team, but it is now recognized that in many cases this approach yields error-prone and complex screen-based systems.

Here are a few hard facts about web usability:

For every dollar spent acquiring a customer you will spend $100 re-acquiring them after they leave because of poor usability or bad customer service.
There is a direct correlation between call center volume and a web site's usability. Poor usability increases the cost of call center support.
For every $1 spent improving core usability functions related to way-finding and form-filling you will get $50-100 return. For every $1 improving visual appearance beyond acceptable level you get very little or no improvement in return on investment (ROI).

Visit our Resources Section for more information on Usablity

Back to usability services overview

Authorize.Net Merchant - Click to Verify