" After all this time on the Web, we all still get enamoured with sexy technology and forget why we're actually building websites for people. Jeffrey Veen "
" There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC, Convention of the World Future Society, 1977 "
" If the user can't use it, it doesn't work. Susan Dray "
" Good navigation and website design make it easier for users to find what they're looking for, and to buy it once they've found it. source: Donahue, 2001 "
" Have you ever heard of a customer who said, "This site is terrible, but I'm going to buy from the company anyway because (insert a big name developer here) put it together? Jeff Eisenberg "
" One usability study estimated that improving the customer experience increases the number of buyers by 40% and increases order size by 10%. source: Creative Good, 2000 "
" After move.com completed the redesign of their home "search" and "contact an agent" features based on a UI consulting firm's recommendations, users' ability to find a home increased from 62% to 98%, sales lead generation to real estate agents increased over 150%, and [move.com's] ability to sell advertising space on move.com improved significantly. source: Vividence, 2001 "
" Convoluted e-commerce sites can lose up to half of their potential sales if customers can't find merchandise, according to Forrester Research, Inc. source: Kalin, 1999 "
" IBM's Web presence has traditionally been made up of a difficult-to-navigate labyrinth of disparate subsites, but a redesign made it more cohesive and user-friendly.
According to IBM, the massive redesign effort quickly paid dividends. The company said in the month after the February 1999 re-launch that traffic to the Shop IBM online store increased 120 percent, and sales went up 400 percent. source: Battey, 1999 "
" More than 83 percent of Internet users are likely to leave a Web site if they feel they have to make too many clicks to find what they're looking for, according to Andersen's latest Internet survey. source: Arthur Andersen, 2001 "
" A bad design can cost a Web site 40 percent of repeat traffic. A good design can keep them coming back. A few tests can make the difference. source: Kalin, 1999 "
" User trials were used to redesign the EuroClix Website before its launch. In its first six months, it convinced more than 30,000 users to sign up. This study clearly shows that consumers' trust concerns can be alleviated significantly by providing relevant information when and where users need it. source: Egger & de Groot, 2000 "
" Poor usability is a potential element in lawsuits and other litigation. The recent case against Microsoft hinged on a usability question: Are users well-served when the browser and operating system are closely integrated? source: Donahue, 2001 "
" At HomePortfolio.com we monitored site traffic, observed consumers in usability studies and worked with internal business groups. This helped us make changes that made the site's purpose clearer and increased transaction rates measurably. The change increased the traffic up 129% the week we put it up. source: Interaction Design, Inc., 2001 "
" People want less information, they don't want more information. They want it to be easier for them to use. Easier for them to get what they want. Easier for them to do what they want to do. The next big breakthrough, in my mind, is going to come from the usability standpoint. Ted Waitt, chairman, CEO and founder, Gateway, Inc "
" 40% of online shoppers abandon an online transaction in favour of traditional channels. source: Zona Research "
" When we launched our new site we decided to do some [usability] testing. It turned out that it was the best £5,000 that we ever spent after we discovered that 80 per cent of the people doing the testing thought they had successfully transacted, when in fact they had only reached our summary page. Michael Ross, CEO of figleaves.com and a UserMetrics client "
" Good usability attracts high income, time poor, customers. source: UserMetrics "
" 28% of attempted transactions fail because the purchase process is too difficult. source: Boston Consulting "
" "Don't make me think!" Steve Krug "
" On innovation: "Conventions are your friends." Steve Krug "
" Evidence suggests that e-retailers who skimp on website design and user testing suffer significant and avoidable losses in revenue. source: Kearney (2001) "
" "The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive." John Sladek "
" "An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." Niels Bohr "
" “Look at the statistics: Women make 85 percent of all buying decisions - that’s $25 billion of purchasing power. All of a sudden, we’re a really hot demographic - and we don’t buy the same way that men do.” Karan Eriksson, CEO, Women In Technology International "
" “A bad web site is like a grumpy salesperson.” Jakob Nielsen "
" "Fortune 1000 companies each spend an average of $2 million per year on site redesigns, without knowing if the redesign made the site easier to use." source: Forrester Research "
" "You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site." Frank Lloyd Wright "
" "The future has arrived, it's just not evenly distributed yet." William Gibson "
" "The old days when we could just go into the back room and develop technology for the DOD are gone. Now we're developing technology for my mother, and that requires a whole new set of skills." Peter Denning, Chairman of Computer Science, George Mason University "
" "Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression." Sir John Harvey-Jones "
" "UserMetrics' approach throughout the project has been extremely professional." client: James Wiggin of The White Company "
" Over the last year online banking has attracted 6.3 million users, but a massive 3.1 million of those have closed their accounts already due to poor website design and inefficient service. source: Internet Money Issue 4 "
" A report by Creative Good showed that 39 per cent of test shoppers failed in their buying attempts because sites were too difficult to navigate. Additionally, 56 per cent of search attempts failed. source: Creative Good "
" You can increase sales on your site as much as 225% by providing sufficient product information to your customers at the right time. source: UI Engineering, 2001 "
" The average look-to-buy ratio on the Web is a paltry 2.7%. source: Kadison, et al., 1998 "
" "A very interesting and insightful exercise that will hopefully prove to be invaluable in increasing conversion rates and therefore sales." client: Kerry Jones of The White Company "
" "UserMetrics kept us up to date on the progress of the project, which is much appreciated ... the output has provided us with a lot of topics for improvement."client: Pam O'Hanlon of Cornwall County Council "
" "Comments and suggestions provided have been very useful in improving our site redesign and look forward to progressing to stage two." client: Scott Hall of Newcastle Building Society "
" "Remember that your users spend most of their time on other people's sites." Jared Spool, UIE "
" "Excellent work - succinct and to the point." client: James Wiggin, Web Manager, The White Company "
" "A usability benchmarking study of 11 UK university Web sites revealed that users familiar with university sites actively avoided using their search engines due to their perceived and actual failings." source: UserMetrics, 2004 "
" …it was definitely a worthwhile exercise. I think we should do it again." UserMetrics client: Melissa Kidd, E-commerce Manager of Derbyshire Building Society "
" It turned out that it was the best £5,000 that we ever spent..."UserMetrics client: Michael Ross, CEO of www.figleaves.com. (Source: ft.com December '02) "
" "Extremely useful" UserMetrics client: Bronwen Burton, Head of Direct Sales, figleaves.com "
" "I'm sure that the changes we will be making as a result of the findings will have a positive impact on sales." UserMetrics client: Alex Grady, Marketing Manager, Growell Hydroponics "
" "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." - Winston Churchill "
" "There's nothing quite like seeing video of customers struggling to spend money. We have already started making changes to our site." UserMetrics client: Joanne Uprichard, Marketing Manager, Sendit.com "
" "Testing is an iterative process. Testing isn't something you do once. You make something, test it, fix it, and test again." Steve Krug "