Digital journeys have a problem

Have you noticed something interesting in the digital world lately?

New features of apps, websites and other digital products are getting released, but they’re not exactly making things better. In fact, people are complaining about the latest versions of mobile apps, saying they’re worse than the old ones. The latest software innovations are rushed to market, only to be found to have little to no practical use.

What is going on?

Why do organizations often sacrifice usability over new and sometimes half-baked features? Where is the balance between functionality and usability?

There’s this ever growing trend of releasing MVPs or beta versions, but they’re often not very useful or great. Some of the meaningful details are ‘left out’ of the features, seriously impacting the usability and the value of it for the customer.

Technical limitations? Limited budged? Urgency? Unfortunately, users won’t care, they will only consider if it worth the hassle and effort, or should they go somewhere else.

Why is usability so important?

There is a sad priority on doing something first rather than well. Consider all the energy, effort and money spent on that feature, only to be abandoned by your hard earned customers because of poor usability. Yes, customers might need this new feature, but they would need this in a usable way, the way they expect this to work.

Customers might come for the new features, but they stay for great usability and awesome customer experience.

Let’s bring up some business 101 to back this up:

Let those numbers sink in. A negative experience can potentially deter almost 9 out of 10 customers, leading them to seek alternative options. In simple terms, this is a simple equation: usability = customer retention.

This makes obvious that excellent usability plays a crucial role in user retention and ultimately contributes to the success of your business.

Who defines ‘excellent usability’?

UX? Developers? QAs? Business stakeholders? All of them is the right answer, right? I’m pretty sure that there is a good understanding that this is everyone’s responsibility in the business.

However, someone is missing from the list.

Someone who ultimately defines ‘great usability’. Beyond market trends, budgets, limitations and good intentions. In the end of the chain, someone, who is not part of the business, but responsible for every business’ success. The person who buys your product, uses your service.

The customer.

Huge load times? They go somewhere else. Limited functionality? Won’t return. Meaningless feature in a wrong place? Gets ignored.

And customers are more likely to share a negative experience in reviews and social sites. Although this is a form of feedback, it’s better to avoid getting to this point when developing your product.

How do you deliver ‘excellent usability’ then?

It seems like the customer holds the ultimate power in determining what is considered excellent. They are the ones to please.

Talk with them, listen to them. Understand and deliver towards their needs. Think about them as your most important, ruthless and selfish stakeholder.

It’s that simple.

Every stakeholder has expertise in their field, and they can have the best intention to create a great product. Although, no one should be overconfident about their assumptions of what’s best for the customer. Assuming is risky. The more you do, the more mistakes you could make.

Make sure you validate your assumptions, so they’ll become the building blocks of a great product. Validate your new feature before you release. Don’t disappoint the people who determine the feature’s ultimate success.

Food for though

Usability is more than just a design choice, a tech implementation or a trendy feature. It’s a foundational strategic element that directly influences the success of your product.

• When was the last time you talked with your customers?
• Who is the voice of your customer in your organization?
• Do you take them seriously?