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Usability four times more important than speed or branding

'Believe what users do on a website, not what they say about it,' is a strong conclusion from new research conducted by website analysts, optimum.web, to measure which of usability, branding or download speed has the greatest influence on site preference among users.

In a series of controlled tests optimum.web found that usability was by far the most significant factor affecting site preference. It was four times more important than speed in determining perceptions of a website. Branding had little to no significance at all.

The findings contrasted strongly with a separate conventional questionnaire research survey which was conducted simultaneously among 300 active internet users. This survey suggested that of the three characteristics usability would contribute 37%, speed 34% and branding 29% to site preference. The controlled tests showed the actual figures were 75%, 19% and 6% respectively.

"While the ranking between usability, speed and branding is in the same order, the difference in importance became considerably larger once users experienced, and then, rated specific sites compared to when they were just asked for their views," says Keith Simpson, optimum.web's managing director.

"The two most important learnings for new media professionals are, firstly, not to base interface design decisions on what people are saying. Usability tests have to be conducted. Secondly, be sure to prioritise usability as this will have the greatest impact on whether your site is preferred to your competitors."

The research was conducted among a balanced sample of 24 specially selected users who were all aware of a leading car-retailing brand. Each user then accessed four different versions of the company's website which had been doctored to have good or bad usability, fast or slow speed and a known or unknown brand. For the purpose of the test usability was defined in terms of site structure, navigation, consistency, user support and overall design.

Users had to perform a series of tasks on the sites following which they evaluated each site on a range of criteria such as trust, likeliness to return and expected level of service.

At the top level of analysis the results showed that users preferred sites with improved usability, fast speed and known branding. But, once the findings were subjected to further statistical analysis, the research showed that usability was by far the most important factor of the three.

"In interactive media it is essential that interfaces are assessed for usability either by teams of experts or panels of users," continues Simpson. "To not do so increases the risk of failure as sites that deliver a poor user experience are never successful."

Optimum.web 'usability vs speed and branding' research. Overall finding.

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