User Experience and Usability

User Experience (UE) can determine the eventual fate of any customer-facing application. Most website usability studies suggest that improved user experience has a direct impact on conversion and business growth. While some companies argue that user experience is mostly a holistic concept, in reality, it is a lot more than that. There are measurement metrics that can be applied to quantify your performance and results. Although there are plenty of UE/UX agencies out there, it is often difficult to find an agency that spends time learning your business objectives and delivers measurable results.

Before you hire someone to do user experience and website usability work, here are some questions you should ask yourself.

• Why am I thinking about this to start with? Do I already know my problems?
• How do I know that this will improve my current website?
• Has my business model changed significantly since the website was originally designed?
• Do I need quantitative data to substantiate design decisions?
• Which segment of my customers will benefit most from this effort? Is Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) needed?
• Have I done competition analysis to see how my website compares to my leading competitors?
• Obviously this list is not exhaustive but it should provide enough information to get you started.

How Amplimark Can Help

Amplimark has made a significant investment in acquiring skills and technologies to deliver user experience and usability solutions to its clients. We use industry data that is gathered from thousands of actual websites with millions of visitors. We use data analytics and design expertise to determine what needs to be done and how to improve web usability and user experience.

Our approach is simple and relies on following design and functionality components to deliver exceptional user experience and web usability.

• User-Centered Design – very few web designers understand this piece of the user experience puzzle and even fewer care. Often, web design work is driven by cost, deadlines, and designers’ aspirations rather than actual business needs. This usually leads to a final product that serves no purpose. It is important to note that a highly usable website doesn’t have to have all the bells and whistles. For example, Craigslist.org doesn’t have a jaw-dropping design, but it does what it promises and does it exceptionally well. At Amplimark, we understand user-centered design, and we maintain a laser-sharp focus on what matters most.
• Online Usability Research – this is something that is refined and mastered with time. Good web design agencies do not stop designing once a website is launched. They go a step further and fine-tune their design based on traffic data and customer feedback. It is a learning process, and small tweaks here and there can have a significant impact on the overall user experience.
• Competition Analysis and Research – a good web design agency usually spends time reviewing at least a few competitors’ websites to understand the industry and the customer needs. Most clients are not tech savvy, so they rely on the web designers to take the lead and make suggestions. At Amplimark, it is our job to document the competitive landscape and then share this information with our clients to develop a design framework. Although competition analysis adds time to the overall project schedule, it pays off big in the long-run.
• Build a Brand – branding should be one of the top priorities for any business. Every business should review their business strategy to figure out their intrinsic value and how to use it for branding. Any web design project should be consistent with the overall brand strategy and branding message. Strong brands develop intangible assets that are difficult to duplicate and provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Make sure branding is part of the conversation when it comes to user experience.

Need help with user experience or usability? Contact us online or give us a call at (515) 225-6438 to schedule a free, no-obligation initial consultation!