Article

Improving usability drives customers to self-service

Companies increasingly want to move customer transactions to a self-service channel, and according to a new report from Forrester Research, usability improvement is the best way to accomplish that.

March 15, 2006 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

In the fourth quarter of 2005, Forrester Research conducted a survey of more than 100 companies with annual revenues of $200 million or more. According to Nate Root, the author of the resulting study, one trend became crystal clear: Respondents want to shift more customers to self-service channels like in-store kiosks, telephone systems and the Web.

They also said that they perceive usability improvement as the key method of moving those transactions.

"Companies with significant investments in self-service channels usually have pretty clear metrics on how many customers choose self-serve and how much each of those interactions costs," said Root in an interview. "So they have good visibility into which types of changes `move the needle' on self-service volume. Their experience trying to move that needle has shown that usability improvements, which are usually relatively cheap and quick to make, are better levers to pull than rewards and loyalty programs, which are usually big, expensive projects."

Improving usability requires a growing body of knowledge about the customer and what he wants to accomplish, meaning more money will be spent in 2006 on tools like customer behavioral research, satisfaction surveys, focus groups and usability labs. And Forrester's report shows that ethnographic research - "the study of user behaviors and understanding through direct field observation" - is becoming less theoretical and more of a real-world tool.

But according to Root, ethnographic research has a long way to go.

"Part of the issue is a terminology problem," he said. "Many of the companies we speak with still think that customer satisfaction surveys are good methods of ethnographic research. Relatively few firms really understand serious ethnography."

Still, the numbers evidenced in the report - more than half of the respondents plan to increase spending in this area in the coming year - hint that this might be changing.

Root points out that one tried-and-true business process, formal usability testing, isn't always used wisely.

"Traditional usability testing is a very valuable, effective way to find interface flaws that real users will trip over," he said. "But it's also relatively expensive and slow. Firms should use quicker, less expensive alternative methods, such as expert reviews, as a substitute for full-blown usability lab testing at some points in projects."