More and more companies are offering what they call “usability assessment” of websites and software.

What is usability?

Usability entails the general ease of use of all site components and features. Web usability is the general ease of use of all web site components.

A frequently used definition of usability (ISO 9241-11) covers ‘effectiveness’ (how easy different tasks are completed on the web site), ‘efficiency’ (how much effort it takes to complete a task) and ‘satisfaction’ (all positive attitudes toward the product and freedom from discomfort).

Others prefer to assess usability of the basis of how comfortable, intuitive, consistent and trustworthy experience it creates.

Often, for software applications usability components such as learnability (how easy is the system to learn), memorability (If someone returns to the system, how easily can they remember how to use it?), errors (how often errors are provoked) and satisfaction (Do people like using it) are used.

There are several usability-related methods, and procedures that require careful consideration when designing and developing Web site (some useful usability guideline could be found here). Each of these techniques has its own benefits and could be used in relation to the particular project.

Although there is no common quality standard, every company should decide on its own which usability method to use. No matter what technique is used, usability should be an integrated as part of website (software) development.

Why the incorporation of usability techniques is important to your website?

-    Will lower the development time and will reduce the development costs due to fewer usability related changes after the project launch

-    Will increase the number of retained customers

-    Will give you a competitive advantage over websites that are more difficult to use

Applying usability techniques during the development process saves you money, increases the product quality, number of the loyal customers, reduces the production time and gives you competitive advantage.

Usability techniques could be used in the early stages of website and software development using sketches, wire frames and prototypes and that will ensure that problems are seen and dealt with on time, before they are built into a design. At Stoy Solutions, we like using OmniGraffle. The same usability techniques could be used for evaluation of existing websites as a first step to redesign.

Designers and developers should consider a full range of user-interface issues, and work to create a Web site that enables the best and the easiest possible user performance.

Measuring usability could be made on the basis of comparison with an alternative design or a competitor’s website which will help visualising a more complete picture and better understanding of design issues.

next post comming soon…

In times of financial worries and unclear future for a lot of companies, we are confident that professional development, organisational knowledge and continuous improvement will be what differentiated good software houses from secondary players. With only 230 certified developers in the UK, we have proven again that we are not just innovating the way we work, but also conforming to the highest industry standards.

Having said that, we’ve also recently announced partnership with two very well known payment gateways: Protx and Nochex. Having worked for while with Protx on www.freightsearch.com, we have the benefit to our customers from our close relationship with payment gateway. We are currently in talks with Barclaycard, who can offer either an end-to-end solution, or going through Protx / Nochex.

A little bit of internal information from the Stoy Kitchen:

we are researching ways of easily deploying social networks. Interesting topics are scalability and inter-connection of micro social web communities (let’s say of around 100 people) i.e openID, etc.
we will also looking into the world of usability and web site perception. We will be able to offer free quality review of your websites, as part of our proposals. The general feeling is that there quite a lot of focus on “usability” as the only measure of website quality (combined with functionality and design). There are, however a few other aspects, without which we wouldn’t have a complete picture. A few post on this topic coming soon…

It is clear that you know what type of CRM system you need…
•    Strategic CRM – focusing on customer value, competitive differentiation, market segmentation and strategic positioning.  These systems provide a CEO-level view of customers and typically answers questions about loyalty and profitability per customer.
•    Operational CRM – focusing on customer service, data capture, database, relationships. Such a system will provide more accurate mail shots and access to complete customer information to call centres. This enables web sites to remember dispatch and payment information requirements and ease future transactions.
•    Analytical CRM – providing infrastructure for customer knowledge. These include transactions, customer contacts, descriptive information and response to marketing stimuli. At his point you  could start measuring Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and see the benefit of a particular customer over time.

Apart from simply telling an interesting story it will help you build loyalty and connect with your audience. You may also generate instant feedback and spark fruitful discussions.
One of the main benefits is that your blog will be visible to search engines, making it easier to spot you.
Most people feel that blogs are trustworthy compared standard web pages, because they directly represent someone’s opinion.
As you have already seen, online marketing is now a lot more than banner ads design to attract people’s attention. It is about understanding your customers through knowing the keywords that they use and then drive users to the pages related to their particular interests, needs and problems. Your content is king, and it needs to be useful. If readers are happy, they will return again and again, and this is key to success, thus you will not only sell products or services, but also build strong relationships with your customers, increase their trust, etc, etc.
Because people read blogs to find unbiased information, you should make it a sales pitch – instead, try to add knowledge in your domain that they will appreciate. As usual – the more targeted your blog is, the better.
Some practical tips:
Your blog’s name and tagline are important to search engines – choose them carefully.
Help your blog’s “importance” by linking it to your company website.
Add social media tags for services like del.icio.us, digg, etc.
RSS – it is a way of allowing other people to “subscribe” to your blog and reading the articles without even being on your website. All blogs should provide you with this functionality.
Be careful when giving contact information – while it’s very important, spammers can detect email address easily and cause nuisence. To avoid this, write emails in human readable, but not computer  readable. Here is ours: hello (at) stoysolutions (dot) com .
Cross-referencing will help you too, so do include links or RSS feed from other blogs and sites. This will automatically update your blog, which sends a positive message to search engines.
Cross-reference within your blog as well – navigation will help users reduce the number of clicks and search engines will enjoy the easier structure and reward you for it. This also means that it is good to keep posts short.
Don’t be disappointed if you don’t receive any comments or even visitors on your website after the first posts. It will take some time for people and search engines to notice you. You can help that by adding a link on your website, newsletters, or even email signatures.
Most importantly: clients will find your blog when searching for information or solution to their problems. However, in order to ensure that your customer will find you, it is crucial to post on topics that will be interesting to your (potential) customers and will add value to services that you provide. Use tools like wordtracker.com and google’s adwords tool .
Interact! Post comments on other people’s blogs. If you build a good relationship with influential bloggers (you will find those on de.licio.us etc). You could recommend your blog, and eventually, services.
Where to start?
Start by reading blogs in your industry. See if you can spot what they do to be successful. Start by posting comments there see if you can engage other people. Finally, when you feel comfortable, you can start your own blog.