Usability: what's in a name?

Usability is a very broad issue, so broad it can often be overwhelming when it comes to choose the right kind of testing methodology for your travel website and the right kind of company to conduct the analysis. Yet usability is a vital aspect for the success of a travel website, as it directly affects the conversion rates (i.e. your revenue) and the user experience (i.e. the perception and reputation of your brand).


Additional benefits of revising your website based on a usability test include: fewer requests for assistance, accolades for development of an high quality and friendly interface, an increase in off-line bookings as result of a positive image for your brand.

Usability evaluations come in many different forms such interviews and observations, cognitive walk-through, heuristic reviews and expert usability inspections, eye- tracking tests...each methodology having its pros and cons and applying to specific budgets and needs. In this article I will not discuss each option in details, but rather try to highlight some general points that are important to approach the issue with the right objectives in mind.

Not all websites are created equal
My first point is that usability best-practices should be industry-specific and that it is not effective to adopt a purely theoretical approach, and to test a travel website with the same methodology and expectations you would adopt for any other e-commerce or distribution website.

Let me make an example on this.
Let's suppose that a usability test on your website finds that a certain number of users launches a booking query, clicks on one of the result listed in the following page and then leaves the booking process, either by leaving your website altogether or clicking back on other navigation elements that are external to the booking funnel. A purely theoretical approach would probably identify some on-the-page design, graphic or functional elements as the core problems affecting your conversion rates. An industry-specific approach would instead bring some additional key-questions to the table: is the pricing competitive? what is my average booking window and are those users likely to come back to book at a later stage? how much quality content am I providing in the rest of my website in order to persuade a user to proceed with the booking?
The reasons for that users' behaviour could be outside the specific design issues: an holistic and travel-specific approach is advisable in order to avoid over-semplifications and a too design-centric approaches to conversion problems.

You need to add this kind of wisdom to any usability analysis, either by involving a travel expert in the process or by interpreting the data based on your specific knowledge of the industry and of your own company.

Design is how it works..and how it feels
Another element that usability tests often overlook is that websites are as much as a branding/marketing tool as a e-commerce platform. The capacity to engage the user at an emotional level is as important as the purely functional aspect: a gallery of beautiful pictures of an hotel, a page of fantastic VIP's references or a list of persuasive users' reviews could improve your conversion rates just as much as a complete user-centric website re-styling.

Your website is not just a booking engine, but rather a branded environment that must convey your identity and unique selling points: usability must work towards those objectives as much as towards a user-friendly, clean and clear interface; usability recommendations should consider business and marketing goals as much as the compliance to general usability best-practices.

Inspiration is fine
A very effective (cost/benefit) way to evaluate your website might be not too look at it in first place...meaning that a well-conducted benchmark analysis is possibily the best thing you can do to improve your website.

Instead of focusing on your own website limitations, scout for ideas, innovations and best-practices around you..leverage other people's experiences and talent, learn from the best-in-class and from the money they spend in analysing users' behaviours. A web-usability bechmark should include your direct competitors but, most importantly, should look at those travel companies that are setting the pace online: OTAs and big hotel chains need to constantly optimise their websites to achieve their huge distribution targets and can provide some usefull elements to understand what your customer expects when visiting a travel website.

Users are your best experts
Before paying someone for using your website and telling what enhancements would best meet your clients' expectations, why don't you ask you clients first? Actually, your customers are already answering most of your usability questions in this very moment, leaving a lot of informations about their navigation patterns, preferences and exit-points into your web-analytics software.

Brace yourself for trouble
Of course usability tests are best conducted while at a design stage, when the user interface is being designed, following the collection and analysis of relevant client and user requirements. Unfortunately this is very seldom the case. Re-designing part of an existing website can be a pretty painfull process, either for technical, budget or "political" reasons. So if you are ready to pay for a usability testing, then you should be very well ready to actionate the remedies that the analysis will indentify. Right?