Just how important is usability to users?

Substantial research has found that usability is by far the most significant factor affecting site preference. It was four times more important than speed (how quickly each page loads) in determining which websites users preferred. Branding had little impact too.

The research also noted that users played even more importance on usability once ech website had been experienced as compared to what they were expecting their own perceptions to be. You can summise from this that users are often more interested in a website's usability that they actually realise. Indeed it is possibly something that they only consider important when they come across a website that does not prove particularly usable as fustrates the mas a result.

It is important to spend time ironing out usability problems at the start of the design process - this is the quickest and cheapest way of gaining an advantage over your competitor's websites. Usability tests are a suitable way of achieving this.

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.

Measuring website usability
How usable is your website?