The rules of good usability apply across every aspect of your business, but is especially important anywhere your business touches your customer. Here are a few things to consider as you plan your marketing / customer service / sales campaigns.
Style/Brand:
- Does your layout reflect corporate branding?
- Does the style project the image your want to convey?
- Are the images and tone sufficiently familiar, yet distinct?
- Is your style represented across all media including personal interactions between your staff, management and customers?
Organization/Navigation:
- Is the navigation easy to learn and is it easy to find the types of information visitors hope to fine? Unusual print layouts can be as confusing as poorly designed websites. Remember, it’s not necessarily wrong to be confusing; sometimes the confusion is designed in, to demonstrate a key attribute or shake up the audience.
- Does the end-project ultimately meet the expectations of your audience? How difficult is it for them to get your message and is the level of difficulty a good thing, an insult, or an obstacle?
- If the piece needed to be re-done (and it will in time) is the navigation flexible or will you need to start again from scratch?
- Have you got all the files safely stored but readily available, in their raw format so they can be tweaked if needed?
Interface:
- Is the layout friendly, providing customized content without being intrusive?
- Does the look overwhelm the message?
- Do the text, individual graphics and overall layout, match or better yet, enhance each other?
- If this is a digital product, is it intrusive? Does it ask unnecessary questions or secretly track users?
Technology:
- Does the web site use efficient servers?
- Does it work across all browsers/platforms?
- Does it slow down other applications after it loads or download poorly on dial-up connections?
- If there are goods for sale, is anything slowing or inhibiting the process?
- Is your printer able to download from an FTP site?
- Can they open your files?
- Have they got requirements you need to follow?
- Are they capable of printing your order on your preferred paper at a cost you can afford in the timeline you need?
Widgets and Web 2.0:
- Are web 2.0 features used appropriately and only when they enhance the user experience?
- Do they add to the site in meaningful ways by improving customer contact, generating more conversions, or making the site stickier?
- Do they degrade nicely on platforms that are unable to read the web 2.0 / HTML5 technologies?
Customer Contact:
- Can customers get help 24/7 via their preferred method of communication from online chat to phone?
- When they reach your customer service interface, whether a human, automated voicemail, or online form, can they express their needs?
- Are email and voicemail returned promptly (within 4 hours)?
- If someone phones and hangs up after hitting voicemail without leaving a message, do you use call display to return their call?
- Do you create such rigid rules around customer contact that unusual needs can’t be met? This can include asking for phone numbers or email addresses that the customer may not have; demanding the customer read a recaptcha script when they are sight impaired; requiring personal information the customer may not wish to divulge.
Security/Privacy:
- Are visitors safe on your website or with customer service?
- Is their privacy protected? Is the information we collect properly safeguarded? Is their security guaranteed in writing?
PR and Media Relations:
- Is there a media section, a media kit and an available spokesperson?
- Do you monitor blogs and other media for bad publicity and do you have a response policy?
Analytics:
- Are traffic and conversions being tracked?
- Is the information used to find trends and adjust the website appropriately?
- Are customers aware of your tracking and are they able to opt out?