Ideas|Products|Startups|VCs

Usability can make or break a web product, HipMunk, a flight search engine is one of the best usability example i can quote here which thrives on it. So what are the basic aspects of usability -

Navigation
Do users find your site easy and simple to navigate? Most owners tends to develop the website on their needs which meets their requirements, that’s a very common mistake. You may be highly comfortable in navigating your site, does new visitor also find it easy to navigate?

Take time to detach yourself and imagine how a newcomer would be  trying to navigate your site.  Ask someone who’s not familiar with your site to find specific information. Get them to think aloud as they do this, so that you can see where confusions arise and why. Difficulty in navigation is one sure way to drive visitors away and hand them over to another, friendlier, competitor website.

Add a sitemap
A sitemap is a navigational tool that also helps put your site high on the list of search engine rankings. Guide visitors in a tour through the site and teach them how to get from one point to the next with the use of this visual aid. Visual aids support navigation and are a great way to bring users directly to the page where the merchandise is chosen and on to the next to complete the purchase.

Excessive Adverts

Too many adverts is big turn off than a lead generating feature. It give pages a cluttered look which may discourage visitors who want a clean and structured presentation.

Also, too many adverts leaves the user the with an impression that the site owner cares more about making money than providing a useful online service, and create a bad user experience.

Ask yourself  if your website provides credible information/solve the critical pain point  for visitors to act upon your calls to action to buy.

Browser Compatibility

Users prefer to browse on different browsers through various devices. So your website must be capable of accommodating the mainstream browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari  Thus, after designing your site, put it through a trial navigation run and use all the functions that would normally be done by clients of each browser type.

Check for problems with pages loading or operating properly and see if visuals, graphics, animations and links function accordingly.

-Marina, vcBytes.com

- Allow users to discover the products in the store easily,  Products that are on SALE has to highlighted, there may be products that should be brought under the users attention because of other reasons e.g.  very popular.

- Most people like to browse through the store for seeing what they have and whether something attracts their attention. Browsing is made easier when products are categorized in ways that customers expect them to be. Use structured navigation such as a Double Tab Navigation with Breadcrumbs.

- Often people aren’t clear which product they want to buy. They may have several options that they want to compare before buying. So, enable a Product Comparison tool which  can address this need of a online user.

- User wants to see the product, try to assess the look and feel of the product though online products can’t be felt but effort should be made to get closer to it. User should very well know how it looks from all sides. Implement Gallery and capture all views and important aspects of product.

-  Many shops have shop assistants that help customers to find the right product for them. Online this is difficult to do so best thing to do is encourage users to recommend, rate, comments on product they have bought. Collect these recommendations and implement them smartly. Users tend to buy products on other users recommendations.

- Needless to say Shopping cart is one of the most critical element of an online shopping site. Shopping cart allow users to choose the products and give them the flexibility of buying products. Choosing an item and buying an item is altogether different use case.

- Many times when people shop they do not find anything for themselves but they find something that might interest a friend or relative. In that case they want to recommend it to others or letting others know about the existence of the product. Provide  them “Send a link” feature.

The essentials of shopping should be taken into account for online shopping as well since they have little to do with the medium itself.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

As a product manager/developer how many times you have been surprised by how user uses your system. From my own product management experience, I have noticed that users sometimes use products in scenarios that product managers hadn’t necessarily considered as primary use case and users are hooked to your secondary or not so relevant use case in your product.

Great news for Product Managers in India, IPMA (India Product Management Association) announces launch event in Bangalore, which is supported by IIM Bangalore on Sun Nov 28^th2010. We are excited and honored to have Ramkumar Narayanan, Vice President of Product Management, Marketing and User Experience at Yahoo, inaugurate IPMA and kick start the monthly speaker series. You can check out Ram’s bio here.

Ram will be speaking about How to build killer products for global markets from India

Abstract:
There are growing number of software (consumer, enterprise, mobile) products that are made in India and marketed globally, including emerging markets. Mr. Narayanan will talk about what is different about building products in India and how to come up with successful Go-To-Market strategies for emerging and mature markets.

More interestingly, Mr. Narayanan will also share some of the insights and best practices behind creating killer products that wow the customers.

Please register here as there is limited seating.

About IPMA:

India Product Management Association (IPMA) is a not for profit, grassroots organization. IPMA’s mission is to Foster product design and innovation and Catalyze product management talent in India. IPMA organizes monthly speaker series, workshops and more for professionals interested in product management and marketing. For more information about upcoming events, visit IPMA website.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

There are endless ways to innovate in design and new technologies are offering more and more opportunities to do so.  Lets us briefly go through the 10 simple guidelines for Good design I firmly believe in -

Good design makes a product useful

A product is meant to be used. It must satisfy certain needs, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product and removes anything that can detract from it.

Good design is aesthetic

Products we use every day affect our personality and our well-being. Hence, their aesthetics are critical. However, and this is very important, only well-executed designs can be beautiful.

Good design makes a product understandable

Gone are the days of RTFM. You didn’t need a manual to operate the iPhone, did you? I firmly believe good design can make the product talk and be self-explanatory.

Good design is unobtrusive

Products are neither decorative objects nor works of art. It’s important for the design of products to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Good design is honest

Our favorite! Good design does not make a product more valuable or innovative than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with false promises.

Good design is long-lasting

Do you know the IBM logo? Did you know it was designed 43 years ago? No need to change it. Like Paul Rand (the designer of the IBM logo), I believe that good design avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears old fashioned. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years.

Good design is thorough, down to the last detail

In good design, nothing is arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in designing a product show respect towards the user.

Good design is environmentally-friendly

Good design conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Good design is as little design as possible

Less, but better. Good design concentrates on the essential. Everything else is left out. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

-Marina, vcBytes.com