How To Quantify The User Experience

Many look to the user experience as an overall indicator of Website success. Analyzing how effectively a Website provides for a net positive user experience can often turn into a subjective affair, rife with opinion and short on objectivity.

This article outlines a quick-and-dirty methodology for quantifying the user experience, which I've found to be very useful in providing clients with a quick, objective, visual representation of where their site stands vis-à-vis the competition or past development efforts.

What is the User Experience?

The term "user experience" refers to a concept that places the end-user at the focal point of design and development efforts, as opposed to the system, its applications or its aesthetic value alone. It's based on the general concept of user-centered design.

The user experience is primarily made up of a four factors:

• branding
• usability
• functionality
• content

Independently, none of these factors makes for a positive user experience; however, taken together, these factors constitute the main ingredients for a website's success.

Take, for example, a brilliantly designed site that routinely gives server errors, or times-out. Or imagine a fantastic, database-driven application that, for some reason or other, is never used because it's buried deep within the bowels of the site's information architecture. In both cases, we see that the independent elements of branding, usability, functionality and content structure aren't necessarily indicative of a site's success. Yet, when taken together, these core elements provide the basis for the user experience.

The Need for an Objective Analysis Tool

Say you've got a new lead -- they're unhappy with their Website in its current form and want you to help steer the site in the right direction. If you're like me, the first thing you'll do is take a look at the site and make some cursory mental notes. How then do you convey these ideas and notes back to the client without simply ripping the current site apart?

The problem is that each of our perceptions of how 'good' or 'bad' a Website is, is skewed by our personal backgrounds and specialties within the industry. Asked to evaluate a Website's benefits and constraints, a developer, usability professional, designer or information architect may come up with an entirely different critique.

An objective tool for measurement and analysis helps you provide your clients with fact-based recommendations, as opposed to mere conjecture and opinion. The methodology we'll explore in this article will help you to:

• Remove your personal preferences (subjectivity) from the equation as much as possible.
• Enable persons with different backgrounds (designers, developers, clients) to share a common understanding of the site.
• Create ground rules for comparisons of the site to those of competitors, or past development efforts.
• Provide your clients with a fact-based, visual representation of their site's benefits and limitations.

Measuring the User Experience

As mentioned above, the user experience is made up of four interdependent elements:

• branding
• usability
• functionality
• content

But, how can we quantify and measure these seemingly intangible elements?

The methodology is quite simple. We separate our analysis into four sections -- one for each of the four elements of the user experience. For each of these elements, we create a series of statements or parameters against which the Website in question will be measured. A scale of 1 to X is created for each of the statements; we give each statement a score within this range.

Once you've completed this first part of the analysis, you should have a score for each of the statements in each of the four sections.

In the sample analysis attached to this article, we only used five statements or parameters for each element. Consequently, we work with a 20-point scale, so that the maximum total score of the site is 100. So, if we added an extra five statements or parameters to each element, we'd rate each on a 10-point scale.

Below, find a brief explanation of each of the elements and the statements or parameters used in the sample analysis.

Branding

Branding includes all the aesthetic and design-related items within a Website. It entails the site's creative projection of the desired organizational image and message. Statements used to measure branding can include:

• The site provides visitors with an engaging and memorable experience.
• The visual impact of the site is consistent with the brand identity.
• Graphics, collaterals and multimedia add value to the experience.
• The site delivers on the perceived promise of the brand.
• The site leverages the capabilities of the medium to enhance or extend the brand.