NN/g Conference Notes #6: How people look and click

People are stingy with their $ and with looks and clicks

Stock art can be a problem and duplicated in many locations. The same ‘happy woman’ was used on three websites: TurboTax, Xdrive, and Pair Networks

Hot potatoes – look at an ad and look away quickly

Men and woman instinctively look at ‘parts’ (men more frequently than woman)

People don’t look at images that are too small or have low contrast
– use simple/clear images

People look at faces
– not as frequently look at people turned away (not facing the camera)

Credibility – what makes the site believable?
– Credibility is a feel, using a phone number and contact information helps create a physical presence, which helps
– Google gullibility – higher in search results (increases feeling of credibility)

People read in an “F” pattern – Front load the content – put the main point first

Skipping vs. Scanning text – People who read well can scan pages, slow readers skip full sections of content (low literacy will read every word, including privacy or ISI)
– Front load sentences
– make link titles work without context (for scanning and reading with magnifiers)

People don’t scroll often – keep important info above the fold

NNg recommends writing at a 6th grade reading level

Scan-ability is improved by breaking up information into bulleted lists

Simple website example: http://www.jetblue.com/
Another enjoyable site: http://www.adagio.com/
Bad website example: http://www.additudemag.com/ (especially considering the audience)

Time on site – increased time-on-site is not always a good measure (exhaustive review with no results, vs. interest in learning or the content)
– this measure should be compared/contrasted with usability testing

Follow a convention for search (upper right or left corner)
– it’s dangerous to have another box that looks like search but isn’t

Two types of consistency = between site and within site
– Remove the burden from the user
– take away the brain power to physically operate the site
– Don’t change the navigation within a site

Allow your content to shine

Know when to innovate – are you ‘special’ enough (why doesn’t everyone do it that new way – that might be a stronger argument)– Don’t be lazy - innovate on the back-end (hide great programming) like Google maps

Website design is like fashion – people that get excited are not everyday people – wait until after it’s fashionable, don’t be a slave to fashion or a groupie (for example don’t follow Amazon.com)