Usability testing evaluates how easy a system is to learn and use and it offers many benefits to both users and development companies. Benefits to users include increased pace of learning, decreased user task time and errors and increased jobsatisfaction. Development companies benefit through providing less technical support and training to users, improved management of risks associated with usability rework as well as improved user acceptance. Companies also develop software faster and more cheaply since only relevant functionality is produced and they can identify which designs are effective and which to avoid Benefits of web usability include increased sales, increased traffic and improved user productivity and features usage.

Cost-Benefit Value of Usability Testing
The basic assumption of a cost-benefit analysis of usability strategies is that a usable system will result in tangible, measurable benefits. There are many different areas where usability strategies can have cost-benefitvalue. Four of these are discussed in the forthcoming sections:
» Development – how usability results in optimization of the development process
» Technical Support – how usability results in technical support savings
» Sales – how usability increases product sales
» User – how usability positively impacts user performance and satisfaction

Development Benefits

Reduced development time : A user-centered design approach ensures that the needs of users are built into the product development cycle. This, in turn, ensures that only relevant functionality is designed into a product – no more, no less. The user-centered design approach combats the common industry misconception that “the more features a product has, the better”. An explosion of features in a system can be highly detrimental because extra features can clutter an interface and make it more difficult to find useful features. Features are also expensive to develop and, if they are not used, developing them becomes futile.

Reduced rework: If usability testing is done early in the design life cycle, changes may be made to eliminate problems and achieve benefits much more cheaply because code has not been written. Thus, changing and fixing usability problems early in the development life cycle can substantially reduce rework costs later on.

Technical Support Benefits

Decreased user training: Many organizations spend large amounts of money training users on new software systems. When usable systems are designed, they become more intuitive and users require less training on the system before can they use it.

Decreased help-desk calls and on-site technical support: Usability decreases the burden on a company’s help-desk and on-site technical support staff because users do not require assistance addressing usability problems.

Decreased unofficial technical support: Users often choose to disturb non-technical colleagues to help them solve usability problems. When a system is more usable, these disturbances are less likely to occur.

Sales Benefits

Competitive edge of marketing usable products: Usable software can accrue increased revenues from external customers due to increased marketability. An area where this is particularly critical is that of ecommerce. On the Web, instead of buying software first and then experiencing its level of usability later, customers encounter usability first and then decide whether to pay or not. In addition, in e-commerce, the company’s website becomes the crucial primary interface to the customer.

More satisfied customers: When users suffer frustration caused by unusable software, the company’s credibility is tarnished. In contrast, satisfied customers have brand loyalty and are much more likely to buy the same brand in the future with less researching of the particular product.

Higher ratings for usability in the press: Usability is one of the main criteria used to critically rate software packages in commercial publications. A wide variety of trade magazines evaluate new software releases that are sent to market. According to Nielsen (1993), approximately 15% of reviews by trade journals is devoted to analyzing the “user-friendliness” of new software products.

User Benefits

Reduced user task time: Optimizing user efficiency relates to cutting down unnecessary work-hours resulting in potentially large savings to companies. The benefits due to improved user efficiency are particularly evident for high-volume, repetitive tasks, such as data capturing.

Reduced user errors: Users will not make as many errors on a usable system because they have a better understanding of the system. Typical error-prone situations can be “designed-out”. This, of course, relates closely to the previous benefit of improved user task time.

Improved user satisfaction: This relates to higher levels of staff morale, which have been shown to reduce staff turnover and increase job motivation and company loyalty.

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