Informa Studio at Istanbul World Usability Day Event
Posted in: Blog, E-Commerce, Usability by Luka Klemenc on January 8, 2012
Informa Studio went to Istanbul looking for answers to the question: Do we still need usability?
World Usability Day is a day of celebration for usability professionals and promotes the valuable discipline of Making thnigs Easier to Use. But it has another more important role. It is a day to reflect where Usability stands in science and society, how it has evolved and most importantly – Do we still need it?
The answer is simple: More than ever!
Top 3 Reasons why we need Usability in E-commerce in 2012
E-commerce is evolving faster than ever. Not only new services and products on the supply side but also numerous new devices that consumers use.
1. Mobile
It is no coincidence that the event in Turkey was hosted by Turkcell – Turkeys biggest mobile operator with nearly 40 milion subscribers. We’re all using our smartphones for browsing the internet, reading our feeds, posting on social networking sites. Mobile commerce is on the rise. Half of the UK population owns a smartphone as of October 2011. They are the highest-selling consumer electronic device category in US. Usability-wise mobile applications and websites still have a long way to go. Turkcell’s state-of-the-art usability lab is the step in the right direction.
2. Languages and Localization
E-commerce is really going global in the last couple of years. Multilingual sites know the importance of localization and usability issues connected with it. Jure presented a study we conducted in our lab on how people use foreign language websites. Results are pretty straightforward. Selling on-line to different countries in different languages is tricky. There are no cheat-sheets for it. Usability testing is crucial.
3. New Products and Services
Not only have the devices that people use changed. The products have also changed. E-commerce is not a huge Buy Now button anymore. We are buying complex services and products online. Just imagine e-travel. In my talk I was trying to explain How to deal with the increased complexity of services on-line. But let’s leave that for another blog.
What others were saying
It was very good to see that the speakers and visitors came from both academic and business background. Professors from 4 different universities explained how they incorporate usability and user centered design in their lectures. Hopefully that will bring many skilled practitioners to the field in the future.
Turkcell and our host Alper – thanks for having us.
