LähiTapiola Finance fixed website conversion problems with usability survey
Usability research succeeds in pinpointing conversion barriers on a website that many organizations may miss.
What to do when users no longer return to the website? Does the website work as it should? There are certainly some problems, but which ones are really the most critical?
LähiTapiola Finance wanted to solve such questions based on researched information and asked Dagmar to use a usability study to find out what kind of condition the usability of the Autotie.fi website is.
“In a car dealership, not everything can be finished online, but our goal is to develop the service as unsigned as possible. In this case, usability must also be as excellent as it can be. For example, situations must not arise that the customer simply does not understand,” says Jani Leväsalo, Director of IT and Procurement at LocalTapiola Finance.
Even simple things on your site can reduce your chances of conversion
Website usability research is a UX research method that observes how test users use the site and how they perform in scenarios or test tasks designed for them.
IT IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND THAT IN USABILITY RESEARCH, WE LOOK AT THE USABILITY OF A SITE, NOT THE COMPETENCE OF TEST USERS.
Esa Töykkälä, CX Specialist, DagmarIn website development, the end user’s perspective is often forgotten. This is why many users come across frustrating hurdles on the website that can come as a surprise to site designers.
For example, the website may contain functions or content whose purpose is crystal clear to the organization, but not at all to the user. Even simple errors in the appearance of the site can cause situations where the user does not know or is unable to complete the desired action.
“Without usability research, we would still be in a situation where certain customers would never continue until a financing decision. In other words, the results of these studies will help us get more customers until the end of the process, which is of course the main purpose of the project,” Leväsalo says.
Usability research gives confidence in planning and decision-making
Usability research produces new insights and observations on the challenges faced by users. When an organization researches and understands its site users better, it can be sure that the developers’ work is also focused on what is relevant to the users and the business. Sometimes usability research also reveals very concrete problem areas, such as bugs, that do not require much brainstorming to solve.
“This kind of research makes decision-making a lot easier. So far, the planning has been a bit like whether to put this here and that there. But some of the feedback and reactions from the test users were so clear that it is much easier to proceed based on them,” says Leväsalo.
Usability research can pay for itself many times over
Usability research is a research method that produces qualitative data. The organization that gets the best benefit from research is the one that actually rolls up its sleeves and starts developing better solutions for the site’s users. LocalTapiola did not leave the results of the study on the shelf to gather dust, but began to correct the problems revealed by the study immediately.
Leväsalo points out that the results of a project such as usability research are difficult to measure accurately. However, he estimates that the usability study has been of significant benefit to Autotie.fi’s business.
“Based on Dagmar’s research, we estimate that roughly as many as a quarter would leave the process on the site completely unfinished without our changes. We do see that this kind of research has a radical impact,” Leväsalo says.
DAGMAR UNDERSTOOD WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR IN THE STUDY, PERHAPS EVEN BETTER THAN WE DID.
Jani Leväsalo, IT and Procurement Director, LähiTapiola FinanceCareful planning ensures the most beneficial results
Leväsalo has one tip for anyone planning a usability study on the site: contact experts as early as possible. There is often a risk that without the experts’ perspective, the setting of the question or the main theme of the research may remain too narrow.
“A positive surprise for us was that we gave the project a scope, but Dagmar was able to take an even broader perspective on the research. Dagmar understood what we were looking for in the study, perhaps even better than we did. I would say that it is always a good idea to contact experts first to understand what you are trying to achieve and why,” Leväsalo says.
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