Are You Guilty of Crimes Against Usability? Let the Jury Decide

If your website was presented before a jury of your peers, would you be found guilty of gross marketing misconduct or absolved of all charges of crimes against usability?

The fact is, your website is being judged. Each and every visitor that comes to your site is actively weighing, measuring and perhaps even finding you wanting in how you present your information to them. Every person will judge you on how quickly they can find the information they want, how complete that information is, and whether or not all their questions get answered.

If you're selling a product, the ultimate verdict is whether the visitor makes it through the buying process without leaving the site. Every visitor that leaves your site to purchase what you offer somewhere else is a juror who has found you guilty of misconduct. Each shopper that abandons their products in the shopping cart because they find it too cumbersome is a juror that may deliberate with other jurors about your crimes against usability. Any searcher to lands on your site via a search results and can't immediately find what they are looking for is a juror passing a verdict on your incompetence as a business.

But this jury doesn't need to be unanimous. That can work for and against you. If the jury unanimously decided you were guilty, you could serve your punishment, re-develop your site properly and be on the road toward total rehabilitation. But on the web, each juror makes their decisions for themselves. While this undoubtedly means that some jurors will absolve you of your crimes, most, wont. But you can be lulled into a false sense of security by those that turn a blind eye to your web marketing sins.

As a business owner, you need to study your jury. Find out what they are passing judgment on in your site. Check their search and navigation patterns to see where they find what they want and when they don't. Make changes to your site based on this information. Test new ways of presenting the information. Perform new keyword research. Edit your content to better meet the needs of your jury.

Every day you get a new jury and a new opportunity to be found guilty or not. If the too many of your daily jurors are finding you guilty, you need to change the error of your ways, or let the ultimate judgment be passed on to you: reduction of income. As you adapt to the wants, needs and whims of your jurors, you'll see more and more of them finding you not guilty. Not only will you be giving them what they want, they'll start giving you more of what you want: increased revenue and profits.

The jurors are seated. Your site is on trial. Will you be found guilty? Let the jury decide.