ROI calculations, presented as a pattern of findings across case studies, affirm the importance of usability testing in the development stage of a product.
For example, usability improvements resulting in improved task completion and shortened time to task completion for an internal company project can mean
enormous savings in time and increased productivity. In other instances, usability improvements can result in increasing completed transactions,
increasing customer satisfaction, and improved brand loyalty.
ROI calculations are an important piece of the business strategy puzzle. With positive ROI, company decision-makers can be emboldened that their
initial expenditures will result in future savings.
Many case studies have been documented companies' positive investments in usability. A sampling of success stories follows:
- Diamond Bullet, a Foraker company, redesigned the architecture of a state government portal site that
increased users' success at finding information from 72% to 95%, reduced their
time in finding information by 62%, and resulted in significantly higher
user satisfaction ratings. This led to an estimated savings of at least $1.2 million
per year for the citizens of the state and increased revenue for the state
estimated to be at least $552,000. For more information,
read the whitepaper
or contact Foraker Design.
- American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. launched a newly designed website March 5, 2001 after substantial usability improvements, and posted a 53.6% increase in sales during the month of April.
(Source: internetweek.com)
- Delta Airlines reduced the number of pages required to get from homepage to ticket purchase (from 6 to 4) and was able to report a "measurable impact on ticket sales".
(Source: internetweek.com)
- Move.com uncovered a variety of functional and cosmetic errors with their site. Changes such as adding embedded help to walk the user through the home search process, making certain links more visible, and making verbiage more precise helped to increase contacts to realtors by 150%.
(Source:vividence.com)
- Egreeting.com responded to a drop in hits to their catalog page by redesigning their homepage to better direct users to the resources available on their site. The navigation was changed to a categorical scheme that explained the various types of cards available (similar to Yahoo). The result was a tremendous increase in hits to the catalog.
(Source: eleganthack.com)
- Mitre Corporation, in 1995, launched a collaborative component to their intranet, called Mitre Information Infrastructure. Adding the component required substantial usability expertise to seamlessly integrate the new component into the pre-existing intranet, yet they have seen a substantial ROI even with such a large investment. To date, Mitre has invested $7.2 million in the MII, netting an ROI of $62.1 million in reduced operating costs and improved productivity. (Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- ARETES project, carried out by Archetypon S.A. was a process improvement experiment focused on testing activities and aimed at applying software reliability engineering methodology to development. As a result customer reported errors decreased by 77%. (Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Brel & Kjr Sound & Vibrations Measurements software revamped its approach to development and incorporated a more rigorous requirements analysis based on user needs and expectations. Their efforts resulted in a 72% reduction in usability related problems. (Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- ENEL introduced a formal specification method into their development process based on better understanding their end users. The overall development effort was reduced by 18% and increased the number of outsourced control systems. (Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Getrag and Gas Software Company recently expanded their technical breadth to include new tools for creating software. The new process, which is more mindful of end users, improved their program structure and documentation. These improvements yielded a productivity improvement of at least 10% and a quality improvement of 14%. (Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Informantique CDC adopted usability tools for measuring the quality of their product. They have achieved an important reduction in maintenance costs (up to 50%) and a gain in productivity (5-10%), ultimately increasing the motivation of the software development team.
(Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Intes, a vendor of packaged software, installed a system for recording and remedying customer queries, fault reports, and program change notes. The information made available has improved customer service, boosted product quality and increased productivity by 10%.
(Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Italtel introduced the use of style guides and witnessed an increase in their rate of production tremendously. This led to an increase of delivery timeliness and better documentation both for in-house use and for customers.
(Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- R.O.S.E. Informatik adopted a usability assessment plan, introduced quality assurance within the company, and advocated for better documentation of their development process. The result was a decrease in delivered errors by 60%.
(Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
- Sodala Software Company introduced the idea of "Use Case Scenarios" into their development process to capture preliminary requirements and design information. This resulted in a 79% reduction in the number of defects detected. Customer satisfaction also increased.
(Source: Software Improvement Case Studies Initiative)
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