Choice Kills Usability

By John S. Rhodes
Published - 20 November 2007

One of the easiest ways to improve usability is by focusing on just one thing. When you present something to the user, be sure that it's just one thing. All too often we try to hard to offer people several options.

The reason many people love Google.com is that it offers just one thing: search. A single-minded focus has enormous implications. Users can clearly understand what Google is about and what it does. Even new users to Google are instantly put at ease because of the outlandish simplicity. If your site or your web page is focused on one thing everyone wins.

There are branding implications as well. When people think about search they think about Google and when they think about Google they think about search. This brand strength translates to billions of dollars of market capitalization.

Let's get a bit more practical. Here's a bare-knuckle sales page that The Rhodes Brothers put together that sells a service called the Marketing Minesweeper Membership. It is extremely focused on selling the membership. Every single word is intended to help the reader understand the value of the membership. The focus can be summed up this way:

"Subscribe to the low cost Marketing Minesweeper Membership so that you can get outstanding internet marketing videos every day without wasting any of your own time. "

Now, there are many usability issues with this page, such as the lack of navigation and privacy policy. But all-in-all, the extreme focus is good for readers. They learn as they read down the page and there is no ambiguity. Now, they might not want to subscribe, but I guarantee you there is no confusion about this membership.

The point is that huge billion dollar companies down to gritty little sales pages can benefit from ultra focus. When you eliminate clutter and choices, usability invariably goes up. When there is a single purpose of a web page, product or service everyone wins.

Next time you're thinking about giving your customers 100 choices, think about the effort that it takes to investigate each decision. Think about the cognitive effort required to sift through option after option. Look, if you "know" there is one best choice, eliminate the junk and focus, focus, focus.

Choice kills usability. Not always -- But when you are in doubt about adding features, choices, and options, take the safe path.

Provide a clear vision. Be practical. Focus for usability.

 

Next article: Interview with Douglas Wang (Product Design Manager at Autodesk Shanghai, China)

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