The power of strong visual design combined with usability
I recently stumbled across an enlightening and refreshingly honest article by web 2.0 entrepreneur Marc Hedlund chronicling the contrasting fortunes of his financial planning website Wesabe (which has now shut its doors), and the meteoric rise of his (then) main competitor Mint (who eventually went on to be bought out for over 100 million dollars). Unsurprisingly, a key differentiator between Wesabe and Mint was their approach to design and user experience. This difference is sighted throughout the article as being one of the main reasons why Mint was ultimately more successful at winning its users trust, confidence and business.
This got me thinking, when user experience can be the difference between success and failure what can be learned from what Mint did well and what Wesabe failed to do?
Firstly, what Mint did/continues to do well (and indeed what any commercially successful website does well) is to instil a sense of trust and confidence in its users. The main vehicle implemented by Mint to achieve this goal? Strong, targeted visual design and great information architecture.
Visual design is the cornerstone of good user experience and should not be viewed as merely ‘icing on the cake’ or ‘window dressing’. Successful companies know the importance (and Mint is a prime example) of good visual design and how to implement it. Customer experience is the sum of all interactions a customer has with your product/website, if the first visual experience the user has with your website is a negative one, it doesn’t bode well for your chances of converting that user into a customer. While visual design is important, another recurring factor sighted in the article was the ease of use Mint offered compared to Wesable. Once the initial trust has been built its imperative to allow users to achieve their goals as quickly and easily as possible, here’s where good IA and visual design combine to make the user journey as painless and easy as possible, here’s what Marc Hedlund said (emphasis mine)
“...You can't blame your competitors or your board or the lack of or excess of investment. Focus on what really matters: making users happy with your product as quickly as you can...”
Taking Mint as an example here’s a quick list of what was good about the visual design and IA and what you should be looking to achieve in your own website
- Clarity, Keep things simple
- Strong clear typography
- Relevant styling i.e. designing for your key demographics
- Good design doesn’t make the user think. Make it easy for the user to achieve their goals
So, if you’re looking to update your website or enter a new market online, be mindful of the perils experienced by Wesable. The users experience of your product/website is king, enhance that experience through strong visual design and IA, and if any factors should arise that cause you to deviate from that focus, heed these wise words from someone who didn't.
“...Focus on what really matters: making users happy with your product as quickly as you can, and helping them as much as you can after that. If you do those better than anyone else out there you'll win...”
