General CX

CX metrics part 4: Usability metrics and the user experience

Learn how to choose usability metrics that provide information on the user experience – and the customer experience. This article, the fourth in our CX metrics series, demonstrates the link between usability and customer engagement.

Usability metrics – along with information from sales, customer service, and business processes – play a large part in understanding the customer experience. In fact, a product or service’s ease of use touches every corner of consumers’ lives. 

According to research compiled by Forbes, 71% of all businesses have a website; 48% of small businesses have their own mobile app. So, let’s look at several usability metrics and what they can tell us about the customer experience.

Key usability metrics, user experience, and CX

Often, ‘usability’ is lumped in with user experience (UX) or digital accessibility – how easy it is to use an app, website, or any other screen-based interface. However, usability can also apply to physical objects. For example, think of Amazon’s Frustration-Free packaging; it makes doing the thing we want to do (tear open the package and get the product we ordered) easier. 

So while most of the usability metrics we discuss below are assumed to be measuring the digital experience, many can also be used for the physical shopping experience. For example, we revamped labels, tags, and packaging materials for one of our clients to improve the in-store customer experience. We’ve also used similar metrics to improve that client’s online customer experience. 

The takeaway? Don’t limit yourself to one definition of usability! It can be physical, digital, or phygital – a blend of the physical and digital worlds. With that in mind, these are the usability metrics we’ve found most helpful in measuring the user experience:

1. Time on task measures how long it takes a user to complete something they want to do (the “task”). Generally, shorter times are better; if the time on task is disproportionately large (e.g. it takes a user longer than expected to find and click a button), this indicates an area for further investigation. 
2. Error rate (aka percent of errors) indicates how often users make some kind of mistake in completing a task. Most user experiences follow an expected path, such as searching for an item on an e-commerce site, choosing a result, clicking on the product page, and so on. If the user were to click on something other than a product page as they were trying to find product info, this would be an error. A high error rate means there’s something in the design, layout, or content of the experience that isn’t working.
3. Completion rate indicates how often users successfully finish their intended action. To continue the product search example above, completion might be the user clicking on the product details. The higher your completion rate, the easier it is for customers to complete their experience – and the happier they’ll be.
4. Number of clicks/touches depicts how many actions a customer must take to complete their desired task. In a digital setting, this is often measured in clicks or taps. However, we can also expand this metric to the number of touches, i.e. how many interactions (physical and digital) that the customer uses to complete a goal. A higher number of clicks/touches indicates a complex process.
5. Abandonment rate measures how often users stop a task before it is completed. This is often measured as cart abandonment rate, but it can also be applied to any area where the user has to complete a process. A high task abandonment rate indicates problems with the usability of that process.
6. App/page/screen loading times are how many seconds it takes for all the content to appear on the screen. This is essential to the user experience; slow loading times (over 3 seconds on a computer) are highly correlated with abandonment and user dissatisfaction. Plus, long loading times are often a symptom of underlying technical problems with your website or app.
7. Customer effort score (CES) indicates how easy it is for customers, as a group, to use your service. This information can be essential in benchmarking your current CX/UX and establishing growth trends. Low customer effort scores mean a better user experience.

Usability metrics and the customer experience

Aside from customer experience metrics – with which they share quite a few similarities – usability metrics have the most direct impact on your customer experience. You don’t have to extrapolate information from sales statistics or marketing outcomes; you get direct, measurable information from your customers and the tools they use to communicate with your business.

Once you begin measuring usability metrics, you can quickly gauge your current user experience. You’ll also have additional insight into your strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, customer experience research will tell you what your users need and want from your company. This makes usability metrics one of the cornerstones of your CX repertoire.

Next week, we’ll discuss customer service metrics and the insights they provide into your customer experience. Don’t miss it!