AnswerLab’s Fortune 500 clients are devoting an increasing amount of resources to develop both mobile apps and WAP sites. There are 2x as many mobile devices in the world as there are TVs . . . and 4x more mobile devices than PCs. If your company doesn’t currently have a mobile strategy, it will – and very soon. At AnswerLab, we’ve been focused on exploring new research techniques to understand the user experience with prototype and live mobile sites and apps.
In the course of this exploration, we’ve discovered that mobile testing is dramatically different from web-based testing. First, it’s impossible to standardize on one device. In traditional usability testing, you can set up a computer at various screen resolutions and be confident you’ve covered most of the usage situations. In mobile, you need to test on multiple devices. Secondly, mobile devices are . . . well, quite mobile, making it difficult to focus a camera on the screen during testing and recording. We’ve used both remote-controlled cameras and in-room videographers to constantly keep the back-room picture in focus. Thirdly, finding the right participants is critical. When testing a WAP site, you want users who would naturally be typing in a URL on their phones and browsing WAP sites in real life. Unfortunately, most mobile device owners have never done this . . . but think they have. It can be a real shock in the lab if you don’t have an air-tight screening process.
Across our studies, we’ve also discovered patterns of mobile user experience issues. By following a few basic guidelines, designers can ensure their mobile products have higher initial adoption. Below is a series of tips to help mobile marketers avoid common pitfalls.
Mobile Tip 1: Users’ expectations for mobile web browsing are heavily influenced by computer-based browsing. Don’t create new conventions. Across our mobile studies, we’ve found that users approach navigation with a mindset built on years of computer-based browsing of the internet. If you’re developing a new WAP site, ensure your navigation options operate much like a standard website. We’ve seen that new conventions typically fail with users in the lab.
Mobile Tip 2: For login with sensitive data, ensure that sessions time out and that username/password aren’t remembered by default. Consumers who use their mobile devices to access protected information such as bank accounts, credit card accounts, or purchasing preferences worry about unauthorized access of their information if they were to lose their phone or have it stolen. They want assurances their information will be secure.
Mobile Tip 3: Provide visual affordance for ‘next step’ links beneath the fold to ensure discoverability. Just like standard websites, WAP sites suffer from discoverability issues with links beneath the fold of the page. This is even more challenging for mobile designers because screen real estate is so limited. Because scrolling is more difficult on mobile devices and often not as natural for users, it’s critical that WAP sites provide visual cues to navigational next step links that fall lower on the page.
Mobile Tip 4: For touch-screens, avoid densely-packed clickable elements that could result in unintentional selection by users – and ensure links are large enough to select without requiring the zoom function. Mobile user interfaces are only as good as the devices that display them. Unfortunately, the much of the mobile hardware available to consumers does not enhance navigation of mobile sites and apps. Touch screens are headed in the right direction, but in our studies, users conduct many miss-clicks due to spacing and sizing issues associated with navigational elements. Giving careful design consideration to clickability will ensure users have a more successful experience with your product.
Mobile Tip 5: Use icons sparingly; stick to universal symbols and always test thoroughly before launch. Icons are challenging even in the non-mobile world of design. On mobile devices, where every page element plays a vital role in the user experience, icons must be done right. In our experience, the context of an icon can often convey unintended meaning, leading to navigation confusion – and even worse, misunderstanding about the very purpose of a site.
Mobile Tip 6: Ensure site search offers next steps or alternatives, particularly when no results are found. This tip applies to non-mobile sites as well. However, in our testing we’ve found that designers often forget this critical best practice. Because mobile web interactions are so new, users assume something is broken when search produces no results.
Mobile Tip 7: Make a practice of pre-launch usability testing on multiple devices – at a minimum on a touch-screen device vs. non. To get a true picture of how your WAP prototype will perform, it’s critical to conduct usability testing across a variety of devices – from Blackberry to iPhone, from touch screen to clamshell – each interface poses a series of user experience challenges. What works on one device, might break on another. Clients, who are serious about mobile web design, should have a comprehensive library of devices for both user testing and QA. It’s not easy, but it’s imperative to developing a good user experience.
Mobile Tip 8: Follow convention; company logo in upper left-hand corner should always return to ‘home’. Any ‘back’ links or buttons should always go in the upper left-hand corner of the screen as well. These rules apply to both WAP sites and apps. One app we studied included a link for ‘more’ information in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Users mistakenly clicked it when attempting to go ‘back’ and were baffled by the next page. But, more importantly, when they wanted additional information they looked to the lower-right, where a typical ‘continue’ button would be, and found nothing. This design broke two major conventions for navigating and failed to promote content consumption within the app.
Mobile Tip 9: Real estate is limited, but including a clickable breadcrumb is a good investment. Users frequently get lost when navigating mobile sites. Small screens prevent the usage of bold, redundant navigation that is so predominant on the web. In our testing, we’ve seen that clickable breadcrumbs go a long way in promoting comfort with mobile navigation.
Mobile Tip 10: Ensure all external links lead to mobile-friendly websites. If you’ve ever navigated a mobile site, clicked a seemingly helpful link, and landed in “non-WAP land”, you know just how jarring and frustrating the experience can be. In our labs, we find that such experiences can even reflect poorly on the brand impression of the original site. Avoid linking to sites that don’t offer the same mobile-friendly experience you do.
