Reports for the category “Usability” can only be submitted if the test is a usability test.
Your feedback should relate to the usability of the app or website in the sense of improvements to existing features/functions or the layout in terms of user-friendliness.
A suggestion could be to extend or simplify existing features or any changes that reduce the amount of work and duration for users.
Use the product like a real user. When something makes you wonder or seems counter-intuitive, it’s an indication that it could be improved.
Usability suggestions are not about requesting new features or design choices made by the customer.
Review
In order to determine if a suggestion is a valid usability suggestion on our platform, consider the following:
Audience: Who would benefit if your suggestion got implemented? A valid suggestion must concern the majority of users and must not just be a subjective opinion.
Substantiality: Does your suggestion provide a real and substantial improvement to the user experience? Minor improvements are not worth the cost.
Cost vs. usage: Is the implementation cost for the client justified? Clients will only make changes to their product if the usage outweighs the cost.
Topic: Legal advice, security-related advice, and suggestions regarding the design of a product are not valid usability suggestions.
How a usability suggestion needs to be structured:
Current situation: Depict the current situation to be improved.
Suggestion: How could it be improved? Make a distinct suggestion.
Benefit: What would the benefit of improving this feature/layout be? Convince the reader with solid arguments.
Correct Usability Suggestion Examples
Example 1
Case description
While registering an account, there are mandatory fields. Those fields are not marked in any way as mandatory, but if you click to sign up, missing mandatory fields are marked red and the registration isn’t completed.
Exemplary usability report
Title:
Mandatory fields during registration are not marked
Current situation:
In the sign up process for a new account, there are mandatory fields such as Name, Last Name, and Email. Those fields are not marked as mandatory but if you don’t fill them out, you cannot sign up.
Suggestion:
Marking those mandatory fields with an asterisk (*) to make sure the user knows those are mandatory fields.
Benefit:
Having mandatory fields marked in some way would prevent the user from sending the form with incomplete information and having to go back to see what is wrong. It prevents this unnecessary step that may cause confusion and frustration.
Example 2
Case description
On an e-commerce website, you have a store locator. Once you searched for stores, you can see the store name and address of the store. You can sort by store name or city but not by distance.
Exemplary Usability report
Title:
Add sort by distance option for store locator findings
Current situation:
In the store locator, you can find stores and sort them by store name or city, but you are not able to sort them by distance, which should be improved.
Suggestion:
Show the distance between your current location and the store next to the store address and allow the user to sort stores by distance.
Benefit:
The user can easily find the closest store to his/her location without having to find the location in maps.
Invalid Usability Suggestions:
Change the color of an object
Change the design of a website
Change the space between two objects
Add an entirely new feature to a website/app
Change XYZ because ISO recommends it