Interactive Agencies Struggle With Web Usability

September 25th, 2009

Vidya L. Drego

With contributors:

Rachel Zinser , Harley Manning

Summary

Forrester applied its Web Site Review methodology to 36 reference sites provided by 18 interactive agencies. Only one site received a passing score in our evaluation. The highest numbers of severe failures resulted from poor text legibility, unclear menus, and inefficient task flow. These usability flaws could have been avoided with user-centered design and testing techniques like card sorting and heuristic evaluations. Customer experience professionals working with an external agency should ensure that the agency has dedicated usability staff assigned to their project team, that usability expertise is integrated throughout the design process, and that their firm makes the most of design reviews by providing feedback to the agency about usability as well as design.

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