Web users selfish says Jakob Nielsen

25 May 2008 | Posted by Tanya Goodin | CEO | Search

Users want in and out – that’s it!

An interesting article by usability guru Jakob Nielsen on how users are becoming less patient when they are online. Far from wanting to spend time having a look at all the latest offers and promotions users are very task focussed and just want to complete the task as quickly as possible.

Neilson says ‘I do not think sites appreciate that yet’. ‘They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them’.

By and large I agree with his findings. I know when I am online and in ‘buy’ mode I pretty much know what I want and do not want to be frustrated by bad design or usability.

He also notes that while not perfect search engines ‘rule the web’ and in 2004 40% of people started at a sites home page and then drilled down to the page they actually wanted now only 25% of users do so.

So the message is pretty clear, make it easy for users to find what they want and make the process fast!