Expectations & Usability: Introduction
I've been reviewing a lot of small business websites lately, and as I see the same usability issues popping up over and over, it occurs to me just how many of those problems are a result of violating visitors' expectations. So, I've decided to write a short series (3-4 installments) on the role of expectations in usability, and how we can better anticipate those expectations to help website visitors accomplish their goals.What Are Expectations?
It may seem like a silly question, but what exactly are expectations? Essentially, expectations are the unconscious predictions we humans constantly make based on our models of the world around us. In other words, we use our past knowledge and experiences to predict the near future. Expectations are, in many ways, evolution's ultimate survival mechanism.Cognitivism & Mental Maps
The man in the picture is one of my professional heroes, Edward C. Tolman, early 20th-century psychologist and one of the fathers of the cognitive revolution. It may surprise you to know that the idea that people can make plans and build internal models of the world is a relatively new one, and met with intense skepticism throughout much of the 20th century.The cognitive revolution ushered in the idea that animals and people can create mental models or cognitive "maps". Prior to this, it was assumed that all behavior was a function of complex stimulus/response mechanisms. In other words, our behavior was determined directly as a result of outside events triggering learned patterns. In the behaviorist model, we were victims of our past and environment. The cognitive model started to see us as proactive, creating models and expectations and anticipating instead of merely reacting.
Violating Expectations
In the internet world, we expect, from our experiences, that websites will follow certain standards and be self-consistent. So, what happens when those expectations are violated? In essence, the brain does a double-take, forcing people to stop (even if for a split second) and re-evaluate. With every violation, the time needed to process information grows and frustration increases.In daily life, we encounter these double-takes without even realizing it, and probably make thousands of adjustments to our mental maps every day. Eventually, though, these expectation violations add up, and we look for alternatives that match our mental map. On the web, where alternatives are a click and mere seconds away, frustrations build very quickly and violating expectations can have immediate consequences. The lack of patience of online visitors makes meeting expectations especially important for commercial websites.
Types of Expectations
Over the next three installments, I'm going to talk about how website visitors expectations are determined by different factors: (1) standards, (2) consistency, and (3) search behavior. With each, I'll discuss how we can better meet these expectations.
MikeTek
· Tuesday, April 1Nice post, Dr. Pete. As an SEO I've struggled with the task of "optimizing" pages without violating the expectations of the user. Most notable is the common task of adding copy to a page to help it rank better - often resulting in extraneous copy that does little to satisfy user expectations and, most likely, ends up annoying/frustrating them. My experience has led me to recommend usability overhauls of websites before search engine optimization in most cases. Throwing more traffic at a website that is converting poorly is putting the cart before the horse.
I'm excited to read the next three installments.
Dr. Pete
· Wednesday, April 2Thanks, Mike. I think it's especially hard with writing copy, as you're dealing with not only expectations but persuasion. Of course, a lot of persuasion has to do with tapping into all of the messages we've been fed over a lifetime, so I suppose there's an expectation element even to that.
Alexis Brion
· Thursday, April 10Interesting topic, I'm specially waiting to know your opinion on how standards set expectations.
Alex
MXFive4
· Friday, April 11To build on Alexis's point, or how market leaders set expectations. For example, I am thinking how even site searches needs to in some ways behave like Google.