Language is Critical to Usability

Proper Use of Language is Critical, It Impacts Trust and Usability

Did you catch usability guru and world traveler Jakob Nielsen’s latest Alertbox, “American English vs. British English for Web Content?” It’s a good reminder that language and the use of language to communicate is not always as easy as we may think, especially if we are writing (or conducting usability evaluations) for clients in other countries.

In his article, Jakob Nielsen discusses the differences between American English and British English terms, such as colour vs. color, lorry vs truck, boot vs trunk, football vs soccer, etc. It’s a good reminder that users are keenly aware of “odd” uses of language, and will instantly be aware, and thus less trustful, if they come across terms that are in their eyes abnormal. This makes building trust very difficult, and can hurt the efforts of the company that is trying to use the website (or newsletter or blog, etc.) to communicate with and/or influence its target audience to take action.

Localization of Language is Critical

Jakob Nielsen goes on to remind us that localization is a critical consideration when determining who you are trying to communicate with, and how you need to present content. Usability is impacted by the use of language and dialect in several ways, beyond just the trust factor. For example, language that does not fit the language of target users may force those users to work harder to decipher the content, causing usability issues. In addition, for websites, if the language does not meet expectations it’s less likely that users will refer others to the site. For internal applications it’s less likely that users will want to use the application or advise others to use the application.

As Nielsen points out:

“Language matters.
Users notice when a website uses a different version of English than the one they’re used to. Some users will simply assume that the site is littered with typos, poor spelling, and weird words, all of which reduce credibility a good chunk. Other users will recognize that the site is using a different variant of English. These users won’t think the site is poorly produced; they’ll simply assume it’s foreign and doesn’t apply to them.

Be consistent.
Pick one language variant and stick to it. Varying the style confuses everyone and signals poor attention to detail.”

Grammar, Spelling and Usability

Interestingly, at almost the same time as Jakob Nielsen was warning us about using the correct version of English for our audience, a recent post by SEO-evangelist Lisa Barone, “A Rant On Grammar, Spelling and SEO,” well, ranted about using proper English and writing techniques. Lisa’s message? The abbreviated, poorly-spelled and slang-ridden content that is crossing over to other web communications from Instant Messaging does NOT communicate well, and done poorly will drive users away.

As The Lisa puts it:

“I genuinely do feel that grammar and spelling are important. In fact, I think they’re vital.

And it’s not vital because you need to abide by archaic laws laid out by others. It’s not important to write clearly because it shows how smart you are. It’s important because people need to understand you. That’s what it’s about for me. It’s about creating content that is readable, whatever that content is.

Consider this:

* I’ve unsubscribed to blogs where the writing made my eyes bleed.
* I’ve unfollow’d people on Twitter because I wasn’t able to understand what the heck they were saying.
* I’ve abandoned Web sites because the product details didn’t make sense or didn’t answer my question.

And I guarantee you I’m not the only one. Who else are you driving away?”

The Real Secret to Website Success is Language & Content

I think both of these articles are a great reminder that it’s the language and content we use on our websites that are most critical to user (and thus the website’s) success. So it turns out that the real secret to website success (especially eCommerce websites) is to use language in your content that builds trust and causes action. True, without a user-friendly task flow for the order process, conversion will be compromised, but my point is the ordering task-flow is the RESULT of the language and content doing its job.

Craig says:

“If the language and content of the website does not elicit trust and action, then task-flow is irrelevant.”

Do You Usability Test Your Website’s Language & Content?

Consider this, when you test a website or application for usability, do you test the language and content, or are you assuming the language will work, and thus are only testing the functions and task flow?

As a usability practitioner, you should be conducting tests of the language and content on the site, as well as the performance of the task flow. Language and content must be usability tested to ensure it is not causing issues, and is maximized for trust and action. And if the language and content is causing issues, testing should identify alternative language or content to improve the communication, thus building greater user trust and more action.

Unfortunately, I doubt usability testing of language and content happens as often as task-flow (function) is tested. I myself am guilty of assuming that the language of higher level marketing pages has worked, and have asked users to “assume you wish to buy this widget on this website, please show me how would you do it.” Why should I assume that the website language and content has built user trust, and thus a desire for action, on the website? Have I tested the language used to do that? No!

Website Language & Content Is Seldom Updated

Let’s examine a typical corporate website, to see why the language and content is so often overlooked, and rarely tested.

A website starts its life with content and language that is often copied directly from existing printed media like brochures or product descriptions. It’s the lucky (and smart) company that has a trained web-writer who massages that content, and language, for internet purposes. Typically Marketing, Sales, Branding and Legal departments then work-over the content and language, each modifying it to suit their unique needs. Finally, in what is usually a fairly massive effort, the content is loaded onto the site, and there it sits, sometimes for months, often for years, with few changes.

Post launch, the more advanced companies may test their content (although not usually the language used for the content) using A/B tests. For those firms that can afford multi-variate testing, often pieces of content are tested, but rarely is the content reviewed in total.

For larger sites, where there are multiple business-owners and legal restrictions or requirements to consider, testing and changing the language can be a daunting task, this is why A/B testing is often only conducted on Landing Pages or specialized order-flow pages, where the assumption is the marketing language has already garnered trust and a desire for action by the user.

However, although helpful, this A/B or multi-variate testing is metrics focused, and does not analyze the reasons for the behavior associated with the user who is either interacting, or not interacting with the language on the website. Behavioral-based testing comes from usability testing.

Test Website Language & Content

Do you usability test your website’s language and content? If so, how do you do it? In a future post, I’ll share some thoughts on how I test a website’s language and content. Unlike typical performance-based testing, language and content testing can be done, but requires more planning and effort, and is even more susceptible to errors in assumptions or testing methodology.

Conclusion: Language & Content Are Critical to Website Success

In conclusion, effective language and content is the foundation of a website. It’s the language and content that influence users to trust the website and its products or services, and thus take action. Without that trust and desire for action, the resulting task-flow is irrelevant. Therefore, testing and improving that foundation of language and content is critical to website success.