Usability in real life. How small details lead to tangible problems.
Today I will talk about how St. Petersburg’s metro is losing money because of a small, seemingly flawed interface.
Those who ride the subway, have probably heard more than once how a female voice again and again convinces passengers to lower tokens and apply travel cards without waiting for the person ahead to leave the turnstile.
The voice tells that the device accumulates information and is ready to receive the next passenger immediately after the turn of the turntable begins.
What are citizens?
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Unconscious ... They are in no hurry to put travel cards and drop tokens into the belly of the turnstile. Why? Because they do not want to be in an awkward position.
Unfortunately, the turnstile interface does not provide a correct indication of the readiness to receive the next passenger. Take a closer look. People are waiting for the green light to go out, which lights up when the device takes a travel card.
Why are they waiting?
The fact is that the turnstile does not always have time to read information from a smart card. If the passenger applies the card until the green light has gone out, then he does not receive any confirmation that the device has really accepted his travel card. Imagine: a person has attached a map, the green light is on as well as on, a person is moving forward ... Bieep!
The device does not miss it. The passenger in bewilderment, he honestly attached the travel card. Dissatisfied crowd at rush hour and well-known for their manners controllers from anyone will discourage the desire to put the card ahead of time. The next time a person waits until the green light goes out, applies the travel card, waits until the light comes on, and even then begins to move.
What are the losses?
What can be done?
You can slightly adjust the program. If the turnstile's green light goes out early, as soon as the device is ready to receive the next pass, this will be a signal to the passenger. Now the light goes out only after the one in front leaves the turnstile.
Why is this?
Then, to show how to lose money because of poor usability, and moreover, because of the smallest details. For example, according to research, American online stores lose up to 70% of visitors who cannot place an order because of the inconvenient interface of the “basket”. Money was spent on attracting these people.
Usability is important not only for the site. An ATM, an automated telephone help system, a vending machine, and much more can drastically reduce your efficiency and cause losses if you design them without the involvement of appropriate specialists.
Those who ride the subway, have probably heard more than once how a female voice again and again convinces passengers to lower tokens and apply travel cards without waiting for the person ahead to leave the turnstile.
The voice tells that the device accumulates information and is ready to receive the next passenger immediately after the turn of the turntable begins.
What are citizens?
')
Unconscious ... They are in no hurry to put travel cards and drop tokens into the belly of the turnstile. Why? Because they do not want to be in an awkward position.
Unfortunately, the turnstile interface does not provide a correct indication of the readiness to receive the next passenger. Take a closer look. People are waiting for the green light to go out, which lights up when the device takes a travel card.
Why are they waiting?
The fact is that the turnstile does not always have time to read information from a smart card. If the passenger applies the card until the green light has gone out, then he does not receive any confirmation that the device has really accepted his travel card. Imagine: a person has attached a map, the green light is on as well as on, a person is moving forward ... Bieep!
The device does not miss it. The passenger in bewilderment, he honestly attached the travel card. Dissatisfied crowd at rush hour and well-known for their manners controllers from anyone will discourage the desire to put the card ahead of time. The next time a person waits until the green light goes out, applies the travel card, waits until the light comes on, and even then begins to move.
What are the losses?
- To begin with, the throughput of the metro lobbies suffers. Those who are there at rush hour would be happy to increase the capacity by at least a quarter.
- Metro management spent someone's paid working time to write the text, record and edit this video.
- The time spent scrolling daily on this video could be used for commercial advertising.
What can be done?
You can slightly adjust the program. If the turnstile's green light goes out early, as soon as the device is ready to receive the next pass, this will be a signal to the passenger. Now the light goes out only after the one in front leaves the turnstile.
Why is this?
Then, to show how to lose money because of poor usability, and moreover, because of the smallest details. For example, according to research, American online stores lose up to 70% of visitors who cannot place an order because of the inconvenient interface of the “basket”. Money was spent on attracting these people.
Usability is important not only for the site. An ATM, an automated telephone help system, a vending machine, and much more can drastically reduce your efficiency and cause losses if you design them without the involvement of appropriate specialists.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/3418/
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