The criteria people use to evaluate a product for use is almost universally the same. Unfortunately, it’s not “how likely am I to recommend this to a friend?” At the end of the day, a user makes only one of two choices about your product;
“use it,” or “lose it.”
After all the business prerequisites like cost, security, and loyalties have been reconciled, the question for the deciding user is always, “Out of all my options, will this product be the most useful to me?” The goal of UX then is to anticipate user needs and influence their answer for a (hopefully) resounding “YES!”. This is not a one time task, but one of ongoing importance with every product, every feature, and every release.
To help achieve this, I’ve observed four heuristics which may be leveraged to influence the user’s answer. They are, (in order of priority)…
1. Essentiality – “Is it really needed?” This heuristic may be used to evaluate the problem the product or feature is intending solve, often for the end goal of determining the business risk and value of solving it. It takes into account factors such as timing (If preemptive, do you have enough runway or might your solution be ahead of its time? If responsive, when might the problem itself expire? This leads to the next point…), negative impact (Is it waxing or waning? How destructive is the problem in relation to other variables?), and competitiveness (Is there room at the table for the unique aspects of your solution? Is someone already executing a relatively obtainable and implementable solution? Just how difficult might transitioning to your solution be in relation to any advantage it might offer?). If your solution isn’t essential, then none of the other heuristics matter.
2. Effectiveness – “Does it produce the desired outcome?” Either your product solves the problem or it doesn’t. This relates not only to function, but to accessibility as well. If your user cannot make your solution work for them, nothing else matters. If your solution only solves part of the problem, you need to make sure that part is essential and that you are closer to solving the entire problem than your competitors are.
3. Efficiency – “Does it solve the problem well?” This isn’t about backend efficiency, but rather how well a solution meshes with the user’s existing workflow. For example, if users have found a workaround, how does your solution compare to it? More often than not, this can be measured using the amount of effort required of the user and the time it takes to learn and then complete the task using your tool. Effort, both in onboarding and ongoing use, relates to ease.
4. Enjoyment – “Is there delight after using it?” Note that feeling relief does not equate to feeling delight. Delight is an associative feeling you typically look forward to repeating. Just because I feel relieved when a country song ends does not mean I enjoyed it. Frustration levels, credibility, trustworthiness, and even aesthetics can factor into enjoyment.
The bottom line is this; exceptional solutions provide exceptional experiences.
