Clients need to be reminded that user goals can not simply be measured by web analytics and click throughs. Until we find out the motive for user visitation on our sites, and their motives, it is very easy and possible to be fooled by web stats if we are not taking a step back to ask the question “why”?

The first initiative in the buyers life cycle is the need or want of an item. Most likely, if a user needs something, they will rush out to the store to grab it quickly. This is why designers should be especially aware of their competition in the offline world. If a user is coming to your site of products and/or services, chances are they have a specific need or want that can not be met immediately in the real world.

This should not be taken for granted.
First time visitors are visiting your site because they are hoping that you have the answer to their needs. It is in this initial and most fragile moment that the designer projects a path of helps that is intuitive, inviting and beyond all, extremely easy to use. A first time visitor to your site should immediately feel like they have been there before. I have heard pros and cons for the “3 click rule” vs the “as many steps as needed rule”.

The truth of the fact of the matter is that there are no rules period. Let me say this again, there are no rules.
Every individual design needs to be fitted through the gauntlet of fine design. And when I say fine design, I am talking about everything from the initial creative thinking process, through the iterative testing and refining phase, through to the meticulous process of multivariate testing (which is beyond a/b split testing).

Although this process can seem painstakingly long and tedious, it is well worth it.

Fast Company reported the effects of design on an anonymous company that simply made changes to a button design and minor wording. In the first month of this change, sales increased by 45% resulting in a $1.5 million dollar (USD) increase in less then 30 days. This same company grossed #300 million in that same first year alone.

Too often I find that design teams and business interests are wrestling to have their say and input into the creative process. While the answer is simple but yet difficult, we will always lose money if we are not projecting the correct results for the targeted demographics we intend to sell our products and services to.

Test, refine and repeat. In-house testing and usability testing are fine, but the real answers come from the real people who are putting real money into the real system. Once we understand this, we become design experts by simply changing our designs to serve the needs of people.