What makes us human? Emotion and rationality. We feel the effect and justify our decision that caused the event.
For example, if you’re hungry, you look for a place to eat. At the restaurant, you choose the lowest-priced main course because you don’t have enough cash.
When the food arrives, you’re disappointed because the serving size is small. Your disappointment hits a new low after your first bite.
You’re disappointed with your order but rationalize your decision because you were hungry but didn’t have enough money.
However, not every human will approach the situation the same way.
Some might decide to go home and cook dinner. Others might break out the credit card and pay for a pricier, but more expensive… and more importantly… a satisfying meal.
Emotion and rationality make us human and unpredictable because we feel and perceive things differently.
Incorporating human-centered principles in design will enable you to have a website that understands and responds to the needs of your customers.
What Is The Difference Between Human-Centered And User-Centered Web Design?
Human-centered web design is a concept that’s often interchanged with another principle, user-centered web design.
While similar, the difference is that user-centered design is an iterative process that focuses on the specific needs of a user at every stage of website design:
- Research
- Identifying specific requirements of users
- Manifesting research into web design
- Testing
- Evaluation of test results
Iterative because the process repeats itself until the final version of the website meets the user’s satisfaction. UCD is a collaboration between the web designer and the user, who is involved in each stage of the design process.
With UCD, the web designer prioritizes functionality. The website’s features must perform to the expectations of its users. The focus is on how the website is used by customers.
Incorporating principles of Human-centered web design takes UCD to another level.
What Is Human-Centered Web Design?
Human-centered web design is a behavioral-based approach that considers the emotional and psychological needs of its users.
If UCD is specific to the user, HCD takes a more generalized approach. You consider the people who visit your site, not just those who use it. HCD provides context to your website’s performance.
- “My bounce rate is higher. Why are people leaving immediately?’
- “Why isn’t my website getting unique visitors?”
- “Why aren’t visitors clicking on my CTA buttons?”
- “Why aren’t shoppers pushing through with their purchases?”
- “How come no one is signing up for my newsletter service?”
Let’s go back to our example when you got hungry and were looking for a place to eat. Because you didn’t have enough cash, you decided to order the cheapest item on the menu which left you dissatisfied and disappointed.
What if you ordered from a restaurant that offered the following options:
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Value meal options
- Customized meal options
- A bill discount based on your loyalty card
How would you feel?
😀 – Happy
🥹- Thankful
😊- Relieved
🤩- Overjoyed
For sure, all you’ll feel are positive emotions and so will others.
Of course, there will always be cynics.
- “Loyalty cards are a scam! They just want you to keep buying!”
- “Why don’t they have Amazon Pay or Payoneer?”
- “Value meals are packaged with high-profit margin food items. It’s a deceptive sales tactic.”
The bottom line is the restaurant expanded the available payment and ordering options to satisfy more customers, not just the usual crowd.
Remember the customer’s journey.
The customer clicks on your URL because the page description got his attention. When he lands on your web page, he’s unsure if he’ll explore your website further.
Over the next few seconds, he’ll process the content and the overall experience and decide whether to pursue his interest.
HCD might give him that push. HCD might help transform the customer from website visitor to user.
It’s not possible nor is it realistic to expect that you can please everyone. However, combining HCD with UCD helps you come close. You’ll cast a wider net and capture a more diversified market for your products and services.
The 4 Stages Of Human-Centered Web Design
Human-centered web design is a process that goes through four stages.
Stage 1: Learn the Online Behavioral Patterns of Your Site Users
How do visitors behave on your website? Which pages do they frequently click? How long do they stay on a web page? Which types of content do they prefer to read?
Which types of content are ignored? Which products are popularly purchased? What’s the average cost of purchase? What is the preferred method of purchase?
These questions and more give you an idea of your users’ behavioral profiles. Collecting and analyzing the data can help you create a customer or user profile that can be used to improve the website.
Analytics provides key performance numbers and valuable data about user demographics… but it does not provide insights into the rationale behind users’ decisions.
If analytics provide the “What,” feedback gives you the “Why.”
You can gather user feedback through surveys that appear on the website or are distributed via email and social media.
Stage 2: Analyze the Data and Develop Solutions
Review the data and organize them into categories. Brainstorm with your team and list down every proposed solution. Identify the ones that can be addressed immediately without affecting the functionality of your website or straining your budget.
In the ideation process, there’s no bad idea. Remember, this is a brainstorming session. All ideas are good until proven otherwise.
Consider all the possible solutions and run them through different scenarios. Having multiple heads working together gives you a better chance of covering all the bases.
- If the bounce rate on the home page is high, consider your Brand Value Proposition (BVP). Is it strong and compelling enough to convince the site user he clicked on the right page?
It’s possible the colors and images aren’t inviting. The web copy might be wordy and off-putting.
- If the CTA buttons aren’t working, maybe the size or color of the button isn’t engaging enough. Another possibility is that you have a weak CTA.
- Are you getting significant traffic from foreign countries? You might want to consider translation to help your foreign guests feel welcome.
The goal isn’t to solve all problems. That’s not realistic. As we mentioned, you can’t please everyone. Think of taking small steps to make your website a welcome place for as many visitors as possible.
Stage 3: Build and Test the Prototype
Time to manifest the ideas into reality!
Build a prototype of the web page with the improvements. Present the prototype to a select group of customers and get their feedback.
- To improve the bounce rate of the home page, create three to five mockups of the home page with variations of the UVP, colors, and images.
- Run a beta test for the mockups and solicit your customers’ comments, opinions, and suggestions. Do the same for the CTA buttons.
- Include a translation feature in select web pages. Add an on-page survey form on the sidebar to ask site users for feedback.
Similar to Stage 2, there are no wrong comments or opinions. Consider the input of your customers and determine if it’s necessary to implement revisions to address these concerns.
Remember, changes in design shouldn’t compromise the performance of the website.
Stage 4: Analyze Feedback and Implement Improvements
The process of testing and feedback will be an ongoing cycle. It will continue until you come up with an iteration of the web page that you’re confident meets the satisfaction of your site users.
Truthfully, the cycle never ends. User behavior constantly changes. People are influenced by new information, innovation, and their ever-changing needs and wants.
Conclusion
The HCD process is similar to UCD. The difference is with HCD, you’re addressing the factors that influence how users feel and think about your website. You want visitors to feel welcome and assured they clicked on the right website.
With UCD, you want to assure users that the key features of your website are functioning optimally.
Combining UCD with HCD gives you a holistic approach to ensuring site visitors the ultimate user experience. UCD emphasizes the technical aspects, while HCD addresses the emotional and psychological elements of web design.
UCD answers the “What” while HCD answers the “How” and the “Why.”
If our article gave you an “aha” moment, contact us. Your website might be lacking human-centric components to improve overall performance. Let’s book a time to talk. We’ll get your website on the right track.
