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Your site is your brand. Speed counts. Those are two of the principles we use to guide our work with usability and conversion clients. Similar ideas are expressed in notes framing a homepage study that Andrew King and company cite. These folks observe that usability:

  • links directly to credibility.
  • indicates how much importance your organization places on being responsive to its customers.
  • needs to include download time.

The study compares homepage usability among Fortune 30 companies and an Inc. Magazine list of the 30 fastest growing companies. The summary findings:

…. high growth companies are not evaluating and improving their home page designs in a systematic way. By comparing the home pages of the Fortune 30 against Inc Magazine’s fastest growing companies, researchers from Minnesota State University found the Fortune 30 had a usability score over 36% higher than the fast growing companies.

Is it surprising that high growth companies are not always systematic as they push forward? Nope. But it is interesting to see that at least in this sample, it’s the establishment rather than the vanguard that’s embracing usability in its design.

You can read about the study’s specific criteria and findings here:

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/homepage/

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  1. Pingback: Cossacks Breaking News » Established Brands Beat Newcomers With Usability on November 20, 2007
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