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Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study

A recent study on usability found that men prefer fast download speed to easy navigation. Women prefer ease of use, easy navigation, and accessibility.

In a survey of 301 undergraduates on the importance of different web usability criteria, researchers from Southern Illinois University found that after ease of use, men prefer fast download speed over easy navigation while women prefer ease of use, easy navigation, and accessibility.

Both genders seemed to agree that ease of use is the most important factor in assessing website usability. It is in the second-most important factor that gender differences come into play. Men prefer fast download speeds second, while women prefer easy navigation. Customization was found to be the least important factor in web usability , consistent with a previous design factors research.

The researchers hypothesize that these gender differences are due to the fact that women use the Web to develop relationships while men use the Web for information gathering. Fast download speeds make searching for information online more efficient.

Among all respondents, ease of use was found to be the most important factor in evaluating website usability. Intuitive navigation was second, while accessibility came in third. Download speed came in fourth and customization/personalization came in last. Customization was less than half as important as ease of use in evaluating website usability.

The findings of this study suggest that the most important factor in web design is ease of use. While intuitive navigation is certainly important, designers should consider the demographics of their user base. Females prefer easy navigation and accessibility, while males prefer faster download speeds and easy navigation. Customization and personalization were found to be the least important factors in evaluating website usability. The five criteria in this study explained 65 percent of the variation in the respondents assessment of website usability.

Posted May 01 2009, 01:57 PM by Peter A. Prestipino


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Comments

DeniseC wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-01-2009 3:19 PM

Can anyone define "ease of use" as it was used in this survey?

Peter A. Prestipino wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-01-2009 4:30 PM

Based on past experience with surveys of this nature, it is likely that "ease of use" is defined by (in the mind of) the user. For example, those administering the survey would ask participants to rate a site(s) based on how they perceived the ease of use using a Lichert scale (1-5 - one being the lowest, five being the highest).

Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study - Website Magazine - Website Magazine « nomadique musings wrote Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study - Website Magazine - Website Magazine « nomadique musings
on 05-01-2009 7:25 PM

Pingback from  Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study - Website Magazine - Website Magazine « nomadique musings

AndyA wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-02-2009 7:39 PM

This is the second article I read from Website Magazine, both left me wondering the intent of the article and the basis used in reporting. I would consider ease of use and navigation to be one of the same. If they cannot find it, they cannot use it.

To include download speeds was not very interesting in web as the download speed is a combination of the users ISP and my server ability to handle the load. I can control one, but surely cannot control the other.

They sell a premium of their magazine, but I have found nothing useful from the free version, which surely indicates I would not pay the premium price.

This is a poor article and is very subjective to the individual, using a small pool of 301 under graduates, indicating they are attending school. What about the masses that don't have an education and their perception??

StanK wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-03-2009 10:42 AM

What about other gender vs design issues? There is so much more that could be said about this

KerriB wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-03-2009 9:08 PM

Is there public access to this study?

G wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-04-2009 8:14 AM

To AndyA and others who dogged the article... I subscribe to website magazine and find many of the articles informative and also stimulating to my associative thinking process. This particular article does leave much to be desired and is but a morsel of info on the subject, but may stimulate you to dig a little deeper on the subject and review other sources that may stimulate your creative juices.

All in all, you should have a positive experience if you are open minded to the fact that these mags do add content that is relevent to the subject at hand but may not be nobel prize winning content.

BobM wrote re: Men vs. Women: Website Optimization Usability Study
on 05-25-2009 4:48 PM

I agree that this article is a little short on substance but, frankly, I don't know of too many magazines that aren't "highlights" articles type content. And declaring that 'this is what men and women want" based on a survey of a very narrow demographic is a bit ridiculous.

however, it still reinforces the fact that usability is still the number one factor in conversion. If your website is full of sales copy, loaded with corp-speak or jargon, has an awkward page structure, or has a twelve factor form to fill out for information or a quote (a problem one of my clients refuses to change), all the traffic in the world is useless because the site will drive them to your competitors.