CUA of the Month – July, 2008

Building Trust through Usability

by Susan Seifert

CUA Bob Budnik, Creative Director at retailing giant Best Buy, landed in his career through a lucky accident.

Undecided between majoring in biology and computer science, Bob followed his parents' advice and took a graphic arts class.

"It was one of the best decisions I ever made," Bob says. "I couldn't get enough of it. I ended up taking extra time with the teacher and homework." In that first class, Bob designed a poster that won 3rd place in a National Guard Poster Contest for the State of Connecticut. He continued winning scholarships and awards for his graphic design throughout high school and college.

After college, Bob worked in graphic arts and Web design for small companies in his home state of Connecticut. In 1994, he joined Micro/MacWarehouse, eventually becoming Senior Manager of the Web in charge of marketing, design, and usability.

In 2004, Bob was recruited by Best Buy. His experience at Micro/MacWarehouse made him a perfect fit for Best Buy's new initiative, a Business Division serving business, education, and government customers.

Best Buy For Business was intended to be distinct from Best Buy. The design team was instructed to use the Best Buy logo on the website, but not the Best Buy color scheme. That decision had unexpected results.

"The first website had muted colors – tans, yellows, and grays – on a white background," explains Bob. "There were some darker blues, but none of the strong, high-contrast blue used by Best Buy. It looked like the Best Buy logo was dropped onto somebody else's website."

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"We started hearing from customers who said they weren't sure if it was Best Buy or somebody trying to be Best Buy," Bob says.

There were reactions from within the division, too. "The sales reps came to work because they wanted to be Best Buy employees," says Bob. "And they weren't sure whether or not they were."

Around this time, Bob took all four HFI certification courses back-to-back over a two-week period in San Diego. He came back with some new perspectives.

"It connected the dots in my mind," Bob says. "I saw how many things I had been doing naturally were actually documented in the training and realized, wow, I'm not too far off'."

The training did more than confirm Bob's instincts. It gave him the terminology, guidelines, and research to work more effectively.

"The HFI training has made my job much easier," Bob says. "Before the training, I could tell when something was wrong, but couldn't always tell you what was wrong or why."

"Now when I review a design, I know instantly what's wrong and how to correct it," Bob continues. "I don't need to use trial and error anymore. And HFI gave me the research to show this is not just my opinion, it has basis in fact."

The training also gave Bob a new vision for the Best Buy For Business website.

"In class we learned that there's an aesthetic principle connected directly to the customer's trust levels," Bob says. "If the website isn't easy to use and doesn't have familiar elements identifying it, that trust isn't going to be there."

Bob also realized the importance of socialization.

"We had a lot of people on the IT side who didn't understand that design could make people react strongly," Bob says. "I had to explain to them that there are aesthetic principles that make people feel more relaxed, that build trust. And that this was not something I made up, but had research behind it."

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Building Trust through Usability.... (Continued)

"I tend to want to say to someone, 'Please just do this'," Bob continues. "But I realized you have to convince people. If they understand it and buy into it, they'll be able to move forward with it themselves. You don't have to hold their hand."

Bob and his team campaigned for site redesign. They got the okay and launched the new website in 2006. The new design used Best Buy colors and design elements. There was no longer any question about Best Buy For Business' identity. "It was like seeing a child and parent relationship to the brand," Bob says. "It's Best Buy and a child of Best Buy – the business segment."

The effects were instantaneous – and dramatic. "All of a sudden, we were getting more traffic to the site, and more sales," says Bob. "This was not a 1%-2% change, but a tremendous spike. On the bar chart it was like night and day."

Since the training, Bob is also more acutely aware of usability in his environment.

"I feel uncomfortable when I interact with something that's not usable," Bob says. "Before the HFI training, I thought it was just me, that I didn't get it, that I wasn't smart enough. But now I realize it's not me, there's just a lot of bad usability out there."

"With all the technology around us, if you have 10 little things that just don't feel right, they add up to one big thing and then it's not usable. It becomes one large piece of frustration," Bob continues.

"Usability is important in everyday life, from the simplest communication to the most complex. It's not just about web design, it's in everything that we do throughout the world."

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