UX of websites: Examining the user experience of book readers using publisher websites
Delightful books deserve a website with an intuitive user experience to help the business make returns on its investment and achieve its bottom-line objectives.
I know that paperback books are not digital products. I also know there are options for reading books on a kindle device.
But if you are like me and love the smell of freshly printed books, you will understand the pains of buying physical books online from a publisher’s website with a bad user experience.
I once worked with a reputable publishing firm that published renowned authors. They had quality prints, error-free edits, and an incredible list of renowned authors, but I noticed a major flaw. The company’s website had a bad user experience.
As a staff member, I had someone complain to me that it was difficult to navigate the website and complete core tasks like checkout on the site. Another reader found it difficult to search for book titles and authors on the website. The UI had a dark theme that wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. It was also difficult for readers to get customer care services when they were stuck without leaving the site. And finally, the content on the website wasn’t helpful, clear, concise, or human-centered.
The consequence was that fewer sales were recorded on the website; despite having excellent quality books by renowned authors.
Delightful books deserve a website with an intuitive user experience to help the business make returns on its investment and achieve its bottom-line objectives.
Take note, the “user” of the publisher’s website is “a book reader”. And depending on how much time a reader is willing to spend on your site, it is wise for your website to help readers buy a book with fewer clicks and in less time.
The behaviour of diverse readers is also important. If the reader is a first-time user, returning user, technical novice, or digital expert, you should ensure their needs are catered for, they find what they are looking for, and that you help them make decisions faster.
As a user experience person, I see myself at the intersection of writing, design, digital marketing, and publicity, and I hold a fundamental belief.
It’s not enough to bring world-class ideas to life or create an amazing reading experience for curious readers. These readers need to know about you, what you do, and how you solve their knowledge gap or entertainment problems and be able to find you and achieve their objectives while using your website.
Readers also need a smooth and intuitive user experience when they visit your app or website. And although I couldn’t do anything about the bad user experience of the publishing house I used to work at, because I did not have the information I now have, I can still share what I think should have been done.
So, I will make a list of publishing houses’ websites that I believe provide readers with great user experiences, and why I think so.
To start with, what makes a great user experience?
According to usability.gov, “at the core of UX is ensuring that users find value in what you are providing to them.”
According to Interaction Design Foundation, “UX is critical to the success or failure of a product in the market.”
It also mentions how Peter Morville notes that, in order for there to be a meaningful and valuable user experience, information must be:
- Useful: Your content should be original and fulfill a need.
- Usable: Sites must be easy to use.
- Desirable: Image, identity, brand, and other design elements are used to evoke emotion and appreciation.
- Findable: Content needs to be navigable and locatable both onsite and offsite.
- Credible: Users must trust and believe what you tell them.
- Accessible: Content needs to be accessible to people with disabilities.
According to the Interaction Design Foundation, there is a seventh
7. Valuable: The product must deliver value.
Here are samples of some publisher sites that I believe offer a great user experience to their readers.
Penguin Random House
I love Penguin Random House’s website user experience. It feels intuitive and the experience is smooth.
Penguin Random House is a dedicated team of publishing professionals committed to helping authors realize their very best work and find innovative new ways of bringing stories and ideas to audiences worldwide.
Narrative Landscape
Narrative Landscape website UI design is clean, it presents information without unnecessary features, and easy-to-follow prompts. Books are easy to find, and the content is useful for readers to achieve their objectives.
The dream of the founders of Narrative Landscape was to create a firm that could distil the essence of the publishing process and provide a service to other publishing houses and self-publishing authors within the Nigerian space.
Ouida Books
My favourite of these publisher websites is Ouida Books. This is because of how smooth it is to navigate features on the website and complete tasks in fewer clicks. It is easy to find books and authors on the site. There are also prompts that guide users efficiently, the content on the website is human, clear, and concise.
Talking about publishing in Nigeria, you could say Ouida Books is one of the newest kids on the block. Ouida’s vision is to cater to the needs of readers who enjoy high-quality fiction by authors like Bisi Adjapon, Ayobami Adebayo, Nnamdi Ehirim, Helon Habila and Hadiza El-Rufai. However, they are also there for readers who have a quirky taste in books with authors like Nnedi Okorafor and Leye Adenle.
In conclusion, the user experience of publishing websites deserves attention. If publishing houses want to drive more traffic to their websites, achieve a return on investments, and increase sales, they need to ensure their readers enjoy a smooth intuitive user experience while navigating their websites.
