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The utility-over-usability effect explains why bad UX persists
- Users tend to tolerate poor usability in products that are highly valuable or necessary, a concept known as the Utility Over Usability Effect.
- The article introduces a quadrant diagram categorizing products based on their utility and usability, highlighting how users interact with each category.
- Examples like Amazon and Adobe demonstrate how high utility can overshadow poor usability, leading users to endure subpar experiences.
- The article discusses how users accept bad UX in government, university, and bureaucratic systems due to lack of alternatives.
- The illusion of usability, where aesthetics mask poor UX, is explored, showing how high utility and aesthetics can create an illusion of usability.
- The Utility Over Usability Effect serves as a strategic advantage for companies in high-utility, low-usability spaces, allowing room for experimentation but with limitations.
- Resource allocation and market considerations are advised based on the value and uniqueness of the product within its market.
- The key takeaway emphasizes that while bad UX may be tolerated temporarily, usability becomes crucial once a better alternative with equal utility emerges.
- Companies should assess when to prioritize usability investments based on market dynamics and user tolerance levels.
- The article concludes that user tolerance for bad UX is not indefinite, and usability can become the deciding factor once a superior alternative is available.
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