The User Experience of Software-as-a-Service Applications

Katrina R. Lindholm

Information and Service Design Symposium March 2, 2007

What is SaaS?

Any software delivered via the internet For either consumers or businesses

Consumer Example: Flickr Business Example: Salesforce.com

Why is SaaS Popular?

High speed internet is widely available Accessible from any computer Attractive pricing plans No installation; maintenance and updates

performed by provider Result: More and more SaaS companies

Some Online Equivalents

The Big Question for Today

How does SaaS impact User Experience Work?

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

January 2006

April 2006

August 2006

Today

Traditional vs. SaaS

Traditional SaaS

Linear process, new versions took years, easy to miss market

Highly iterative, shorter cycles, agile processes

Heavy emphasis on upfront design, tedious documentation

More flexibility, collaboration between groups

Limited communication with end users

Continuous user feedback, server logs

The Big Picture

Software can be updated continuously Negative: Users lack choice/control Positive: Immediate user feedback

New Usability Methods

1. Limited Releases

2. Live Experimentation

3. Supporting Older Features

4. Gradual Change

1. Limited Releases

The Idea Roll out changes to a percentage of the user base;

get feedback, make changes, roll out to all users Yahoo! Mail Beta Example

Offered trial of new “web 2.0” version of mail application

Users did not have to switch If they switched they could easily switch back Yahoo collected feedback to inform improvements

2. Live Experimentation

Beta Applications Google Labs YouTube TestTube These are features or applications that

are in development Company can collect valuable feedback Subsequent releases are improved Stay one step ahead of competition

3. Supporting Older Features

The Idea When replacing functionality, provide links to

the previous version of the feature YouTube Example

When a popular feature is changed, they still let users access the old version

Log files reveal when the new version is widely accepted and the old version can be removed

Salesforce.com Example

Wanted to update the look and feel Invited users to vote for a design Rolled out new design but allowed

existing customers to revert back to the “classic” look and feel

A year later, they still support a small percentage of customers using the old design

4. Gradual Change

Split a larger change into small pieces which, when rolled out over time, can lessen the negative impact on users

EBay Example Yellow background slowly faded to white Users did not notice the change

Always Consider your Audience

The effectiveness/acceptability of usability practices will depend on your audience: Is the software for leisure or work? Is the software free or is it costly? How critical is the software to the user? How tolerant are users of change?

Conclusion

SaaS is the future Successful SaaS companies will:

Follow a user-centered design process Take advantage of their direct line of

communication with their customers Continuously evolve and stay competitive …but without sacrificing consistency and

user choice

Thank You

Questions?