Martin Lewis: 'UO is just as important as UX: A tip for anyone developing their website or app'

You probably have no clue what I'm talking about, that's fine, because UO is just my name for it. Though everyone who works at or with MSE should know what it is – as I wax lyrical about it being the key when we develop or design any new guide or tool.

UO quite simply stands for 'User Outcomes', and when I use it, it very simply means does the user get the right answer, when using or reading the site, apps or tools?

A standard industry term is UX, which stands for 'User Experience'. UX also incorporates slick flow, ease and speed of use, accessibility and intuitive response that makes the experience of using the site easier and more pleasant. And indeed UX is important (something MSE is getting better at I hope).

While I know many UX professionals will include what I call UO in their assessments, for me UO is so important it needs to be separated out, and is our number one priority. If I had to choose between MSE having a scrappy, hard-to-navigate article that gave people the right answer, or a slick, easy experience but risked some making the wrong choice – I'd pick the first.

Indeed, my uncrossable red line for approving a new tool going live as a 'minimum viable product' is always that we believe the UO is right. I can cope with the UX needing more work, though obviously I push for both to be great.

(Please don't read this as me saying MSE always gets UO right. We've a huge amount of content, with a big team and lots of moving parts. I can't promise perfection, this is more about the fact that UO is our primary objective.)

There are times I believe deliberate friction is beneficial, to add thinking time or make sure people have considered everything they should. One example of this is our Best balance transfers guide.

New team members, especially those from e-commerce backgrounds, could consider it badly structured, as it doesn't get people to the action quickly enough. Contrast it to some sites, including comparison sites, which put products up top, so they can get people to transact at speed and in volume. In the MSE guide, you have to scroll or click down to those.

That's due to UO. Our aim isn't just to get people to get a card, it's to...

1) Help them decide if a card is or isn't right for them. For some, the right outcome is doing nothing.
2) Ensure they know how to use it the right way to maximise their benefit.
3) Ensure they pick the right card for their purpose.

To try and help people with the first two, we deliberately structure the guide to have some soft friction before they get to the products. People need go via the important information to get to the 'transactional' bit. Of course we can't force people to read that information, but we can at least ensure they know it is there to be read, and that we think it is a priority to do so.

In many ways that's the choice between MSE and comparison sites. If you want detailed information that takes a bit of time, but hopefully gets a good answer, come to us. If you want a speedy 'product shop' (which can be effective for many), a comparison site will be quicker.

Of course, once the UX professionals we work with know this is the brief, they then can and do work their skills to ensure the page does the job and does it well. So it really is up to the site (or, maybe in your case, app / page / product) owner to set this as a priority.