Diagnosing Usability Barriers and Conversion Quality Deficits: An Integrated Framework for Web Interface Evaluation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54878/d75ny149Keywords:
heuristic evaluation, conversion rate optimization, LIFT Model, Nielsen's heuristics, usability, digital interface evaluation, user satisfaction, accessibility guidelinesAbstract
Usability evaluation and conversion rate optimization examine the same interfaces through different methods, vocabularies, and specialists. This study integrates them. The app, referred to as App X, a standardized criterion-referenced protocol, scores a website against Nielsen's ten usability heuristics and the six factors of the LIFT conversion model in a single automated pass. The instrument was deployed publicly and produced 50 evaluations across 27 unique websites, paired with a 25-respondent satisfaction and acceptance survey. Usability fell in the good range (M = 72.24, SD = 3.51) and conversion quality likewise (M = 72.0, SD = 5.90); the composite Overall UX Score was invariant across three heuristic weighting schemes (maximum spread 0 points) and the Conversion Quality composite varied by at most 1 point across three factor weighting schemes. Diagnostic discrimination appeared at the construct level rather than the site level: the ten heuristics spanned 19 points (M = 69.3, SD = 5.24) and the six LIFT factors 13 points (M = 71.0, SD = 4.20), with the weakest dimensions - help and documentation (59), visibility of system status (62), clarity (65), and low anxiety (67) - forming a coherent, literature-consistent profile. Usability and conversion quality were weakly to moderately associated (r = 0.40, r2 ≈ 0.16), indicating complementary rather than redundant diagnostic coverage. Two findings bound every claim: the deterministic modeled scoring engine produced all 50 evaluations rather than the AI pipeline, and six repeat audited sites supplied 29 of the 50 evaluations. The contribution is therefore methodological - a reproducible, construct-grounded instrument answering a documented call for standardization -with criterion validation, AI-pipeline validation, and remediation effect testing reserved for future work.
References
S. Genne, "Optimizing user experience in hightraffic financial web applications using analytics," Int. J. Eng. Extended Technol. Res., vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 72317241, 2023.
F. Nawir and S. A. Hendrawan, "The impact of website usability and mobile optimization on customer satisfaction and sales conversion rates in e-commerce businesses in Indonesia," Eastasouth J. Inf. Syst. Comput. Sci., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 15–30, 2024.
M. Maguire, "A review of usability guidelines for ecommerce website design," in Proc. Int. Conf. Human-Computer Interaction, Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2023, pp. 30–43.
J. Nielsen, "Enhancing the explanatory power of usability heuristics," in Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Syst., ACM, 1994, pp. 152–158, doi: 10.1145/191666.191729.
J. Nielsen, "10 usability heuristics for user interface design," Nielsen Norman Group, Nov. 15, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usabilityheuristics/
R. Langevin, R. J. Lordon, T. Avrahami, B. R. Cowan, T. Hirsch, and G. Hsieh, "Heuristic evaluation of conversational agents," in Proc. 2021 CHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Syst., 2021, pp. 1–15.
T. Kumar, X. Tu, and M. Zallio, "How generative AI is reshaping UI/UX design workflows: A systematic review," in AHFE Int. Conf. Human Factors Des., Eng. Comput., AHFE International, 2025, pp. 24382452.
H. Cho et al., "Assessing the usability of a clinical decision support system: Heuristic evaluation," JMIR Human Factors, vol. 9, no. 2, p. e31758, 2022.
S. Ntoa, G. Margetis, M. Antona, and C. Stephanidis, "User experience evaluation in intelligent environments: A comprehensive framework," Technologies, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 41, 2021.
J. Nielsen, "Finding usability problems through heuristic evaluation," in Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Syst. (CHI '92), New York, NY, USA: ACM, 1992, pp. 373–380.
M. Abdul Aziz, M. H. Sani, H. Baharin, S. Zambri, N. I. Jiman, and I. N. Mohd Nasir, "Heuristic evaluation of e-commerce marketplace," Malaysian J. Comput., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1178–1187, 2022.
S. Seethaladevi and M. Felisiya, "A study on the impact of website user experience on conversion rates," Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Commun. Eng., vol. 15, no. 4, 2026.
H. Farhana, H. Suryana, S. Rizki Aulia, and N. Lizza Tiara, "Website prototype design for macaron sales using the design thinking method," Digital Frontier: J. Comput. Sci. Innov., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 31–39, 2025.
J. Wang, C. Ranscombe, and B. Eisenbart, "Prototyping in smart product design: Investigating prototyping tools to support communication in the early stage smart product development," Int. J. Des. Creativity Innov., vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 159–180, 2023.
J. Liu, "AI in automated and remote UX evaluation: A systematic review (2014–2024)," Adv. Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 2025, art. 7442179, 2025, doi: 10.1155/ahci/7442179.
J. Nielsen and R. Molich, "Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces," in Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Syst., ACM, 1990, pp. 249–256, doi: 10.1145/97243.97281. International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation ISSN: 2791-2957 - https://doi.org/10.54878/d75ny149 Pages 101 -104 International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation
J. Nielsen and T. K. Landauer, "A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems," in Proc. INTERACT '93 and CHI '93, ACM, 1993, pp. 206–213, doi: 10.1145/169059.169166.
J. Nielsen, "Why you only need to test with 5 users," Nielsen Norman Group, Mar. 18, 2000. [Online]. Available: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/whyyou-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/
J. Nielsen, "How many test users in a usability study?," Nielsen Norman Group, Jun. 3, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/howmany-test-users/
K. Moran and K. Gordon, "How to conduct a heuristic evaluation," Nielsen Norman Group, Jun. 25, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-to-conduct-aheuristic-evaluation/
J. Brooke, "SUS: A 'quick and dirty' usability scale," in Usability Evaluation in Industry, P. W. Jordan et al., Eds. London, U.K.: Taylor & Francis, 1996, pp. 189–194.
R. Jeffries, J. R. Miller, C. Wharton, and K. Uyeda, "User interface evaluation in the real world: A comparison of four techniques," in Proc. SIGCHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Syst. (CHI '91), ACM, 1991, pp. 119–124, doi: 10.1145/108844.108862.
K. R. Lynch, "Heuristic evaluation and usability testing of Ohio Area Agency on Aging websites for older adults," M.S. thesis, Ohio Univ., Athens, OH, USA, 2011.
M. Hertzum and N. E. Jacobsen, "The evaluator effect: A chilling fact about usability evaluation methods," Int. J. Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 421–443, 10.1207/S15327590IJHC1304_05. 2001, doi:
Conversion, "The LIFT Model," Conversion.com, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://conversion.com/framework/the-lift-model/
C. Goward, You Should Test That! Conversion Optimization for More Leads, Sales, and Profit. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Sybex/John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
J. C. Sweeney and G. N. Soutar, "Consumer perceived value: The development of a multiple item scale," J. Retailing, vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 203–220, 2001, doi: 10.1016/S0022-4359(01)00041-0.
F. D. Davis, "Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology," MIS Quart., vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 319–340, 1989, doi: 10.2307/249008.
M. Blut, D. Chaney, R. Lunardo, R. Mencarelli, and D. Grewal, "Customer perceived value: A comprehensive meta-analysis," J. Service Res., vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 501–524, 2024, doi: 10.1177/10946705231222295.
P. Pirolli and S. Card, "Information foraging," Psychol. Rev., vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 643–675, 1999, doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.643.
D. Di Fatta, D. Patton, and G. Viglia, "The determinants of conversion rates in SME e-commerce websites," J. Retailing Consumer Services, vol. 41, pp. 161–168, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.12.008.
R. Nadlifatin et al., "Determinant of online purchase intention and corporate website contextual relevance," Cogent Bus. Manage., vol. 12, no. 1, art. 2438860, 2025, doi: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2438860.
J. Sweller, P. Ayres, and S. Kalyuga, Cognitive Load Theory. New York, NY, USA: Springer, 2011, doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-8126-4.
W. C. McDowell, R. C. Wilson, and C. O. Kile Jr., "An examination of retail website design and conversion rate," J. Bus. Res., vol. 69, no. 11, pp. 48374842, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.040.
C. Flavián, M. Guinalíu, and R. Gurrea, "The role played by perceived usability, satisfaction and consumer trust on website loyalty," Inf. Manage., vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2006, doi: 10.1016/j.im.2005.01.002.
S. A. Qalati, E. G. Vela, W. Li, S. A. Dakhan, T. T. Hong Thuy, and S. H. Merani, "Effects of perceived service quality, website quality, and reputation on purchase intention," Cogent Bus. Manage., vol. 8, no. 1, art. 1869363, 2021, doi: 10.1080/23311975.2020.1869363.
L. Deng and M. S. Poole, "Affect in web interfaces: A study of the impacts of web page visual complexity and order," MIS Quart., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 711–730, 2010, doi: 10.2307/25750702.
Y. Shen, "Distractions in digital reading: A metaanalysis of attentional interference effects," Frontiers Psychol., vol. 16, 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1671214. art. 1671214, 2025, doi:
R. B. Cialdini, Influence: Science and Practice, 5th ed. Boston, MA, USA: Pearson, 2009.
B. J. Fogg, "A behavior model for persuasive design," in Proc. 4th Int. Conf. Persuasive Technol., ACM, 2009, art. 40, doi: 10.1145/1541948.1541999.
C. Fornell, M. D. Johnson, E. W. Anderson, J. Cha, and B. E. Bryant, "The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, purpose, and findings," J. International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation ISSN: 2791-2957 - https://doi.org/10.54878/d75ny149 Pages 102 -104 International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation Marketing, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 7–18, 1996, doi: 10.1177/002224299606000403.
R. L. Oliver, Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2010.
J. P. Wanous, A. E. Reichers, and M. J. Hudy, "Overall job satisfaction: How good are single-item measures?," J. Appl. Psychol., vol. 82, no. 2, pp. 247252, 1997, doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.247.
American Customer Satisfaction Index, "U.S. overall customer satisfaction," ACSI, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://theacsi.org/
A. Kirkpatrick, J. O'Connor, A. Campbell, and M. Cooper, Eds., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. W3C, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
S. Schmutz, A. Sonderegger, and J. Sauer, "Implementing recommendations from web accessibility guidelines: A comparative study of nondisabled users and users with visual impairments," Human Factors, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 956–972, 2017, doi: 10.1177/0018720817708397.
W3C, "WCAG 2.1: Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)," 2025. [Online]. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ Available:
W3C, "WCAG 2.1: Success Criterion 1.4.11 Nontext Contrast," 2018. [Online]. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ Available:
S. Zuffi, C. Brambilla, G. Beretta, and P. Scala, "Human-computer interaction: Legibility and contrast," in Proc. 14th Int. Conf. Image Anal. Process., IEEE, 10.1109/ICIAP.2007.76. 2007, pp. 629–634, doi:
A. Bangor, "Electronic text readability issues for the visually impaired," in Proc. Human Factors Ergonomics Soc. Annu. Meeting, vol. 43, no. 23, SAGE, 1999, pp. 10.1177/154193129904302323.
1372–1375, doi: K. S. Papadopoulos and D. B. Goudiras, "Accessibility assistance for visually-impaired people in digital texts," Brit. J. Visual Impairment, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 75–83, 2005, doi: 10.1177/0264619605054779.
F. E. Sandnes, "Understanding WCAG 2.0 colour contrast requirements through 3D colour space visualisation," in Proc. Universal Design, 2016, pp. 366375.
J. Birch, "Worldwide prevalence of red–green color deficiency," J. Opt. Soc. Amer. A, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 313–320, 2012, doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.29.000313.
J. R. Nuñez, C. R. Anderton, and R. S. Renslow, "Optimizing colormaps with consideration for color vision deficiency to enable accurate interpretation of scientific data," PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 7, p. e0199239, 2018, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199239.
W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, 2024. [Online]. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ Available: R. Korniichuk and M. Boryczka, "Conversion rate prediction based on text readability analysis of landing pages," Entropy, vol. 23, no. 11, art. 1388, 2021, doi: 10.3390/e23111388.
R. Zimmermann and A. Auinger, "Developing a conversion rate optimization framework for digital retailers—Case study," J. Marketing Anal., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 233–243, 2023, doi: 10.1057/s41270-022-00161-y.
J. Schotz, S. Ford, M. Gruber, K. Schmidt, S. Soares, and M. Mouloua, "Convergent usability evaluation of the HFES website," Proc. Human Factors Ergonomics Soc. Annu. Meeting, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 1335–1339, 2022.
S. Duvaud, C. Gavella, F. Lisacek, H. Stockinger, V. Ioannidis, and C. Durinx, "Expasy, the Swiss Bioinformatics Resource Portal, as designed by its users," Nucleic Acids Res., vol. 49, pp. W216–W227, 2021.
M. Farzandipour, E. Nabovati, and M. Sadeqi Jabali, "Comparison of usability evaluation methods for a health information system," BMC Med. Informat. Decis. Making, vol. 22, art. 157, 2022.
J. Iminibi, K. N. Elliot, A. B. Moko, and B. Okardi, "A systematic review of heuristic evaluation vs thinkaloud protocols in detecting usability problems," Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Sci., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 12–14, 2026.
A. Karani, H. Thanki, and S. Achuthan, "Impact of university website usability on satisfaction: A structural equation modelling approach," Manage. Labour Stud., vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 119–138, 2021.
J. Li, K. Yu, X. Bao, X. Liu, and J. Yao, "Patterns of eHealth website user engagement based on crosssite clickstream data," J. Med. Internet Res., vol. 23, no. 8, p. e29299, 2021.
Z. Galavi, S. Norouzi, and R. Khajouei, "Heuristics used for evaluating the usability of mobile health International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation ISSN: 2791-2957 - https://doi.org/10.54878/d75ny149 Pages 103 -104 International Journal of Automation and Digital Transformation applications: A systematic literature review," Digital Health, vol. 10, 2024, doi:10.1177/20552076241253559.
Z. Galavi, M. Montazeri, and R. Khajouei, "Which criteria are important in usability evaluation of mHealth applications: An umbrella review," BMC Med. Inform. Decis. Making, vol. 24, art. 365, 2024, doi: 10.1186/s12911-024-02738-2.
D. M. Rothschild, C. Needell, J. Veverka, and E. Yom-Tov, "Search conversion journeys and the missed opportunity of associated keywords," Frontiers Commun., vol. 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1560141. 10, 2025, doi:
J. Guo, W. Zhang, and T. Xia, "Impact of shopping website design on customer satisfaction and loyalty," Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 8, art. 6347, 2023.
D. Novita and Hanifah, "Optimizing user interface and user experience on e-commerce platforms to improve customer retention," Jurnal Teknologi dan Open Source, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 837–842, 2025.
P. W. Jordan and B. Thomas, "Ecological validity in laboratory based usability evaluations," Proc. Human Factors Ergonomics Soc. Annu. Meeting, vol. 38, no. 17, pp. 10.1177/154193129403801712. 1009–1013, 1994, doi:
M. Q. Patton, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE, 2015.
I. Etikan, S. A. Musa, and R. S. Alkassim, "Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling," Amer. J. Theoretical Appl. Statist., vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1–4, 2016, doi: 10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11.
H. Meslem and A. Abbaci, "A practical approach for optimizing the conversion rate of a landing page's visitors," Marketing Sci. Inspirations, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 40–53, 2022, doi: 10.46286/msi.2022.17.4.4.
R. Kohavi, R. Longbotham, D. Sommerfield, and R. M. Henne, "Controlled experiments on the web: Survey and practical guide," Data Mining Knowl. Discovery, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 140–181, 2009, doi: 10.1007/s10618-008-0114-1.
