Are Usability Problems Dependent on Product Properties?

Abstract

Nowadays a half of the reasons for returns of consumer electronic products have little to do with technical problems, but are based on so called ‘soft problems’, consumer complaints that cannot be traced back to technical problems. Nevertheless, the number of studies investigating what made soft problems occur is scare. Several explanations are possible for the phenomenon that soft problems are so numerous and even increasing. Product development teams might not take these problems serious. However, one of the major reasons would be the fact that the current products are continuously changing in terms of size, function and experience. Therefore, this paper focuses on the product properties: the question is whether soft problems are (partly) dependent on product properties, and if so, how product properties play a role with soft problems. To investigate the role of product properties in soft problems a questionnaire survey was conducted with 567 respondents. The conclusions were drawn that there are indeed differences in type of soft problems depending on product properties. This study can provide product development teams with an in-depth understanding of the influence of product properties in use problems.