The official website for the U.S Postal Service (USPS) is the source of information for many businesses and individuals. Whether it is to track a shipment, change an address, or locate the closest post office, the USPS website must have an understandable information architecture and easy to use navigation so users are able to quickly find what they want.

The site does a good job, for the most part – providing the ability to search on each page, having commonly used links at the very top of the page and providing shortcuts with descriptions. Nonetheless, there are plenty of findability improvements that could be made to make the user’s experience better and more enjoyable.

Is that a link?

The content in the middle of the screen provides shortcuts with well labeled titles and descriptions. The problem is the titles are a dark blue color which makes it seem like they are links. Not only are they not clickable but the only link to the shortcut is the small gray arrow button at the very end of the description. The only way to tell that it is a link is to see the mouse cursor change when over the image (this is true with many of the site’s text links as well).

When you consider that people of all ages have to use the post office and might visit the site, the USPS could do a great deal to improve usability by making the title and/or description a link. At the very least, have the arrow button change color or have a pressed down state when the mouse is rolled over.

Inconsistent Navigation

The majority of the site’s navigation menu remains the same – commonly used links at the top of the page (Calculate Postage, Locate a Post Office, Track & Confirm a Shipment, etc) with category buttons (Business, Household, Buy Stamps & Shop, All Products & Services, and About USPS & News) below it. Unfortunately, this is not the case with all pages. On some of the main pages (Buy Stamps, Track & Confirm, Locate a Post Office), the entire top navigation is removed.

Keeping the navigation layout consistent would greatly improve the user experience. Users will not have to shift their attention and “relearn” an interface. Users may also spend time wondering if they are on the correct page. Having consistent navigation makes Users feel comfortable when exploring a website.

Final Words

While I’ve pointed out two of the site’s biggest usability problems in regards to findability, there are still a lot more that can be improved upon, including problems dealing with the page design, user tasks, and information display. Unfortunately, doing an entire web usability case study on the site would take a few weeks. I would be remiss if I did not end this post without mentioning some of the things the site does well in terms of findability – links and label names are clear and specific, search is available on all pages (although not very consistent in placement or wording), the homepage provides direct access to popular pages, and the use of breadcrumbs to give users some sense of where they are within the site.

The main point to take away from all of this – improving the website’s usability may cause one less person to go postal in the future.