Case Study: Enhancing Digital Experiences Through Human-Centered Usability Principles

By Philip Burgess - UX Research Leader

Client

Global Payments – A leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions.

Objective

To educate product, design, and engineering teams on how human psychology, perception, memory, and decision-making influence usability—ensuring digital products align with human capabilities and limitations to improve efficiency, satisfaction, and conversion rates.

Background

Global Payments sought to create a more intuitive, efficient, and satisfying experience for their diverse user base. With billions of transactions processed annually, even small usability improvements could result in significant gains in user satisfaction and business performance.

However, teams faced challenges:

• Over-reliance on assumptions (false consensus effect), leading to designs that reflected internal thinking rather than user behavior.

• Cognitive overload from unnecessary complexity in forms, navigation, and task flows.

• Cultural and perceptual differences affecting how users interpret design elements.

The goal was to bridge the gap between human factors research and practical design execution, empowering teams to make informed design choices backed by behavioral science.

Approach

1. Applying Cognitive Psychology to Design

• Introduced human factors principles to design teams, emphasizing how attention, perception, and memory impact digital interaction.

• Taught the Principle of Least Effort, explaining that users will choose the least demanding path to achieve their goals—critical for optimizing task flows.

2. Improving Attention & Perception in Interfaces

• Demonstrated banner blindness and the importance of removing or reformatting ad-like elements in key task flows.

• Applied Gestalt principles (proximity, similarity, closure, figure/ground) to improve grouping, white space use, and visual hierarchy.

• Showed that simple layout adjustments, such as grouping related fields, could increase conversions by 10%.

3. Memory-Friendly Design

• Explained the limitations of short-term memory (average 20-second decay) and the importance of visual cues like visited link states and consistent navigation.

• Recommended avoiding unnecessary deviations from established design patterns to reduce learning curves.

4. Data-Driven Behavior Insights

• Used behavioral research and analytics to identify points of user drop-off, replacing self-reported assumptions with objective data.

• Shared examples where subtle changes—such as improving contrast or adjusting wording in privacy statements—boosted conversions (e.g., press logos increased conversions by 17%).

5. Emotional Design and First Impressions

• Presented research showing first impressions form within 50 milliseconds, stressing the balance between aesthetics and usability.

• Demonstrated that usability improvements can override initial negative impressions, turning hesitant users into engaged customers.

Key Outcomes

• Cultural Shift: Teams began designing with user cognitive limitations and biases in mind, resulting in more intuitive flows.

• Higher Conversions: Implementing tested grouping, contrast, and form design changes led to measurable gains in form completion rates and transaction success.

• Reduced Cognitive Load: Simplified navigation and improved grouping of related content decreased user errors and drop-off rates.

• Sustained Learning: The program created a lasting reference for usability best practices rooted in psychology and human factors research.

Conclusion

By merging behavioral science and design execution, Global Payments empowered its teams to create interfaces that truly work with users, not against them. These changes not only improved user experience but also directly impacted business performance, validating that human-centered usability is both a user win and a business win.