Have you ever done a usability test on your site?

[SillyJokes]

Have you ever done a usability test on your site?

Many folks here live by their websites but I wondered how many have ever done even a very basic usability test on their sites? Have you ever sat down and watched someone new to your site try and perform a task on it?

I'm interested in whether you have done one inhouse with a few mates or actually gone to a test house?

I'm guessing that very very few people here have ever done any testing at all.

Come on, 'fess up, have you done one, would you do one, do you think it is necessary for your success?

[Astaroth]

I guess that anyone who ever posts their site on here for review is doing a basic usability test - I know that I certainly follow any ecom sites up to the payment details page when I review them.

In answer to your question - I have never used a professional usability testing company on any of the sites I have created but have got friends/ family to test for me.

[Ozzy]

I ask friends to test sites that I have designed for me, not through a specialist test company.
However, I do also run surveys on my clients and ask for their feedback on ways to improve my website. You cannot please everyone, but my website has evolved over nearly 4 years of continuous customer feedback.

I had a call yesterday from a client who didn't like the site, and I'm going to see them yesterday to sit down with them to see what they dont like and see first hand their "experience" with it.

Much like your Caroline, my website is my business so it has to be easy to use.

[Faith28]

and I'm going to see them yesterday to sit down with them to see what they dont like and see first hand their "experience" with it.



Do you have a time machine Ozzy! :wink:

[MinuWeb]

and I'm going to see them yesterday to sit down with them to see what they dont like and see first hand their "experience" with it.



Do you have a time machine Ozzy! :wink:

If you are busy yesterday maybe we can rearrange our meeting for the day before ? :D

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

I've never done a test like that before but it is something that I am going toput on my list of things to do before I go live with my online shop (only on my list after I read this post and thought it a good idea).

I can see how it can be useful. I suppose there isn't a set number of things peole can look for specifically? Maybe just tailored objectives and questions related to the sites content and product etc.

Good idea though!

Bye

Paresh :D

[SillyJokes]

I should maybe have done this as a poll.

Judging by the replies people either don't know what it is or are not interested in having a usability study.

The problem is, you can get a site designed and you may love it but unless you actually sit and watch a few people actually try and achieve the tasks you are hoping for then you have no idea if it is working as well as it could be. If you don't know where the trouble spots are and your designer isn't going to tell you (because it's not what you want to hear) then the only way to be convinced to to listen to a realy person humming and haaing over the best link to click next or getting annoyed because it didn't take them where they expected.

We did our own test a while ago and were shocked by some of the findings. They were blindingly obvious but we simply hadn't clicked.

We have also had an expert reveiw and made some great changes based on their recommendations but at the heart of it you don't know till you test.

Most people here know, I don't sell usability tests and so I don't have a vested interest in promoting them. I would just love to hear from anyone who has had one. Personally I found it a revelation and it can be done on a shoestring.

Steve Krug's book Don't Make Me Think contains the method and reasons for doing a test.

[MarkPearson]

And did your improvements improve sales/conversion?

Because at the end of the day thats why your making your site easier to use!

As for my site, If you remember a while back I asked a group of people from here to go to our site and act as a customer, they even went all the way through the cart.

I got some good feedback and made some small, but what could be important changes.

I am always open to feedback....

[cjd]

I used to run the Internet businesses for a very large telecommunication company and had about 6-9 major commercial web sites in my 'portfolio'. I used both focus groups and 'man/machine interface' specialists and god knows what else to get them up and running (it was the very early days of the web).

I found them all universally useless - at the time the only real experts were the ones that were doing it for real and creating the rules as they went along. I expect it has changed somewhat now but I had such bad experiences with them that I vowed never to waste my money again.

Having said that, our own site is now very badly in need of complete redesign but it is has developed into such a complex site, being the engine room of our telephone business - far, far bigger than anything I had before and with bleeding edge stuff behind it that it's very difficult to change.

However, the day will come ....... who did you use?

[SillyJokes]

For our first test we did it ourselves and made changes that we believe really helped.

PM if you want to know who did our expert review.

Mark, bottom line is turnover, we have always grown at such a helluva rate it has been hard to pin point just what is causing it. However ensuring that grass roots people can use the site is one box ticked in the search for the perfect conversion.

Just asking a few people who aren't that interested to post a few comments on an open forum does not constitute a thorough test and if you are serious about your online business it really is simple.

Get a few mates of your mum to sit down and place a dummy order while they describe what they are doing out loud and you watch. It could make your hair stand on end when you realise that what is obvious to you is potentially confusing to your market.

You need to get them to speak every single thought - i.e. "Is that a link? If I click it I expect to be taken to a details page, oh it took me to the free chocolate page, I didn't want that, I better go back, where do I click now? I don't understand what I'm meant to do here, how do I add a message etc etc."

What Steve Krug espouses is that an accumulation of wrong clicks, irritating little problems, difficult decisions all adds up to someone abandoning your site. Smooth out as many of these as possible and people will feel comfortable on your site for longer and therefore are more likely to achieve the goal they came for.

I'm just surprised not more people are interested in this area. After all, once the site is designed and people are finding it, the next step is to ensure they can do what they came for. It's crucial.

Edit to say CJD straight away I can tell you that the text on your site is far too small and grey. My eyesight is reasonable but I could hardly read it and because it was hard to read I was suspicious of the 'small print' feel it gave the site and I couldn't be bothered to read it. Now TEST YOUR SITE.

[cjd]

Edit to say CJD straight away I can tell you that the text on your site is far too small and grey. My eyesight is reasonable but I could hardly read it and because it was hard to read I was suspicious of the 'small print' feel it gave the site and I couldn't be bothered to read it. Now TEST YOUR SITE.

Trust me, I aware of many, many things that are wrong with the site (including font size). But it just aint going to get done for some time.........

[nickster]

I've done large-scale usability testing (20 people over 2 weeks) on one site I've worked on. The results were interesting but not mind-blowing. Most of the stuff was pretty obvious although we did discover that an important part of our navigation got completely overlooked by everybody, so we re-designed it. However, we didn't have the budget to re-test, so no idea if it actually made any difference!
I think it's very useful to get the opinion of someone not involved in the site as they can see the wood for the trees. However, my Mum's opinion is free and just as valid as anyone elses! If she can use a site, then anyone can ;)
An online feedback form is possibly more effective - get feedback from actual users.

[webit]

Intresting read (with a section on testing sites)

Dont Make me Think by Steve Krug - a very good book BTW

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321344758/qid=1145458136/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-5977965-0651644

[mattk]

However, my Mum's opinion is free and just as valid as anyone elses!
Absolutely. We did alot of usability testing at a major retailer I worked for and the results were, well, mixed.

I much prefer the concept of "hallway usability test" - where you grab the next person that passes by in the hallway and force them to try to use the code you just wrote. Taken from The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html).