Comments on: Lab Usability Testing: What, Why, How Much.

By: Andrew Webber

Andrew Webber — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:10:44 +0000

Avinash,
There are a lot of tools around these days claiming to be usability testing tools, such as Userfly, Open Hallway and Clixspy. I don’t really class these as usability testing tools. However, there are two that i have seen that perhaps deserve a second look; Loop11 and UserZoom.

I wondered whether you had seen these are what your thoughts are. Both claim to be able to provide quantitative usability metrics.

I look forward to your thoughts.
Andrew

By: What is usability testing? : Alicia Harper Design

What is usability testing? : Alicia Harper Design — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:07:17 +0000

[...] Lab usability testing ( where users actually come to see you ) http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2006/11/lab-usability-testing-what-why-how-much.html [...]

By: How long should a web page be? « Luis Fernandes: Boston SEO Consultant for High-Tech Companies

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:13:22 +0000

[...] This is an important topic to talk about particularly within the high-tech space. Unfortunately, some copywriters take ownership of the copy and don’t ever consider user-centric design methodogies or UCD as part of the copy writing equation. In all fairness, Webmasters should be on the hook for providing valuable metrics to copy writers to help put web site user’s browsing behavior in perspective. [...]

By: Web Credibility Factors You Need To Keep In Mind

Web Credibility Factors You Need To Keep In Mind — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:56:54 +0000

[...] 7. Make your site easy to use and useful. We all know our business. We all know every section of our company website like the back of our hands. This does not mean that the visitor to our site does. Make sure that your site could be used by someone using the internet for the first time. Make sure the navigation makes sense and include a search feature. If possible, run lab usability tests or outsource this. It is amazing watching your potential customers interact with your site, make sure they are getting what they are there for. [...]

By: Brad Warthan

Brad Warthan — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:44:44 +0000

Avinash

I think this is a deeper subject and borders along the lines of more traditional qualitative marketing research.

Some of the steps mentioned above such as recruitment of candidates can be done internally without the need for an outside recruiting source–I suppose this just depends on you availibility and resources to select.

I recommend checking out Handbook of Online Marketing Research as well as there is a website just for UI studies–I’ll find it and post it soon!

By: Tim Leighton-Boyce

Tim Leighton-Boyce — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:36:52 +0000

Jonathan makes an interesting point about making the session less task-based.

I was recently at a presentation by Amy Africa at ECMOD in London where she described a test in which the people were given a budget and given a set period in which to spend it.

She described how some candidates would do things like send text messages to their friends about being in ‘this cool test’ and end up failing to make a purchase. One of the points in this case being that people do not use web sites in isolation. We are all distracted. More so on the web where we have the on-line distractions on top of all the off-line ones.

Conducting usability tests in the relevant environment, whether the home or office, can be frightening.