One of the most important benefits of user testing is the opportunity it provides our clients to observe real users interacting with their product or website. This never fails to be an enlightening experience for stakeholders and really helps to engage them in the process.

We expect our clients to experience some surprise when confronted with how users actually interact with their website, however something else that we are increasingly observing is stakeholders’ surprise at how their website actually works and the information it provides. Whilst our clients are always very knowledgeable about their business, it seems that keeping track of how their own website works and fulfils business needs can slip to the back burner.

Large and intricate websites and complex business structures make keeping track of even a small part of a website a challenge and makes it easy for changes made to a website to slip under the radar of those who best understand the usability or business requirements.

Consequently, we have found that usability testing, and in particular clients taking the time to observe sessions, can really help stakeholders to re-connect with their own website, their users and allow them to re-evaluate how the website aligns with their business goals. This is a somewhat understated benefit of user testing but it is one what we feel is becoming increasingly relevant.

Having recently attended a presentation of findings on the research project ‘Australian Retail Industry – Adoption Plans for Online Advertising & E-tailing’ (presented by AIMIA Retail Industry Group, Melbourne, 22 September), we’d like to share some quick thoughts on the subject…

Australian retailers have been dragging their heels in the world of e-tailing for some time and it’s no surprise that approximately 25% of online sales in Australia go overseas (Forrester Research).

Findings of independent research conducted in this area were recently presented by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA). As experts in user behaviour, we were extremely interested to hear about retailer’s views in this area and looked forward to finding out how Australian retailers are planning to meet the increasing demand for efficient online channels.

Some key points were raised in the presentation, but one which stood out was that a disappointingly large number of respondents viewed ‘generating online sales’ as the least important role of the online channel. While according to the research, online sales currently equate to only 5% of total sales, this has and will continue to grow steadily.

From our experience in the field of user research, we see the potential for retailers to grow this number significantly. To see this channel begin to reach its full potential, open up new markets and deter more shoppers from purchasing from overseas competitors, Aussie retailers need to start dedicating adequate time and resources to improving the customer experience and working to achieve a seamless, multi-channel approach.

Recently, I have been working with a calculator that deals with finances. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a financial genius and at times during this testing I found myself double-checking over the meanings of various aspects and outputs throughout the calculator. I wasn’t the only one; throughout the testing a number of participants could not properly articulate what the output actually meant.

Initially to combat this, I had the genius thought of adding ‘?’ symbols where there were issues for the participants, but the range of areas where these could be added were huge. By the end of the testing there could have been ‘?’ symbols all over the place, which in itself creates clutter and hence the usability of the application deteriorates.

So I pose the question: “How much help is too much help?” At what point do we draw the line on how much information we can give to users and just say “if you don’t get it by now, you’re probably not ever going to get it”? In this case it is important to assess who you want to use your interface. Should it really be a case of teaching whilst users are interacting, or should the ‘?’ icons merely be there for guidance?

While at the v21 conference earlier this year, I was reminded of how the NBN roll-out will enable downloads of 1GB per second over the internet, almost ten times faster than it is today.  What does this mean for the everyday user?  It means you will be able to browse your favourite website, whilst downloading a movie or your favourite album and uploading your holiday pictures to Facebook without any delay.  Exciting?

However, in the words of Spiderman and Barack Obama said, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’.

With an increase in power usage across our broadband network it means we need to use more energy to operate it.  This in turn leads to much greater carbon omissions which need to be offset.  Has this been taken into account?

Just because we will have the capability to reach this kind of power, does it mean we should? Your thoughts?

From online flight boarding passes to application forms, we all use PDF more than we probably realise. And with the Federal Government making all paper-based forms available electronically in PDF format as part of its Electronic Services Delivery strategy, PDF continues to be an essential part of our day-to-day lives, both at work and at home.

However, while we encounter PDF frequently, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it is the best method for us to use. In fact, it’s almost taken for granted that it’s just the way to do things – so we at UsabilityOne decided to investigate this further, and bring to light the real user benefits and limitations of interactive PDF forms.

You can check out our findings in our latest report, Incorporating the role of PDF in the Australian Government’s Electronic Services Delivery strategy.

Once you’ve checked out the report, make sure to tell us about your experience of using PDF by commenting here!

A cliché which seems to have developed in recent years is the video of a baby using an iPhone/iPad. I must say that I find this a little tiresome and boring – I don’t care how clever your child is! Having said that, it is interesting to note that very young children can interact with Apple’s touch devices.  And it got me thinking, what is it about the design that means that young children, often too young to speak, can interact with them?  I think it comes down to 2 design basics: feedback and a clear call to action.

Apple seems to have mastered the call to action.  For starters, both devices have one physical button which appears to provide children with an obvious start point as well as an incentive to see what happens. Young children explore the world, trying to understand how things work – and Apple’s clear button and subsequent unlock bar lure children into this curious new device.

Feedback is the other core design basic which assists children to understand the Apple devices. The feedback is immediate and also suggestive of what is possible. For example, when a little finger touches a photo and begins to drag it across the screen it suggests that there is somewhere for it to go. And soon, there is a new image.

Apple illustrates how important it is to get the basics of design right: feedback and calls to action, when done correctly, make a device child’s play for the user.

So next time you look at your website (or other device?), perhaps you should think of it from a more child-like perspective! Is there a clear call to action? Is feedback immediate and suggestive for the user? How intuitive is it? If it’s not child’s play for the user to navigate, then it might not be right.

It will come as no surprise to  you that a recent article from the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8562801.stm) noted Facebook is the 5th most visited website in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, US and Australia. Twitter comes in at 24th, closely followed by Skype at 25th.

Organisations have been quick to explore ways the can increase the reach and speed by which they communicate with their target audience through the use of social networks.

In focus groups and one-on-one interviews, more often than not we observe users rejecting attempts from organisations to infiltrate social networks. In order to sign up to a Facebook group, encourage their friends to do so, follow someone on Twitter or read a blog, users need to feel some level of affinity or relevance. While users may have a pre-existing off-line relationship with an organisation, it does not necessarily follow suit that they will want to see this relationship extended to their social network. For example, if I am an avid bicycle rider I may want to link with a local bicycle riders association and a particular brand of bike that I really identify with, and let others know about this. However, I am less likely to identify with my insurance company, an organisation I only have a relationship with out of necessity.

In our experience, those organisations which put serious thought into how they might make themselves relevant to their target audience in the context of a social network, reap the benefits.

Serving two masters is hard – and if you are trying to build a website to make it user friendly as well as being loved by search engines, then often something loses out. Sometimes something important.

At UsabilityOne many of our clients often face this battle of achieving the appropriate balance between SEO and Usability so we decided to explore some of the issues in more depth and have issued our findings in our latest research report – developed with AtomicSearch .

If you are interested in this topic, you should download our report – “Combining the Forces of SEO and Usability(PDF 1.5MB)”. Over the next few weeks we will blog about some of the challenges and recommendations this report identifies.

Purchasing online often involves a number of factors which are nonexistent in the physical world. Questions such as product availability, delivery options and delivery price take on greater meaning when shopping online. In the physical world these questions are answered before the stage of paying for goods; we know if a product is available because it is on the shelf, and delivery for most items is not usually an issue as we can take the product away with us.

image by emmerrrrrrr (flicker)

What can often frustrate users online is when these questions are not addressed until too late in the purchase process; when the user has already made some sort of a commitment to the product, only to find out it’s either not available, cannot be delivered in the expected time frame/location or delivery costs are too high. Had the user known these factors upfront during their browsing phase the frustration levels would be a lot lower and the chances of that user staying a customer much higher.

It is important to inform the users of the following before they arrive at the checkout. It  may be just enough for users to stay a customer rather than go straight to a competitors site. A few small changes can have a great impact on a user’s shopping experience

• If a product is out of stock provide this on the product listing page
• Offer an email alert when the product become available
• If, for whatever reason, a product cannot be delivered in the company’s standard time frame (next day delivery for example), provide this detail upfront on the product listing page, before users have committed to the order

Reducing user frustration leads to a much more happy and satisfied customer. And satisfied customers are more likely to return. Empowering users by giving them information before arriving at the checkout process of factors such as product availability, delivery time frames and costs is one simple method to do this.

iPad meets user: UsabilityOne tests the iPad

The iPad has finally landed in Australia. Here at UsabilityOne, we’ve been following the commentary on the iPad from afar, and decided to get our hands on one so we could make up our own minds.

iPad – user testing:

So just how usable is the iPad? To find out, we conducted some usability research of our own. We asked users to complete a number of tasks that use the native apps, as well as some browsing activities.

Our preliminary findings indicate that the iPad is inherently usable. The average score attained by iPad users on our UsabilityOne Task Completion Index (TCI) compares extremely favourably with the average score for the hundreds of interfaces we have tested here at UsabilityOne.

The reaction to the iPad amongst our testing participants, which include a mix of iPhone and non-iPhone users, has been overwhelmingly positive. Users thought the device looks very slick, providing a good overall experience. The web browsing experience was particularly positive, as it feels more immersive due to the touch interaction.

Downside? People are struggling to see exactly how it will fit into their lives. It clearly is not a replacement for a desktop or laptop computer. In fact, you require one of these devices to transfer and manage content on the iPad. Mostly, the iPad has been perceived as a luxury device rather than a must-have. The most common use-cases our participants have put forward include: web browsing while sitting on the couch or using it to watch video content, things that you can already do with a laptop or netbook. Other scenarios suggested include use of the iPad in the kitchen as a recipe book or as an electronic photo frame. The touch QWERTY keyboard is seen as reasonable for typing in search phrases, URLs and short emails, but no more than that. Nobody could conceive of using the iPad to create or edit documents.

We also observed that the way in which people held the iPad is likely to impact on how they use it. Users commented that it is actually much heavier than it looks. In order to use it to watch video or read e-books for a long period of time means that – unless you have forearms like Popeye – you will need to put it down or prop it up in some way. Obviously this will impact on the most common usage scenario suggested by our test participants (i.e. sitting on the couch).

UsabilityOne’s take on the iPad

So what do we think of the iPad? Whilst a nice piece of kit, the iPad has several obvious limitations.

The keyboard limits the iPad’s potential as a business tool, and the inability of the iPad’s Safari browser to display Flash content clearly impacts on its utility. Whilst it is great as a video device, the continued decision by Apple not to support Flash means the iPad is not compatible with catch-up TV services such as the ABC’s iView. The same goes for all of the other free-to-air broadcasters’ catch-up TV services. In the UK, the BBC created a version of their iPlayer which is compatible with iPhones, and it is interesting to see that the ABC has just announced the release of an app for the iPad that will allow users to access ABC content such as iView.

Given the boom in mobile browsing, many websites are now presented in a format which is compatible with mobile phone browsers, providing an optimal experience on those devices. Our experience thus far with the iPad indicates that websites presented on its Safari browser are not modified in any way; they are the same as you would see when accessing them on a laptop or desktop computer. As touch provides the only means of interaction with websites on the iPad, there are some question marks over the compatibility of traditional website design and the iPad. Just as with the iPhone, target areas (i.e. text links, navigation) can be difficult to hit on the iPad without first zooming in. However, a consequence of zooming in is that some content drops out of view, which suggests that it is important to be even more conscious of ensuring proximity between related controls and content. Perhaps there is even an argument for creating iPad versions of websites.

Like our participants, we think the iPad would be nice to have but the fact that it does not replace your desktop or laptop computer makes it hard to justify outlaying the cash to buy one.

So, is the iPad a game changer? Its immediate success, and the fact that competitors such as Microsoft, Dell, Sony and HP are preparing their own releases into the tablet market suggests it may well be. There are great hopes that the iPad can save the newspaper industry and that it will find a niche in education as a replacement for traditional text books. It is a lot of expectation for one little tablet device. The true success of the iPad, as with the iPhone, will lie in the development of apps that exploit its capabilities and fit into people’s lifestyles. We will be eagerly watching this space.

Want more info on the usability of the iPad? Keep an eye out here for some detailed findings on this research in the near future.