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JL503
03-13-2013, 02:11 PM
Just wondering for those looking to have their website tested for usability, design, etc. What are your specific goals and what are you looking to get out of it. Also how important is price and what would you expect to pay per test? Lastly what types of companies are you looking at and why?

Harold Mansfield
03-13-2013, 02:33 PM
What do you mean "testing"?
Load times?
Coding Mistakes?

How do you test for design?

KristineS
03-13-2013, 03:10 PM
Most people just post on a forum like this one and ask for people's opinions of their site. I've never heard of anyone paying for someone to test their site. Are there actually companies out there that make a living doing that? When I Googled "web site review companies" it didn't appear so.

JL503
03-14-2013, 12:04 AM
Visual tests of websites are actually very common and helpful. Here is one I had done for a website I am starting up: https://betapunch.viewscreencasts.com/5d8bdc0779ca4feb8ab6b52f20ada92c

Being able to visually see a new user navigate through your site can be a very eye opening experience and help you to create a more efficient website. Its also quite common to pay companies to have users test out sites, they are simply beta testers. App testing is also very common.

By testing you would give the tester a set of objective. For an ecommerce site you might have them find the email sign up, pick a product and watch how difficult or easy it is for them to find it. I guess design and navigation go hand in hand. With design we are looking for the optimal placement of a button, so that it is easy for a user to find it. The real belief behind this is A. seeing how users interact with your site and helping to improve it. For those that make the website its of course easy to navigate, but the important thing is it easy for the user and do things make sense. B. Optimizing the website and catching errors or navigation problems that we as programmers/developers cant see. Sites like the one we want to create also use demographics to narrow your testers to those in you target market. We can ask for help on sites like these and others, but ultimately we want the feedback from our target market.
The ultimate goal and why we want to do it, is to help start-ups and other companies to understand from a user perspective the faults and also how to increase efficiency quicker.

Hope that gives you a better understanding. Also try Googling website testing services, as a review is something much different than a test.

KristineS
03-14-2013, 03:24 PM
Oh, o.k., now I understand what you were asking about in the first post. That makes much more sense. I was a bit confused before.

I suppose, were I to hire an outside testing service, I would want to know if my site was achieving its goal, whatever that might be. I'm not sure what I'd be willing to pay for that service. It would probably depend on the credentials of those who would be doing the testing. If they were people with skilled backgrounds, I'd probably expect to pay more. If the company just had a random group of freelance testers they used, I'd probably expect to pay less.

Harold Mansfield
03-14-2013, 03:55 PM
Isn't that what a web designer does anyway? Who would you call first, someone who does websites and marketing, or a service that just evaluates the website?

It's probably not attractive for someone like me who reads the studies and reports on user behavior, conversion and so on, and can basically determine where to make adjustments by using my analytics and feedback from customers and contacts.

Tools definitely don't interest me because they can't account for variables, and there are many cases where I know what a tool says, but I'm still going to do it a different way.

So I guess as a business model, seems a few years late since this is the type of analysis that many service providers offer as just part of their services. With all of the information that is out there on user behavior online, I don't really see it as variable stand alone service.

And I'd be more apt to take this kind of analysis and advice from people who are doing it and getting results, not from someone who just studies it.

But if you are asking if you can sell it? Of course. There are probably a lot of people who will take you up on it, but not many who are web savvy.

That's just my opinion of course.

JL503
03-14-2013, 09:00 PM
@KristineS You are very right about the quality of the testers. You wouldnt want a 12 year old kid testing an investment website, you would want someone in the investing world or someone with investing experience. Its important to get testers in the target market of the websites being tested.

@Harold Im a little confused by your first statement. A website tester isnt making the website, they are just beta testing it for the purpose of increasing efficiency. They are hopefully real users who you can see interact with your site and discover problems that a developer might not see, i.e the login button is too hard to find.

The market for the site is focused mainly on start-ups who may or may not have launched their website yet, hence beta. It gives the developers/programmers/designers an overall view of things to fix/tweek, etc.

I agree that we may be a little late to the party, I was thinking in terms of providing/selling an API to consulting firms and developers who need a way to test their clients sites. Its certainly just in the idea phase and will have to continue to do research to find out its feasibility, but I think the most important thing is it solves a problem people have. The differentiation factor will be where the real research and time comes in.

I would also mention that its one thing to read something about user behavior online, but to actually see a user interacting with your site is much more effective.

"And I'd be more apt to take this kind of analysis and advice from people who are doing it and getting results, not from someone who just studies it." Could you explain this, not sure what you are trying to say?

Thank you both for the feedback

Gabe
03-20-2013, 11:52 AM
Most tests I've seen involve SEO/code review and similar technical tests. Other tests for usability involve heatmaps to see where users are click, having issues with, etc. The biggest problem with usability tests is that they're highly subjective. A tech savvy audience is different than an audience of moms or blue collar business owners. If you're not testing with your target audience, you might be misled. I'd be interested in a way to test with a particular target audience.

jimr451
03-21-2013, 07:16 AM
I think this is a valuable service, but only bigger companies will pay for it. The small "mom & pop" ecommerce or content site isn't going to be able to afford it. The most popular company I know that does this is: Nielsen Norman Group: UX Training, Consulting, & Research (http://www.nngroup.com/) (Jakob Nielson).

The problem with most web designers and programmers (myself included) is that we think we represent the "average" user. In reality, since we have insight into how sites are designed and structured, we usually have an easier time finding things and understanding how sites work. However many users are at a lower level of understanding when browsing websites.

If you don't believe this, sit down with a family member or friend who is not in the "web industry" and ask them to complete some basic tests on a site they've never visited. You will be surprised how they go about figuring things out.

Anyway, JL, I think your product is sellable to higher end companies, who understand the value in improving their site's usability, even in small ways. However, you will have to establish yourself as a authority in the area, to prove that you are worth hiring.

-Jim

Harold Mansfield
03-21-2013, 10:07 AM
The problem with most web designers and programmers (myself included) is that we think we represent the "average" user. In reality, since we have insight into how sites are designed and structured, we usually have an easier time finding things and understanding how sites work. However many users are at a lower level of understanding when browsing websites.
-Jim

That's not necessarily true. I am well aware that I am not the average user and give everything the "My Mom" test. If I don't think my Mom will immediately know how to use something, then I assume other 65 year old ladies will not either.

It also depends on your target demographic. If you are targeting the average user, yes you need to make things idiot proof and not give people too many choices.
There are ways that you can guide the user where you want them to go and what you want them to do.

The real problem with SOME web developers or people with a little bit of knowledge is that they are hell bent on showing what they know by using industry jargon and buzz words that only other industry people recognize, yet confuse the average reader.
When "normal" people are looking for services, you have to assume that they don't know the difference between CSS, PHP or SQL. To them everything on the web is all the same.

Anytime I make any changes to my site, it's always dumbing it down.

If you know who you are targeting, it should be easy to speak to them in a way that they understand. If you can't do that, then you don't understand your demographic, so how would you sell to them anyway?