The Testing User Analysis means Usability Testing available to all

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The Testing User Analysis means Usability Testing available to all

Posted On : Sep-25-2011 | seen (244) times | Article Word Count : 1021 |

As someone who has read countless reports and pieces of literature on Usability Testing I can safely say I will be a happy man if not one more 40 or 50 page report on Usability lands on my desk or in my inbox.

Firstly I must say I'm not that guy who thinks he has reached the peak of his professional career who has no more room in his already overcrowded brain for new learning. Im just an advocate of simplicity, plain English, whatever you want to call it. The majority of the academia I have produced and read make good points and revelations about usability, but so many claim to have the answers. Yes so many $250 PDF reports claim to have the one stop solution that will solve your Usability issues. In my opinion most usability formula and methodologies would baffle Einstein and as a result are completely unimplimentble for all except the large corporations that have the Usability budgets to fund these 'wild goose' chases. On the other hand small businesses and organization's don't have usability high on their priorities list. Why should they be interested? Why should any company small or large have to do it themselves?
Let me first talk to anyone who is skeptical or not sure of Usability Testing.

Regardless of your organizations size you should care about Usability Testing.

Though I have witnessed it, It's by no means a guaranteed magic wand solution where your conversions rates will treble over night. I mean there's no question that you and I can easily find a good looking website with no traffic because the product or service they provide just isn't adequate. On the other hand there are plenty of websites out there which look awful but have decent enough user interfaces that arent so unusable that users cant access the product or service.

So yes good design only gets you halfway there, but its good usability that can get you the rest of the way. I believe there are few exceptions to this rule. For example Apple spend Billions on product development. Creating design and interfaces that always seem to surpass user expectations. Usability Testing is crucial, good design and interface must be backed up by second to none usability. It's true not only do their "hold in your hand" products require good usability but so do their other products, like the ITunes interface. Yes it's probably not much of a speculation to suggest that their legitimate music sales would be far worse off in relation to pirate downloads if their ITunes interface wasn't so usable and convenient. Indeed I have spoke with many individuals and organizations who concede that Testing User analysis for their designs is the most important factor in bringing a product to market.

Through User Testing companies can connect with their users, access their opinions, motivations, perspectives and most importantly insight into real user experiences of their products. Does this complete Usability package exist though? Clients definitely want this package, so I suppose the big question is what has gone so wrong with Usability Testing services that they are seen as a necessary evil only available to clients with massive budgets at their disposal?

Well after talking to clients I gained some insight. It seems to be that the products currently out there are not bad or wrong, just not really fit for purpose. Let me explain this. Two weeks ago I had a conversation with a Usability Engineer employed by a large Blue Chip company. When tasked with finding the methods to connect with their users he conceded that finding a service with an 'acceptable' product was very much trial and error. Most of the time he said he was left stuck with User video Testing services, which provide You Tube style videos of users using his site. These cost him an average of $42 per video and of course being a large company and wanting to have a significant Testing Panel he commissioned over 200. Now I'm no mathematician but thats $8400. He confirmed there were some revelations to be had but on the whole these were very expensive videos that his teenage son could have made. Not really value for money is it? He further went on to talk about the man hours it had cost the company to extract the data and quantify it so that he could go into the board room and present the findings to his director. With his Usability budget depleted I felt his frustration but what choice did he have?

He could have approached a Usability consultancy but the costs associated with this as you can imagine are astronomical. They would probably suggest an expensive controlled lab study involving in person participants, international flights, consultancy and all the costs associated with it. Making the $8400 on Video User Testing look like the lesser of two evils.

As I heard more stories of disappointment for the products already out there I realized the extent of the problem. It's not the client's fault though it's the Usability Industries. There has been a serious laziness and lack of imagination when it comes to bringing the basic Testing User model up to date. Can it really be a coincidence though that in this day and age the market has become completley saturated with these low quality User Video Testing sites. Well read it into that what you like.

I mean they may have some place in the market but wheres the middle ground? Why is Expert Usability Testing out of reach for small business? Why does the large corporation have to accept that good value comprehensive User Testing is off limits? Why do both small and large business have to extract and quantify the data themselves?

Good usability and Testing Users are interlinked and in response to the needs of customer Testing Users have developed the Testing User Analysis. can identify the areas where design issues and concerns are and ultimately provide you with a comprehensive picture of where usability and design succeed or fail on your website. Arriving to you both comprehensive and board room ready the Testing User analysis is the future of Usability Testing.

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<h1>The Testing User Analysis means Usability Testing available to all </h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_SamM.aspx'>SamM</a> 
Firstly I must say I'm not that guy who thinks he has reached the peak of his professional career who has no more room in his already overcrowded brain for new learning. Im just an advocate of simplicity, plain English, whatever you want to call it. The majority of the academia I have produced and read make good points and revelations about usability, but so many claim to have the answers. Yes so many $250 PDF reports claim to have the one stop solution that will solve your Usability issues. In my opinion most usability formula and methodologies would baffle Einstein and as a result are completely unimplimentble for all except the large corporations that have the Usability budgets to fund these 'wild goose' chases. On the other hand small businesses and organization's don't have usability high on their priorities list. Why should they be interested? Why should any company small or large have to do it themselves?
Let me first talk to anyone who is skeptical or not sure of Usability Testing.

Regardless of your organizations size you should care about Usability Testing.

Though I have witnessed it, It's by no means a guaranteed magic wand solution where your conversions rates will treble over night. I mean there's no question that you and I can easily find a good looking website with no traffic because the product or service they provide just isn't adequate. On the other hand there are plenty of websites out there which look awful but have decent enough user interfaces that arent so unusable that users cant access the product or service.

So yes good design only gets you halfway there, but its good usability that can get you the rest of the way. I believe there are few exceptions to this rule. For example Apple spend Billions on product development. Creating design and interfaces that always seem to surpass user expectations. Usability Testing is crucial, good design and interface must be backed up by second to none usability. It's true not only do their "hold in your hand" products require good usability but so do their other products, like the ITunes interface. Yes it's probably not much of a speculation to suggest that their legitimate music sales would be far worse off in relation to pirate downloads if their ITunes interface wasn't so usable and convenient. Indeed I have spoke with many individuals and organizations who concede that Testing User analysis for their designs is the most important factor in bringing a product to market.

Through User Testing companies can connect with their users, access their opinions, motivations, perspectives and most importantly insight into real user experiences of their products. Does this complete Usability package exist though? Clients definitely want this package, so I suppose the big question is what has gone so wrong with Usability Testing services that they are seen as a necessary evil only available to clients with massive budgets at their disposal?

Well after talking to clients I gained some insight. It seems to be that the products currently out there are not bad or wrong, just not really fit for purpose. Let me explain this. Two weeks ago I had a conversation with a Usability Engineer employed by a large Blue Chip company. When tasked with finding the methods to connect with their users he conceded that finding a service with an 'acceptable' product was very much trial and error. Most of the time he said he was left stuck with User video Testing services, which provide You Tube style videos of users using his site.  These cost him an average of $42 per video and of course being a large company and wanting to have a significant Testing Panel he commissioned over 200. Now I'm no mathematician but thats $8400. He confirmed there were some revelations to be had but on the whole these were very expensive videos that his teenage son could have made. Not really value for money is it? He further went on to talk about the man hours it had cost the company to extract the data and quantify it so that he could go into the board room and present the findings to his director. With his Usability budget depleted I felt his frustration but what choice did he have?

He could have approached a Usability consultancy but the costs associated with this as you can imagine are astronomical. They would probably suggest an expensive controlled lab study involving in person participants, international flights, consultancy and all the costs associated with it. Making the $8400 on Video User Testing look like the lesser of two evils.

As I heard more stories of disappointment for the products already out there I realized the extent of the problem. It's not the client's fault though it's the Usability Industries. There has been a serious laziness and lack of imagination when it comes to bringing the basic Testing User model up to date. Can it really be a coincidence though that in this day and age the market has become completley saturated with these low quality User Video Testing sites. Well read it into that what you like.

I mean they may have some place in the market but wheres the middle ground? Why is Expert Usability Testing out of reach for small business? Why does the large corporation have to accept that good value comprehensive User Testing is off limits? Why do both small and large business have to extract and quantify the data themselves?

Good usability and Testing Users are interlinked and in response to the needs of customer Testing Users have developed the Testing User Analysis. can identify the areas where design issues and concerns are and ultimately provide you with a comprehensive picture of where usability and design succeed or fail on your website. Arriving to you both comprehensive and board room ready the Testing User analysis is the future of Usability Testing.
 About the Author: If you would like to understand more on the methodologies and different user testing , Usability testing bes practices please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.testinguser.com">www.testinguser.com</a> for further articles.
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If you would like to understand more on the methodologies and different user testing , Usability testing bes practices please visit www.testinguser.com for further articles.

Keywords : Usability Testing, User Testing, testing User,

Category : Internet Business : Web Design

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