News
Digital Customer Experience Strategy
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Recently when talking to a client I was explaining how we’d just completed a piece of work defining requirements of a customer segment, and how the outcomes were of strategic importance to the company, and they said they didn’t know UX Research did that sort of work, thinking of us as doing more ‘nuts and bolts’ usability testing. In fact I’ve been involved in that type of work for many years – nearly all usability work we do has some strategic component, it always considers the business goals of a system, analyses how its users interact with it, and informs management about product positioning and direction as much as the IT staff about detail improvements. So, I thought I had better make it clear, and have added this as a specific service in the Services Section.
We provide strategic advice to organisations on how they can effectively optimise their online product to meet customer expectations. This is known as Digital Customer Experience Strategy. It involves an understanding of your organisation’s business goals, the expectations of the target market, their current interactions with your online product – organisation – brand – (and those of your competitors), and how to improve it in line with best practice.
In 2009 it’s about business strategy and cost efficiency through customer centric design
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
In a time of financial uncertainty and recession, some companies are taking steps to increase business efficiency and reach new markets – increasing online sales, allowing more customer self-service and positioning themselves as best of breed. They can do this by understanding their position relative to their competitors, finding out what their customers want and expect of them, and then making online systems easier to use. Customer centric design is good business strategy and ultimately it saves money.
In 2009 UX Research will continue to provide expert outsource consultancy services that will improve online systems for business. We can do this better and more efficiently than other companies because we have the experience and a light ‘footprint’ that means you deal directly with the expert.
Merry Christmas
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
The team at UX Research wishes you a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday. Thanks to all those clients and friends who have supported us during 2008. The year has seen an expansion of our network of expertise to include other services, and the delivery of increasingly strategic consulting advice that adds directly to an organisation’s bottom line. Next year we have some interesting projects lined up involving both improving the user experience of online signup processes and undertaking interaction design on large transactional websites. So see you in 2009!
Major Telco benchmarking study completed
Monday, December 1st, 2008
UX Research is proud to announce the completion of a major usability study for Vodafone Australia, benchmarking the quality of the user experience on the website through a comparative evaluation against local competitors Telstra, Three, Optus and Virgin against a range of usability criteria. The analysis also involved a 20 person task-based usability study with eyetracking and an accessibility compliance audit. This work provides Vodafone with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their website with structured recommendations for improvements in line with best practice. It aims to position Vodafone as best of its kind for customer satisfaction and significantly increase ecommerce and self service via the web. The work demonstrates the increasingly strategic nature of usability work.
Usability in Agile Development White Paper
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
The industry presentations about Usability and Agile Development showed how usability can be successfully integrated into short development timeframes through techniques such as usability consulting and multiple iterations of fast turn-around, lower-cost testing that is more accessible to the business. As a follow-up, UX Research has published a whitepaper Usability and Agile Development (1.6 Mb PDF file) in the Resources Section of this website.
DEEWR Tender Win
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
Successful in bid for a recent major Government tender, UX Research is working with Canberra-based design partner Couch Creative to redesign the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) web presence in line with best practice and user requirements using Agile methods. The work will develop a user-centred portal that rationalises a large number of disparate websites, using the latest in Web 2.0 to promote increased customer interaction.
Agile and STANZ
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
UX Research was among the presenters at STANZ (Software Testing Australia New Zealand), which was attended by around 150 delegates. See the program here
This is Australia’s premier conference for software testing which was attended by all organisations serious about using quality methods in testing. The presentation on how Usability Testing integrates with Agile methods was well-received, and somewhat novel being the only talk about usability. However there were many other sessions about new paradigms in development and other methods like SCRUM.
UXResearch to Speak at STANZ
Friday, July 4th, 2008
Following the positive feedback from the seminar series on Usability and Agile methods sponsored by WIPA and given in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, UXResearch has been invited to speak at Software Testing Australia New Zealand (STANZ) on this hot topic. Read about it in the program announcement.
In other news UXResearch has been working solidly over the last few months, following our successful appointment as preferred supplier of outsource usability services for two organisations that represent two of our key verticals, the telecommunications and financial services sectors.
New address and Seminar Dates
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
A couple of important developments this month! Firstly, UX Research has a new address! We have moved into offices in North Sydney in one of the area’s premier buildings, Northpoint, where we have established a state of the art usability facility. Have a look at a virtual tour of the offices which are at Level 40, 100 Miller Street, North Sydney 2059. This is just across the road from The North Sydney train station.
Secondly, dates have been announced for forthcoming seminars in conjunction with alliance partner Eyetracker, and kindly sponsored by the Web Industry Professional’s Association (WIPA). Please see the outline for the seminars. The dates for the seminars are:
Canberra 23rd May
Sydney 4th June
Brisbane 12th June
Toolbox Developer’s offer
Friday, April 25th, 2008
With the forthcoming announcement of the successful tenderers for the Series 9 round of Flexible Learning Toolbox Development by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, UX Research announces a fast-turn around, low cost service for usability and accessibility testing of prototype designs.
Toolbox Developer’s Usability and Accessibility Testing Offer
