UX Research

Optimising marketing messages with user testing

johne — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:21:37 +0000

Recent user studies we have undertaken involving comparative visual treatments have re-enforced the importance of visual impact and brand identity as an important component of the user experience - one that sets the tone and expectation of the interactions to follow. Balancing seemingly disparate aspects of credibility, relevance and simplicity with impact, distinction and interest can sometimes best be resolved by polling your demographic with a focus group or survey.

Everytime I go to my local pool shop I marvel at their marketing - an image of a surgeon with a flask below is so far removed from what the real pool-guy looks like - are they kidding? Is this a joke? Would this be laughed at in a focus group? Maybe, but its undeniably high on impact and memorability.

Seasons Greetings from UX Research

johne — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:22:16 +0000

UX Research would like to send a Christmas message of peace, joy and love to you and your family for a safe holiday season and a happy, prosperous new year.

We thank you for your support throughout 2009 and look forward to being of greater service to you in 2010.

Digital agencies and usability

johne — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:49:12 +0000

Alex White in Marketingmag.com.au makes some accurate observations on why Digital Agencies sometimes don’t incorporate user centred design techniques including usability testing into their processes – No time, no budget, lack of understanding, etc. It’s common for websites to be launched without clearly defined user requirements and without user consultation, and its no wonder these often fail to meet the expectations of the business. We are now seeing some turn-around, with some Agencies offering usability services such as testing as part of design. The problem is they are doing it themselves and sometimes without the appropriate expertise or level of independence from the design process. As he notes “Agencies just love encircling everything to do with a project”. At UX Research we specialise in usability – that’s all we do – consequently we can do it faster and better than others - it maintains its independence from the design process, and outputs make reference to best practice and standards. We think that clients should insist on independent and expert review processes as part of development

UX are your online quote, booking and signup specialists!

johne — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:58:37 +0000

It has been an awesomely busy last few months for UX Research. It seems that many organisations are finally realising that a modest investment in customer research can lead to big changes in online completions for quoting and signups. This can make a large difference to their businesses. So far this year alone we have completed 10 usability studies on online quote, booking and payment processes, and would like to make the modest claim that we not only know how much this can improve your bottom line, but that we can do this quickly, efficiently and thoroughly. For example, our last review for a major client in the financial services sector yielded 34 prioritised design recomendations which should increase quote completions by 25% and signups by 10%. Does that sound a lot or a little? Their online business is over $10 Million per year.

The Usability of words

johne — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:24:12 +0000

Content is a fairly important usability meta-category [the others are Navigation, Functionality and Aesthetic Design]. Not only should the content be accurate, complete and concise, but also have the right tone to meet the context - e.g. authoritative, friendly, formal, reassuring. We are all aware of the challenge of making information short enough that users will read it, yet complete enough to satisfy their needs.

Content sometimes needs to be tailored to a user’s task flow: In a recent study for online insurance, customers wanted short summaries of insurance cover prior to a quote process, then more detailed documentation once the quote was being seriously considered.

Is there better terminology to communicate your message? Look at this sign on a door at North Sydney Rail Station. Why was egress chosen instead of exit?

Check your content - is it as brief as it can be? Try to write in bulleted lists, support content with images or icons that reinforce the message, keep phrases to about 7 words and provide for aggregation into conceptual chunks using headings or labels.

Is the content accurate? Have a look at this installation guide I came across recently (click on the link below). Needs a bit of editing you think? It’s quite funny.

Installation Guide [492 KB image opens in a new window]

Supporting your UX Studies

johne — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:18:34 +0000

Some companies have their own UX people to conduct customer research.
UX Research is now set up to assist with various levels of support from premises hire to full service.

Lab Facilities
Our lab facility located in Walker Street North Sydney is available for hire.
•    Interview room and client observation room
•    Focus group room
•    Recording facilities
•    Eyetracking equipment.

Day and evening session times available.

Recruitment of participants
We can help organise the participants for your study – turning up on time and adding value to the research, they are selected using a screening questionnaire to ensure they represent the correct demographic.

Eyetracking
We can integrate an eyetracking component to your study using our equipment with an eyetracking expert to operate the equipment and analyse the data.

Session hosting, observation and analysis support
We can supply an experienced analyst as a second (shared or relief) host for larger studies. This way more sessions can be run in any one day. A usability analyst can be available on an hourly rate to take session notes and provide a level of analysis that you need to get the study completed efficiently.

End of financial year

johne — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:14:04 +0000

YES, you can pre-pay for usability services for your website by June 30 and receive a discount of 10% on a range of services including Usability Testing, Information Architecture development and validation, Online customer surveys, Expert usability reviews and Accessibility audits. UX Research will work with you to provide a scope of work prior to invoicing and adjust this according to your requirements once fully known. Contact us on 1300 88 65 20.

Digital Customer Experience Strategy

johne — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:36:45 +0000

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.

Introducing Canberra-based partner Couch Creative

johne — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:15:22 +0000

UX Research’s Canberra-based creative partner is Couch Creative. Following successful work delivered for Government clients that involved a combination of user research and testing and creative design, it was decided to formalise the association between the two organizations. Couch are particularly valued for their scientific approach to a broad range of services to provide integrated solutions.

Couch Creative provides clients a versatile and valuable suite of services that span the lifecycle and covers multiple aspects of the way any business communicates and transacts with its customers. Their team comprises highly experienced consultants, creative directors, writers, designers, information architects, editors, artists, producers, programmers and poets. All are formally trained and applies a great deal more science and disciplined analysis to the development of than traditional agencies have ever done. Higher quality analysis translates into higher quality creative execution.

In 2009 it’s about business strategy and cost efficiency through customer centric design

johne — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:00:34 +0000

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.