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Cheap Usability Testing – Gather Some Friends

eyeslookintomyeyesYesterday’s post over at ProBlogger – Watch a First Reader Use Your Blog – got me thinking more about business website usability.  Many times sites are poorly designed because those who design and own the sites never have to actually use them.  Testing them to make sure functions work isn’t the same.  When you’re familiar with a site, you have a certain way of doing things and you know what to expect.  But a first time user has no preconceived notions about how the site “should” work.

Still, truly professional website usability testing can be prohibitively expensive for many business owners.  But hopefully you all have a few friends who haven’t really used or seen your site.  Sit down with them and watch them try to use it – just make sure you watch and listen, don’t give them any pre-instructions or help.  Once your friend is done, ask them their thoughts and what they thought could be improved.  Watching someone else try to use your site can give you some very useful feedback on what needs improvement.  While a friend will (hopefully) be more forgiving than a customer, any feedback is good and most customers won’t bother telling you when something doesn’t work – they’ll just go somewhere else.

(photo by Look Into My Eyes)

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Want People To Fill Out Your Forms? Stop Annoying Them

flowerskaatjevervoort1

How many more leads and sales could you be generating from your website if your forms were designed properly? When forms annoy people, or things aren’t where they expect them or don’t work properly, they’ll just leave.  I don’t know about you, but I end up filling out quite a few forms on websites – when I’m researching products, looking for information for clients, signing up for services, and purchasing products or services.  It annoys me to no end when web forms aren’t designed properly, especially since it’s not that difficult.  Good usability and design principles for web forms have really been around for longer than the Internet, even if they’ve been updated somewhat.

Here are some ways to improve the forms on your website:

  • Next or Submit buttons on the right – think about turning a page in a book.
  • Clear or Cancel buttons on the left.
  • Fields with enough space – Make sure people can give you all the information you need and see it without having to scroll the field.
  • Be flexible – If you want a phone number, let people enter it however they want.  Use background processing to format it the way you want for your database or CRM.  For example, 2485556758 can easily be turned into 248-555-6758 or 248.555.6758 or however you want to see it.
  • Be clear – If you absolutely need something in a certain format, make sure it’s clear and obvious right next to the field.  The same goes for any maximum field lengths.
  • Keep it simple – Only collect the minimum amount of information you need.  While it’s nice to collect information for statistics and marketing purposes, you risk not gathering any information.
  • Required fields clearly marked – Need particular fields filled out no matter what?  Fine, just make sure it’s obvious which fields those are.  Making them a different color will help them stand out.
  • Quick feedback – If a field was missed or wasn’t filled out properly, try to let people know before they click the submit or next button.  This is pretty easy to do with javascript.
  • Clear feedback – However you give feedback, make sure its obvious what field you’re specifically talking about and what needs to be fixed.  Putting messages at the top of the page and marking the field in question are best.
  • Do the heavy lifting – Need information in more than one place?  Pre-fill it in if the person has already typed it once.  Need some calculations made?  Do them with backend processing and present them to the person to be confirmed.
  • Allow people to edit – People make mistakes.  Let them go back to change what they’ve entered.  This means your forms need to be able to handle the back button on the browser and still have all the information that was already entered available.
  • Test in multiple browsers – It may be hard to believe, but not everyone has a PC running Windows with Internet Explorer.  Make sure your form works for the major platforms, operating systems and web browsers.  If you accept file uploads, make sure they work across platforms.  Soon you’ll also need to worry about mobile platforms.
  • Confirmation – Let people know you’ve properly received their information.  On your website is best.  Following up with an email if they’ve provided an address is also nice.
  • Thank them! – People are busy.  Thank them for the information they’ve provided or the purchase they’ve made.

What did I miss?

One of the easiest ways to design forms properly is to try to use them yourself.  Then ask a few friends to try them and give you feedback.

(photo by kaatjevervoort)

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Making Strategy Work – Be Transparent & Speak in Plain English

fearvincepalDo you have a strategy for your business?  Do your employees and other stakeholders know what it is? In order for a strategy to work effectively, everyone in the company needs to be working towards the same goal.  How can people help implement a strategy if they don’t know what it is?  I’ve come from companies without clear strategies and goals.  It makes it very difficult for the employees to know what they should be working towards.  So everyone just works on what they think they should be working on.  Individual thinking is great (and needed), but it won’t help you get where you need to be unless everyone is aligned.

Enter the current economic recession.  Many companies have cut costs and laid off employees.  Current employees are scared that they are going to lose their jobs.  Everyone keeps their heads down and works.  No one acts out.  No acts of brilliance.  No innovation.  Nothing new.  While many companies may think that cutting costs and just trying to make it through a recession is the way to survival, it will probably only work if they have deep enough pockets to survive for long enough.  Who wants to go through life in fear and just surviving?

Figure out what makes your company different.  What are you good at?  What benefits can you offer your customers?  How can you not only survive in this economy, but actually strive.  When you figure it out, make sure everyone in your company knows.  Keep goals and language simple so everyone understands where you want to go.  Employees will be much happier if they can work towards a goal and if they know what the future holds – even if there is some risk, at least they understand what it will be.  Not knowing breeds fear – and that’s not a good strategy.

(photo by Vincepal)

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