Any business owner will know that having a website to showcase what your company does is an essential tool these days, not only in getting you noticed but if you sell products or services to showcase, and in some cases sell, those too.
Part of the process of designing a good website centres around the psychology of engaging your visitors and getting your message across in a way that resonates with potential customers and inspires people to want to find out more. Most businesses and organisations, especially smaller ones with a restricted budget, might find it challenging to build the perfect website that potential customers can relate to and connect with.
With that in mind, wouldn’t it be helpful if there was an easy way to find out exactly how your customers react to your website? Well, actually there is… It may potentially come across a little creepy, and we’d never usually recommend being a peeping Tom, but if it means it will help your business, we’re all for it!
There is a fascinating website called UserTesting.com that provides a service where experienced web users view your site and record their interactions, allowing you to see what your potential target audience is doing while interacting with your website. UserTesting.com will enable you to set up tasks, ask questions and get valuable opinions, which you can watch on video just minutes later. Pretty cool, huh?
We should warn you that you’ll require some thick skin for this one, as watching users scrutinise your website isn’t always an easy thing to do. However, the benefit of going through the process is that you receive almost instant feedback, which is not only exciting but extremely valuable too. UserTesting.com has a substantial amount of qualified website reviewers at its disposal, who are trained and paid to create videos of themselves constructively evaluating your website.
You can request a trial of the Enterprise Package to see how well UserTesting.com might work for you. This package will get you started and allows you to familiarise yourself with the UI and learn how to set tasks for test users and questions that you wish to have answered. Once you get the hang of it and set up the initial tasks and questions, you can then think about purchasing the records of your ‘guinea pigs’ critiquing your site. Given the amount of time and manual labour that goes into these videos, they naturally come at a price. On average you’ll be spending around £40 per recording. To get worthwhile results it’s probably a good idea to purchase a small sample of five videos, which will provide you with very useful initial feedback that will give you an idea of where you are at in regards to website development and the effectiveness of your site.
UserTesting.com has thought its web-application through well and provides a significant number of useful features. Amongst them you find a feature called ‘wizard’, which assists you in creating the tasks and questions. So, if you are new to testing and not sure how to find out if you’re on the right track, why not give it a go!
Your testers will complete the tasks and subsequently answer all of your questions within roughly 60 minutes, as they aim to provide results within the shortest time so you can get on with your work. When reviewing the test results, you should pay close attention to areas of your website highlighted by the testers as potentially ‘in need of improvement’. It might relate to navigating through the site, finding the right information at the right time, or perhaps even aesthetics that put your test users off.
We completely understand that being criticised or having your creation exposed to people with different tastes, perceptions and values may be difficult to deal with but try to take any recommendations highlighted seriously. You never know, they might have a hugely positive effect on your business!
