|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| ''originally published by [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Chrissiebrodigan cbrodigan,] Feb 2012''
| |
|
| |
|
| Overview:
| |
| All websites have problems (some are just prettier to look at while you're growling). User research helps fix usability problems when it comes to websites. We love fixing problems, and creating user happiness. Here are some of the tactics that the websites' team uses.
| |
|
| |
| ==Analytics==
| |
| At Mozilla we use Webtrends to track website analytics. The analytics that Webtrends gathers tells us what people are doing on our websites, but not necessarily why they're doing it.
| |
|
| |
| ''Important Metrics:''
| |
| *Bounce rate - useful for identifying pages that might not be useful or user flows that might be broken (presenting the
| |
| *Page views - useful for identifying high-performing content & user flow entry points
| |
| *Time spent - the amount of time a user spends on the website
| |
| *Referrals - where users are coming from
| |
| *# of desktop downloads
| |
| *# of mobile downloads
| |
| *# of social connections
| |
| *# of backlinks
| |
|
| |
| ''(there are many more!)''
| |
|
| |
| ==Surveys==
| |
| *Pre-conversion survey - setting the baseline
| |
| *Post-conversion survey - measuring the effectiveness of the tactics
| |
|
| |
| ''Laura Forrest is Mozilla's resident whiz at this, read her post on the brand awareness survey she ran in 2010-2011 [http://forrestthroughthetrees.blogspot.com/2012/01/different-by-design.html here]''
| |
|
| |
| ==Human Testers==
| |
| 3-5 human testers will provide enough of a data set.
| |
| *recruiting testers is a lot of work and doesn't always meet the needs of an agile development team
| |
| *more than 3-5 and you'll never get the end of your notes, we've tried!
| |
|
| |
| Action Items:
| |
| *Make a list of 5 tasks people need to be able to do
| |
| *Create a list of short scenarios for how people will perform those tasks
| |
|
| |
| '''Example: /firefox Product Site'''
| |
| *Task: Download Firefox for Mobile to your Android device
| |
| *Scenario: Go to the Android Marketplace and search for a Firefox that you want to download
| |
| **note: users can get to the marketplace from Google desktop as well as their device's browser, or the app store on their device (this made it fun to test)
| |
|
| |
| ==3rd Party/Remote Testing Services==
| |
| *[http://usertesting.com usertesting.com]
| |
| **the challenge with usertesting.com and other similar services is that the users are highly motivated to do the tasks "right." Users receive ratings on their performance and in general it's not unusual that a tester wants to "get an A."
| |
| **we use usertesting.com to do fast testing on important changes we make to our conversion funnels, we also use it to learn more about how users interact on our competitor sites.
| |
| *Gazehawk - Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (“where we are looking”) or the motion of an eye relative to the head. Gazehawk uses software to track eye positions and movement around areas of interest (AOIs) on webpages.
| |
| **[http://blog.chrissiebrodigan.com/2011/09/gazehawk-mozilla/ Seeing Differently: Working With Gaze Studies on mozilla.org/firefox]
| |
|
| |
| ==In-house User Testing==
| |
|
| |
| Use a very simple setup with [http://silverbackapp.com/ Silverback]
| |
| *Our friends @ Twitter [http://www.flickr.com/photos/kvans/5087072690 do this too :-)]
| |
|
| |
| ''Users: Both Fans and Outliers are useful''
| |
| ''Fans''
| |
| *It might seem contradictory to bring in fans, but people who aren't part of the target audience will have problems that regular users won't, which creates false positive data
| |
| *Similarly domain knowledge isn't always as useful as you think it might be. In the case of /firefox, we're working with 4 flavors of Desktop and Mobile downloads (nightly, aurora, beta, GA). Terms that you might think users would be familiar with like "download" turn out to be more ''loaded'' lately
| |
|
| |
| ''Outliers''
| |
| *People who fall outside of the target audience can be useful too. Often, they can point out things that real users can't. It's useful to have at least one articulate outlier in the mix.
| |
|
| |
| =Post Test=
| |
| You're going to find usability problems with everything you design. We focus our resources on the most severe problems.
| |
|
| |
| ==Lead with three usability problems==
| |
| After each tester completes the test, list the three most serious usability problems:
| |
|
| |
| User #1:
| |
| *1.) . . .
| |
| *2.) . . .
| |
| *3.) . . .
| |
|
| |
| User #2:
| |
| *1.) . . .
| |
| *2.) . . .
| |
| *3.) . . .
| |
|
| |
| User #3:
| |
| *1.) . . .
| |
| *2.) . . .
| |
| *3.) . . .
| |
|
| |
| ==Respond Rapidly to Severity==
| |
| <br>
| |
| Two factors inform severity:
| |
| *a lot of people will experience the problem (e.g. it hiders download transactions)
| |
| *it causes a serious problem for users who experience it v. a minor inconvenience
| |
|
| |
| ==Write a Ridiculously Simple Report==
| |
| If you encounter one or both of those situations, you need to fix the problem fast, write up a report for your stakeholders:
| |
|
| |
| *What was tested
| |
| *List of tasks the participants did
| |
| *List of problems that will be fixed in the next 1-4 weeks as a result of what you observed
| |
|
| |
| For the /firefox Product Site, Laura Forrest hosts lunch and learns for the team (basically movies and popcorn!). You might also include someone from your Support team, a developer, a designer, and people from product and product marketing.
| |
|
| |
| ==Tweak, Remove, Redesign==
| |
|
| |
| *''Tweak'' - small changes are easy to make quickly and measure, we also refer to this style as continuous redesign
| |
| *''Remove'' - before tweaking or embarking on a redesign look at what you can remove to improve the experience
| |
| *''Redesign'' - the last resort for an agile team
| |
|
| |
| =Recommended Reading=
| |