So, What is Usability?
"But even Amazon has only got part of the picture. Like real world shops, they can only record the sales they actually make. What about the sales they don't make and don't know that they haven't made because they haven't made them?"
Quite succinct really ! and that's the problem, how can you quantify what has not happened. With web metrics, head counts, ratios of this or that you might say. Usability answers the question Why have we not made the Sale? through the only people equipped to answer the question, consumers. Usability is not exactly market research but more a problem solving method that offers solutions by finding the right questions and asking the right people.
This may sound a little Adamsesque (if you ask the answer to life, the universe and everything you get 42) but getting the questions wrong in usability causes research to fail at the same point. While it may be reasonably expected by a seller to directly ask, why didn't a visitor become a buyer or register. Visitors may be asking themselves where am I? what does this do? this does not make sense, should that be happening? technology, why do I bother? Why has my screen gone pink? A visitors experience is not only defined by the online environment but they bring past experiences, desires and doubts to the fray as well. Without these insights it is difficult for designers and clients to grasp potential problems, gain a good return upon their investment or break into a new market sector.
Usability Testing Services
Heuristic Evaluation Service
Expert testing and analysis of website or product in relation to best practice design principals.Comparative Evaluation Service
Testing and analysis of website or product in relation to various factors including competitors, legislation and trends.Information Centred Evaluation Service
Testing and analysis of website or product information to evaluate who are the current users.User Centred Evaluation Service
Testing and analysis of website or product by pre tested target user groups.Contextual Usability Evaluation Service
Testing and analysis of website or product by target users in their own usual environment; work, home, school etc.
For specific details or to request our services please contact us here.
Contextual Usability Evaluation
There are many companies offering usability evaluations, but few are providing contextual usability.
There are many companies offering usability evaluations, but Activity, Interaction and Usability (Edinburgh, London and Glasgow) is the first commercial contextual usability consultancy in the United Kingdom. While any kind of testing is better than none, usability testing out of context is like testing a car on water, it gives some basic information and not a lot more. If performance and use are important at all, then testing should take place in an environment standard to the expected users.
In practice this means testing children's games at their homes, schools or clubs. Testing e-commerce websites at work, on mobile phones, PDA's (on the bus, train, plane), internet cafes and in the home. Testing software in call centre's, oil rigs, supermarkets, small shops, banks anywhere that they are designed to be used.
Can anyone honestly say that their environment does not affect what they do and how they do it. An extreme example would be stock traders using complex software, telephones and chatting to their colleagues while working within a constant stream of information that changes their activities, focus and effectiveness. Not only does context define how long things are used but it restricts attention span, acceptance of navigation and take-up.
