A Unique Website Usability Test Service

Until recently, usability testing was reserved for larger companies with a decent budget. Depending on the scale of the test, usability studies can cost upwards of several thousand dollars.

Well, those days are gone. There are two new sheriffs in town and their names are Dave Garr and Darrell Benatar. These two fellows knew that setting up a website usability test was expensive and painful. They wanted to bridge the gap between no user testing and expensive user testing.

So what did they do?

They created www.usertesting.com, a site that actually provides complete website usability test for $29. Yes, you read that right - $29 will get you a full website usability test.

What exactly does that entail? Here's what your $29 gets:

• Ability to notate exactly what you want the tester to do on your website
• A Flash video of the tester, with audio, showing them moving through your notated tasks
• A written review by the tester that explains what they liked and disliked about your site

So guess what I did? Yep - I decided to test it out. Here's how I set up my test.

Setting Up My Website Usability Test

The first step was to write a set of notes for the tester. Here's what I requested:

1. What is your first impression of the home page?
2. Sign up for my newsletter
3. Search for marketing topics that interest you. Are topics easy to find?
4. Is the site easy to navigate?
5. Find the "Site Build It" review
6. Find the ebook "Selling Online With E-Junkie" and place it in your shopping cart
7. Subscribe to my RSS Feed
8. Send me a test message through my contact form
9. Overall impression of the "look and feel" and the quality of the site content

UserTesting.com allows you to set loose criteria for the type of tester you want. Here's what I choose:

Gender: Doesn't Matter
Age: 35-55
Yearly Household Income: $40,000 to $100,000
Expertise with computers and the Web: Intermediate
Additional Demographic Requested: Small Business Owner

After entered all the above, I paid the $29 and waited.

Within 30 minutes, I was notified that a tester had accepted my job. About 3 hours later, I was again notified that the test was complete and was given a URL where I could watch the video. In addition, I was given a separate link to the supporting written evaluation.

Below is the link to view a sample usability test. When you click on it, a new window will open and you will actually see the tester's computer screen and hear the audio as he walks through the site and performs his tasks.

Special Note: When you click the link, you will see the video controls at the bottom of the movie screen. You can slide the play bar around to hear different sections of the review. There's probably nothing more boring than watching the usability test of another site, but I wanted to give you an idea of how these tests are performed and delivered. Happy watching!

Drawbacks and Final Conclusions

So what are the drawbacks of using this system? While it is extremely useful to watch someone go through your site, I would be careful about making any large-scale changes based on the opinion of a single tester. Certainly, one tester is not statistically valid data. On the other hand, do use your judgment. If one person gets tripped up performing a task, chances are others will be confused as well.

You really need run a website usability test on a regular basis, or select several testers at once in order to determine any real usability issues. And yes, for each person you add, it's an additional $29. Still cheap when you realize you can put a team of 5 testers together for under $150.

Another issue is that there is no interactivity. You can't ask the tester questions as he or she is testing. You only see a video after the fact. This could also be considered a plus, as any usability activity should be easy to perform without verbal instruction on your part. If it isn't, then you need to simplify the process.

These are all fairly minor criticisms. The point is that, for the first time, every small business owner with a website can afford usability testing. UserTesting.com should be commended with coming up with a high-quality affordable service.

So did I change anything with my own website as a result of the usability test? You bet. I made changes to the following:

• Reworked my homepage value proposition for additional clarity
• I added a section to provide guidance on how to move through the site
• Added a picture of myself to the homepage in order to personalize things a bit

Used in conjunction with Google Analytics and the Google Website Optimizer, small business owners now have extremely advanced tools at their disposal that would have been unheard of five years ago.

If you have a business website, be sure you are taking advantage of these tools to help increase your conversion rate. Oh, and in case your wondering, the testers make $10 for every completed test.