Site Review: Get Quick Feedback On Your Website with UserTesting.com

UserTesting.com video for Ayos Website Design

Summary: Watching users stumble through your website is an uncomfortable but eye opening experience. UserTesting.com is an excellent tool for getting real live testers to use your website and give you feedback. Depending on how usable your site is, you'll find yourself cheering or cringing with every mouse click.

I just tried UserTesting.com this past week, and I was eager to share my positive experience with my readers. I highly recommend you try UserTesting.com. But, to understand why I feel this tool can benefit you, please read the below article.

Your Website Its Own Worst Enemy?

Pause, and try to answer this question before you read on: Has your website placed stumbling blocks in front of customers?

Imagine this example. Richard is looking to buy health supplements from someonlinedrugstore.com. He is ready to buy, but the checkout process requires he create a user account first. Frustrated, Richard leaves the website without purchasing the product.

It is all too easy to design a website that shoots itself in the foot repeatedly. How can you know if your website is chasing away customers?

You have to get feedback from real users. Usability tests on your website are the most reliable means of finding stumbling blocks that keep you from getting sales.

Real Users Give You a Fresh Perspective

Don't make the mistake of thinking you can find the stumbling blocks yourself! Your and your employee's minds have spent hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours staring at your website. Your brain has gotten used to your website. A fresh perspective, from real users, not your employees, is the only way to get reliable feedback.

But how can you quickly round up some testers without spending a lot of your precious money and time?

UserTesting.Com Provides Rapid Usability Tests At A Price I Like

As of this writing, UserTesting.com offers usability tests for your website at $29 per user. Each test consists of a 15 minute video, with audio, in which the tester tries to accomplish a set of tasks defined by you. The whole process generally takes MUCH less than 24 hours.

Here is the process in a nutshell:

1. Sign up for User Testing
2. Choose Demographics of Your Target Audience
3. Select the Number of Testers You Want (1 tester - 20 testers)
4. Pay for the Test
5. Users Record Video of their Screen and Voice as They Use Your Website
6. You Get an Email Whenever a Tester Finishes
7. You Watch the Video and Listen to the Testers Thoughts About Your Website
8. The Tester Also Gives You a Written Summary You Can Read

Is UserTesting.com a Quality Service?

In my experience and opinion, Yes. To verify, I tested UserTesting.com on my website. I was very pleased with the quality of the feedback I received. You can watch the video at the top of this article.

At first I was concerned that the testers would be of low quality. However, that was not a problem. My tester was very articulate, computer savvy, and knew how to evaluate a consulting firm's website. Also, you can pick the demographics of the testers you want to test your website.

Notice these quotes from other website owners and operators about UserTesting.com.

"Generally, my expectations of the service were blown away, and I would definitely use it again." (Smarticle.com, 2009)

"It was no wonder Amazon.com has selected them as a finalist in the Startup Competition. Based on the results I was able to pick up on about five usability flaws in our site." (Serena Safe Mode, 2009)

Did It Take A Long Time to Get Test Results?

No. For my test, the results were rapid. It took less than 24 hours for me to get my review.

The site owner at Serena Safe Mode had a similar experience, saying, "I submitted the request at 9:44am and the test was completed at 10:20am and that was with a 15 [minute] review of my site." (Serena Safe Mode, 2009)

UserTesting.com Yields Actionable Results

I wanted to see if I would actually be able to take some sort of action after watching the 15 minute video of a user testing my website. Surprisingly, in the 15 minute test of my website I found 11 insights that I have already started taking action on.

Notice, some quotes from others who have used UserTesting.com.

"'After just a few tests we were able to identify some key problems with our interface.' - Justin.tv" (UserTesting.com, 2009)

"Based on the results I was able to pick up on about five usability flaws in our site." (Serena Safe Mode, 2009)

How Many Testers Should You Request from UserTesting.com?

I had only one tester test my website. You'll generally want to request more than one tester. Jakob Nielsen, an expert on usability testing, had the following to say on this matter: "To identify a [website] design's most important usability problems, testing 5 users is typically enough." (UseIt.com, 2003).

Here is a good article that explains why only 5 testers are needed for a good usability test.

Sample Video from a Real UserTesting.Com Test

I am going to gather more videos, but for now here is the video for Serena Safe Mode.

Conclusion

I highly recommend you give UserTesting.com a try. I plan to use it many more times for my website and I firmly believe that you will profit from using it on your website.

If you read to the end, you also get this special treat. The first 20 readers to use this link, will receive their first test for only $19 instead of the usual $29.

Happy testing!

How to Keep Visitors from Leaving Your Site

What compels a person to enter a store? How can you apply the answer to your website? (Image by JimmyHarris)

Summary: How is your homepage like the window of the store in the picture above? 60-80% of visitors will leave from your homepage without ever "entering" your website. Why? Nicholas Grant, discusses the answer and solution below.

Lots of people put stuff on a website just to fill space. If you are one of those people, you could very well be chasing away customers.

A homepage is like a storefront. When you walk into a store or market, or any place of business, what is the first thing you check out when you arrive? “The sales”, you might say. That’s true in a way, but why did you even walk into the store? What you’re really checking out is the atmosphere. If a place doesn’t appeal, you won’t even walk in the door.

Is your website like that store that no one wants to enter? If you feel the answer may be “Yes”, that’s okay because we’re about to fix this problem.

Your Audience is Deciding Whether to "Enter"

Whether your audience is kids, teens, adults or everybody you have to appeal to their viewpoint. For instance, if you are trying to appeal to teens, you must think like a teen. You can’t be putting articles about life insurance coverage on a teen website. After all, what teen is really concerned about that! Or, let’s say that your audience is kids. Would it really make sense to put an article about Job applications on a site that is for kids 5-11? If your homepage doesn't connect with your audience, like window shoppers, they will quickly move on to the next "storefront."

Mentioning your audience's problems is a sure way to get their attention. They'll see that you get their viewpoint.

This brings us back to the atmosphere. Like that storefront, if the atmosphere is not appropriate and appealing, no one will "enter" deeper into your website. So, on your website, be sure to make prominent mention of your audience's problems and avoid irrelevant content.

[Video] Site Review: Online Bargain Hunting Website

Summary: A good homepage is one that gets straight to the point. In today's review of DealJuggler.com, we see a website that does this well. This is probably why DealJuggler.com is a consistent money maker. However, as with any website, DealJuggler.com can make improvements. Most importantly, the quality of some images on this website is poor. Poor quality images immediately make your website look amateurish. By improving this aspect of DealJuggler.com the website would look that much more professional. However, changes like this won't drastically change DealJuggler.com's earnings. This is a good website, without too many bad points. The best way for this website to grow sales is to keep finding shopping bargains. Watch the video to see the entire review.

[Video] Site Review: Family Discount Shopping Website

Summary: Today we review, Frugal Parents Online, a website that helps parents save money online by offering shopping tips. This website does a good job of using pictures to set the right tone. For a small mom-and-pop website like this, the About us is effective. It is written in the form of a letter to the reader. However, Google advertisements play too dominate a role on the homepage. It hides the quality content the owner has made available to readers. We have to always be careful not to focus so much on the revenue driving potential of our website that we obscure the focus of the website, which is to help others.

[Video] Site Review: Conversion Rate Success for a Skating, Surfing, and Active Wear Website

Summary: Today I review a skating, surfing, and active wear website to look at what they do well and what they can improve on. As always, the goal of this review is to look for lessons business owners and executives can use as they think about how to improve their site conversion rate. This website does a very good job of using a black background to target the young skater demographic. Also, a large prominent picture on the home page draws in the shopper. Watch the video to learn more.

What is a Good Website Conversion Rate?

Chart based on marketing research data from MarketingCharts.com.

Summary: The best retail websites have a double digit conversion rate. If you are a retail website you do well to set a conversion rate target of greater than 5%. However, some websites, especially those that also mail customers a print catalog, can obtain a site conversion rate greater than 10%.

Just what is a good website conversion rate? For reference, Amazon.com had a 17.6% conversion rate in December 2007. This number can help us set a baseline goal for our websites.

Your website conversion rate should be one of your most tracked website statistics. Why? Because it doesn't matter how many visitors you have; if your conversion rate is zero that means your website has generated zero business. Thus, improving your conversion rate is often the most reliable and cost-efficient way to increase your sales.

Your conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of website visitors who spent money with your company by the total number of visitors to your website. For example, if your website had 10 purchases last month and you had 100 total visitors, then your conversion rate would be 10% (e.g. 10% of customers spent money on your website).

A well designed website is generally going to have a higher conversion rate. You do well to ask yourself:

1. What is my conversion rate today?
2. Am I happy with my current conversion rate?
3. Is my current conversion rate good for my industry?
4. What can I do to improve my conversion rate?

Unfortunately, conversion rate statistics for each industry are difficult to find. I did, however, come across data from MarketingCharts.com that lists the top 10 websites on the internet by their conversion rate!

What can we learn from this list? I can identify at least two lessons:

1. That conversion rates in excess of 10% are possible for a retail site. Compare this to your site.
2. That sites that send out a physical catalog to customers dominate the conversion rate list. Perhaps you can include direct mail marketing in your budget.

This list leaves us with some questions. For example, what makes The Popcorn Factory such a successful website?

If we can learn lessons from successful websites that have proven their ability to convert website visitors into paying customers, then we can generate more income from our websites.

To accomplish this, I will soon be analyzing some of the companies from this list and sharing that analysis on my website. Please check back for the analysis.

In the meantime, why don't you examine these top ten websites and see if you can determine why they are so successful at converting website visitors into paying customers. Then apply these lessons to your website. If you'd like help improving your site's conversion rate, give me a call and tell me that you're looking for help improving your website's sales.

[Video] Site Review: What contributes to a successful e-commerce website?

Summary: A good e-commerce website should have large, quality pictures, clear pricing, and a professional clutter-free design. In this video we analyze the website of a hardware tools e-commerce site and see how it rates on each of these factors. As you watch this video, think about what you are doing well and what you can improve on your website.

[Video] A relevant homepage keeps the customer browsing your website.

Your website's homepage must tell the visitor exactly what product or service you provide. Otherwise he will leave. The visitor will not investigate. This video looks at a packaging container company's homepage to see how they do this well, and what they do poorly.

Is the first page your customer sees the correct one?

It’s easy to always point your customer to your home page. However, is that what your customer wants to see? If you point your customer to the wrong page on your website he may leave before he finds what he is looking for. Thus, you won’t get the sale.

This is especially a problem if your customer is visiting your website after viewing one of your advertisements. For example, if your Google ad says that you have a 50% off sale, clicking the ad should take the customer directly to your sale and not to your homepage.

Problems like this can make the difference between getting a sale and not getting a sale. Make sure your ads point the customer to the correct page.

This article, on NetMechanic.com, explains what makes a landing page profitable.