Web testing is the new PR

maandag 21 juni 2010 10:18 Today, customers expect organizations to listen, observe and respond. Don't say you care. Show you care.

I was recently testing some website tasks with a customer. At the end of the tests I asked him if he had any observations. He said he was impressed by the way this organization was showing a real willingness to observe and respond to its customers' needs.

Getting test participants, while never simple, is far from impossible. Once customers know that the purpose of what you are doing is to make their lives easier, they almost always respond well. Many may not have the time or inclination to do the tests, but they will recognize your efforts.

On a recent trip to Sweden I asked my colleagues Fredrik Wackå and Martin Vikesland why they thought IKEA was so successful. "They never make the customer feel that they're the problem," Fredrik replied. "It's so easy to return things," Martin stated. "You don't need a receipt or anything."

There are many great companies out there who are truly customer centric. Recently, I had a great experience with Citrix, makers of GoToMeeting. I had a problem downloading the latest version of their software. The support was absolutely superb. It was a difficult problem to solve and it took a while. Never once did the support person try to hurry things. Never once did they try to pass the blame on by implying that it was somehow my fault.

We use GoToMeeting a lot for remote testing. For testing websites, remote testing is cheaper, faster and better than traditional lab-based testing. It's revolutionizing testing and will ensure that testing and general customer observation will become central to the web manager's job.

The Web is self service and if you're a manager in IKEA, Starbucks, Wal-Mart or McDonald's you will manage by being around your customers; by observing them and continuously improving based on those observations.

Remote testing websites is better than lab-based testing because it is less disruptive. The classic problem with any test or experiment is that the experiment itself impacts the subject's behavior. You bring someone into a lab where there's cameras and lights and people watching and you ask them to use a computer that is not their own and then tell them to "just act natural." With remote testing it's their own computer and you're only there in voice. It's much, much better.

What we will find is an explosion in testing and observation. It will become central to how web teams work. The day will be planned based on the results of yesterday's test results. The Web will be used for this constant interaction with customers. A continuous process of incremental improvements and fine tuning will occur.

This strategy will result in better websites that are simpler and a better fit what the customers actually want. The Web customer demands that we move beyond old school PR statements like: "we listen," "we care", "it's simple." By actually using the Web to listen, observe, respond and adapt you can show that you care by creating simpler websites.

Because remember: as soon as you say "it's simple" then it's not. Because if it actually was simple, the customer could just do it.