KSS eKourier April 2022

FEATURE

USABILITY TESTING, MORE LESSONS LEARNED On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave. Note a pattern here? There's no such thing as a user reading a website manual or otherwise spending much time trying to figure out an interface. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the first line of defence when users encounter a difficulty. Enter User Testing .

W e did one of these a couple of years back and the results were one of many crucial factors that encouraged a revamp of the website. We decided to invest in the underlying technology platform and a responsive shiny design which better presents our value proposition. Not only to meet Google’s mobile index preference (Google moved to mobile index in mid-2019, meaning all search engine results (SERPS) would be ranked based on the mobile version of those pages) but also to re-establish distance between us and competi- tors and improve our user experience (UX), ranking performance and visibility online. Now that the new website has been live for slightly over a year it was a good time for a reality check. Research shows that you only need five participants to identify 85% of problems on any given site. Due to us testing both mobile and desktop, we recruited three users for each device

type, and added an additional two users to allow for a margin of error.

It came to light that something as simple as the timing and language in an SMS or an email can ruin the user experience.

A testing process was put in place to uncover actionable consumer insights that can be utilised to improve conver- sion rate and overall user experience. Insights were gained through both a qualitative approach of watching participants complete typical website tasks and observing their behaviour. The first few things that stood out were users navigating through search results, most users preferred to look at maps as opposed to the SERP. Users prefer real life pictures, Google Street View footage and videos. They place a lot of trust in photos uploaded by other customers as well, consid- ering them “not dressed up”. Users got confused around some language on the website, for instance the website lists office hours and business hours, how are they different?

Most of these are quick fixes and are being actioned as you read this.

With Google’s offset strategy being “My game, my rules” one of the few things that remain under our control is a great UX. We did a good job with the website for the better part of it, a few tweaks would make the customer journey seamless. As Jesse James Garrett said, “What makes people passionate, pure and simple, is great experiences. If they have great experience with your product and they have great experi- ences with your service, they’re going to be passionate about your Brand, they’re going to be committed to it. That’s how you build that kind of commitment.”

Deepa Chirayath Digital Marketing Coordinator

12 Kennards Kourier April 2022