Usability Testing Cheap and Fast Part II

Dennison asked excellent questions in response to How to Do Usability Testing Cheap and Fast:
Tell me if I follow correctly: Do you do the test only on users that have their own PC with them? So if you happen to be in a store where nobody has a machine or is willing to take the test, then, tough luck?
Why worry about having the users test in their own environment (PC)? The focus of the test is on usability. Testing to see if the site works properly across different systems should be part of QA work and can be done separately.
Bill Moore from RadioTime responded:

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How to Do Usability Testing Cheap and Fast

Bill Moore of RadioTime shared his experience of gathering feedback from users in a sandwich shop. It’s amazing how easy it is to get user feedback with zero overhead, that’s cheap, and leads to actionable results. I asked him why didn’t he go to the (in)famous coffee shop since their wi-fi usually works well (wi-fi … Read more

When Good Newsletters Go Bad

The wizard in The Wizard of Oz and the guy behind the curtain pretending to be him have different personalities. Which one would you rather listen to? The wizard who comes across as larger than life and unreachable, or the guy hiding behind the giant green face, a person like us? Companies that publish newsletters … Read more

Five Ways to Keep Your Online Reputation Clean

The previous post looks at companies that help those that already have stuff on the Internet they want to go away, be deleted, be erased from the memories of man and machine. Being proactive is always better than being reactive, so keep your name free of mud with these tips in mind whenever posting anything … Read more

4 Things to Ask Your Customers

Three Things Your Customers Won’t Tell You Unless You Ask offers excellent advice to help you improve your business and relationship with your clients. Here are the three things from the Freelance Folder entry and I add a fourth because it ensures your business receives effective testimonials: Why Do You Enjoy Being My Customer? What … Read more

1-800-WasteMyTime

I look forward to reading Mary Roach’s humorous Reader Digest column in every issue. The column reflects on things she runs into in life that many of us can relate. In the June 2007, she shares her experience in calling tech support regarding the Windows setup CD. Her computer crashed and it needed the setup … Read more

170 Smashing Ideas from Designers

Smashing Magazine provided a wealth of expert tips, advice and suggestions in its popular and valuable 35 designers x 5 questions article. To celebrate its one year anniversary, the magazine found more experts and asked new questions. The result is 50 designers x 6 questions, which contains over 170 new tips answering the following six … Read more

Basic Product Information

Marcia Yudkin’s Marketing Minute newsletter references Jakob Nielsen’s research that says shoppers leave 10 percent of the time because the site didn’t provide enough information. She discusses how some sites don’t make it clear whether the product is a CD, book or download. Funny thing is that I experienced this recently. I was looking up … Read more