#15 - Do Testing With Real Life Users

03Dec07

This is my series of 30 brief interactive marketing tips. I’m posting each business day at 8:30 a.m. EST. Catch them all by subscribing to my blog or bookmarking the site. All of the posts will be tagged “30 interactive marketing tips” and listed on this page.

#15 - Do Testing With Real Life Users

Whether for lack of time or understanding, many businesses never take the time to sit real people down with their websites and do actual user testing. The results of regular, structured conversations with your users can save you from costly mistakes and unearth otherwise obvious problems you can’t see.

For a general primer on the subject, check out Steve Krug’s excellent book Don’t Make Me Think. He even includes a chapter with how-to advice for low(er) budget user testing.

If you don’t have the time or budget to invest in a full usability study, consider a remote one. The folks at Ethnio offer one tool

To read up on user experience and usability, check out my list of free user experience resources. For the latest in UX news, check out the blogs from UX Matters, Adaptive Path and Functioning Form.

Need a good user experience architect? Try my friend Mindy Cady.

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