Posted By
Robin Stevens on 02/19/2009
I’m writing from the secondary observation room of a usability facility listening to a customer point the way (literally, with her mouse) toward valuable changes to a business-to-business Web site. Watching a customer in a lab environment as they use a Web site to accomplish work-related tasks is a heady moment for a user experience geek. We have “aha” moments. We are able to visualize solutions. We develop a fondness for these customers, and as we grow to understand their job roles, we develop a desire to make their jobs easier.
Listening to customers and watching how they interact with online information allows us to speak to usability and user needs with authority. It’s the difference between recommending what we suspect is the best solution and being able to produce the backup evidence.
Conducting listening labs for one client also helps us to recommend better solutions for all of our clients. We observe users as they interact with Web sites across industry verticals and with different goals in mind. Noting the interaction patterns that occur no matter the circumstance allows us to incorporate user experience best practices and best user supports in each of the projects with which we are engaged.
Tags: user personas, Web design,information architecture, usability evaluations, user research
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