The Client: National Association of REALTORS, Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC)
The Goal: Create a user-friendly web site that addresses the needs of multiple user groups.
The Solution: After conducting usability testing, user research, and establishing personas, we identified what type of information the different user groups required, and what features and functionality they were looking for. We designed a clean web site design and navigation that organized information by user group, and tested the navigation to ensure key tasks could be completed with ease. Important information and tasks were called to attention in the form of graphic callouts to engage users and ensure that they found what they were looking for. Cool blues and greens were added to round out their color palette, and subtle textures were incorporated throughout the design to add dimension. A coordinating advertising campaign, brochure, and tradeshow were launched in conjunction with the new site to drive traffic to the site and brand REBAC consistently across all mediums.

Ready to conduct some usability testing because you have no budget and something is better than nothing? Then read on my friend…

You only need 5-6 participants to catch 80% of your problems (Jakob Nielsen, March 19, 2000), so what are you waiting for? Assuming you don’t have access to your end user, grab a coworker or two (who isn’t on the project) and watch their expressions and their navigational habits complete a series of tasks that you have deemed most important. It’s basic, and rudimentary, but it’s a start. And you’ve just started the beginnings of a task analysis – which will be important when you start to implement your web analytics.

You’re ready to conduct a formal usability study and have some of your customers or potential prospects available to participate in this study (5-6 users is fine, but don’t forget the gratuity). These one-on-one sessions start out with a single user interacting with a web site or wire frame completing a set of tasks, and then a moderator asking them follow-up questions regarding the experience. These sessions usually involve a quiet room, a camera and tracking software to watch a user’s expressions and their navigational habits. After the study, the data is analyzed and a formal usability report with key findings and recommendations is written.

The goal of any usability test is to figure out what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and learn what your users want. So what are you waiting for?