Three ways to end an opinion war

Jared Spool wrote an interesting article last week about ending the opinion war and how his company handles the task. The term opinion war is pretty self-explanatory; but just to be clear, it is when two parties having a vested interest in a project hold differing opinions about how something should be implemented.

Opinion wars can be difficult to navigate.  It can be nearly impossible to sway someone’s opinion on a matter. Many times because each party thinks it has comes to an opinion in a reasoned and rational way, which makes it difficult to see the reason and rationale behind the opposing opinion. This is what makes politics so entertaining/frustrating, right?

As a small business owner, you may argue with yourself more than anyone else about how something should be accomplished, but even still we have a few suggestions on how to come to a sound resolution.  

Spool offers two suggestions in his article.  We added the third.

1. Use an arbitrator. Each project has a not-so-senior project manager who has the full power to make the final decision. This person is tasked with evaluating the opinions, asking for advice from senior practitioners if needed, then banging the gavel. An interesting approach.
2. Let user research guide the way. This is the approach Is It Easy? specializes in. First and foremost, ongoing user research helps orient stakeholders’ opinion in the right way, staving off potential opinion wars. However, when a specific difference does arise, we’ll review what data we may already have about our users (personas, scenarios of use, interviews, surveys) for insights. Then, if needed, we’ll collect new research using prototypes.   
3. Use A/B testing to evaluate each opinion. Rather than using prototypes in a round of user testing, we’ll create two different versions of the same page that will go out live to your users. Each version will be exactly the same, the only difference being the element in question. Half of your users will see one version of the page (version A) and the other half will see the other version (version B). When you set a conversion goal, you can assess which design yields better results.

When should I use A/B testing?  We feel it works best in the following situations.

1. The elements in question are specific and discrete. A/B testing works for questions about particular images, text, colors, labels, and placement. We test one variable at a time to avoid confounding the results. If there are larger questions about whether or not your message is getting across to users or if your subscription or shopping cart flow is confusing, those are questions best left to user testing. You may learn from user testing that your shopping cart flow is confusing because of the placement, wording, or color of your checkout button, in which case we'll use A/B testing to discover the optimal design.
2. Each opinion can be tied to a conversion scenario. For each page version, we’ll want to set up a conversion page or some other way of tracking a “win.” A conversion is the desired behavior from the user, such as subscribing, placing an order, or submitting contact information. Therefore, we can track a conversion when a user lands on the “thank you” for subscribing, ordering, or contacting page. The design that leads to more conversions wins the opinion war.  
3. Results from qualitative user studies were inconclusive. If the element you’re arguing over is specific, sometimes you may not get a clear picture of what would serve the users better during user testing. User testing uses a small sample size, so questions such as which banner placement yields more clicks may not be conclusive. I love user testing, but it can be somewhat artificial because users adopt goals and motivations for the test they may not have in real situations. To get answers to very specific questions, we recommend A/B testing to see what converts a higher rate of customers over a large sample size.  

What are your thoughts? Have you had opinion wars over design decisions in your business? Tell us how you came to a resolution.  

What can we learn from the Amazon Kindle Fire usability study?

First, let's recap what led to the "disappointingly poor" user experience rating.  

1. Users struggled with fat-fingering.
   There were frequent tap errors and accidental activation on non-mobile websites using the Fire. The study found users were more accurate when they used mobile sites typically designed for phones. 
2. The device is too heavy.
   As an e-reader, the study found the Fire too heavy to comfortably hold over a long period of time. It is a device meant to be used with one hand; however, despite being lighter than the iPad (a device designed for two hands), it is still too heavy for single-handed use over a long period of time.  
3. There are no physical buttons for turning the page.
   The lack of physical buttons requires the user to tap the screen to turn the page, which interrupts the reading experience.
4. There are other UI design problems.
   They found the screen updates were slow and broke the illusion of direct manipulation. Also, users couldn't detect the highlighting feedback around buttons because it was too small to see around their fingers.

The report was widely reported and generated a ton of feedback.  In his rebuttal to the critics, Nielsen wrote two things that caught my eye. First, he states that the Fire "feels like a product that was rushed into production. A few extra months of usability studies, iterative design, and more sophisticated programming would have worked wonders." This stood out to me because the battle between timing the release of a product or website and getting the design right is something that comes up with my clients frequently. Was it worth it to Amazon to sacrifice usability and performance just so that the Fire could be a wrapped up under the Christmas tree? Amazon has the brand, presence, and resources to overcome this unfortunate Fire debut, but your business may not. You may not have a second chance with your clients.  

Nielsen also states it is important to report on the usability failings of high-profile products, such as the Kindle Fire, because companies with tighter budgets tend to follow the lead of larger companies that they assume have invested in usability studies, focus groups, and market testing. The Fire's shortcomings teach us that the big guys don't always get it right. That's why it's important for small businesses to invest in their own expert reviews and usability tests. The insights you'll gain are particular to your product, your service, and your website.  Sure, there are things to be learned from the big guys, but sometimes they are "what not to dos." 

Find out more about how Is It Easy? can help you ensure usability problems on your website aren't losing you customers on our Services page.  Also, find out more about why usability testing is so important.

Designing for the Knowledge Gap

In an interesting article, Jared Spool recently wrote "Riding the Magic Escalator of Acquired Knowledge" about designing for users with a range of current knowledge levels. He describes this range as an escalator. At the bottom is no knowledge of the design. Moving up the escalator, Spool places the point of current knowledge, then the point of target knowledge, and finally he puts full knowledge at the top. The knowledge gap is the space between the user's current knowledge and target knowledge. Target knowledge is what many designers tend to assume the user posseses while designing the system. 

This assumption is where designers run into trouble. I've written twice before about the curse of knowledge. For anyone designing a system or a website, it is extremely hard to unknow what you already know about your business, your services, your value proposition, and even the check-out process, login flow, or registration steps on your website. 

To overcome the gap, designers can choose between training users or simplyfying the design.  Training moves the user's current knowledge point further up the escalator. Simplyfying moves the target knowledge point down. Which is the right approach? User testing is a great way to understand if you have a knowledge gap and exactly how big it is. In addition, it's important to understand that the current knowledge points of all of your users aren't going to fall on the same spot on the escalator. So, if you identify a gap, you'll want to test many more users until you define a reasonable range for your universe of users. Then, you can start designing with an informed notion of where your users are on the escalator. 

So, consider user testing for Christmas, as a gift to you and your users! It will improve your website.  Merry Christmas!

Is it easy for older adults?

We know that most older adults experience some type of vision loss. In addition, cognitive abilities such as working memory, perceptual speed, and text comprehension, among others, are also impacted.

To make your site easy for older adults, keep these recommendations in mind from the National Institute on Aging.

1. Break information into short sections.
2. Give instructions clearly and number each step.
3. Allow additional space around clickable targets.
4. Use 12- or 14-point type size, and make it easy for users to enlarge text.
5. Use high-contrast color combinations, such as black type against a white background.
6. Minimize the use of jargon and technical terms.
7. Provide a speech function to hear text read aloud.
8. Provide text-only versions of multimedia content.
9. Minimize scrolling.
10. Choose a search engine that uses keywords and doesn’t require special characters or knowledge of Boolean terms.
11. Use single mouse clicks.

In our user testing,we've found the first six recommendations to be the most critical. By following these guidelines and designing your website to be considerate of older adults, you'll build instant credibility with this user group.

Is it easy for the beginner?

An interesting experience with my two-year-old last week reminded me of one of the many reasons usability testing is so important: It’s hard to think like a beginner.  

My daughter loves to “color on Mommy’s phone,” which means she wants to use a particular Sesame Street app that contains an iPhone version of a coloring book. I love it, as it has provided me with many consecutive moments of needed concentration. When she wants to start over on a new page, she would hand it over to me for help. One day, I decided to give her verbal instructions so she could learn to do it herself (a very popular concept with her age group).   

Daughter: “Mommy, I want to color Zoe now.”

Me: “Ok, Sloane. What you need to do is touch the star.”

She touches the star which causes the following message to appear: “Are you sure you want to choose a new coloring page? Your coloring will not be saved.”

Me: “Ok. Now say ‘Yes.’”

Sloane:  “Yes.”

The message remains on the screen.  I get a puzzled look.  

If I were instructing a person with a few more years under her belt, the phrase “say ‘Yes’” when presented with “Yes” or “No” buttons would not have elicited a verbal response. But, my sweet daughter is still rather new at all this and takes things a bit literally.

The obvious usability takeaway here is that something that is obvious to you may not be obvious to your user. I’ve written before about the curse of knowledge. The insider information you have about your company, the business environment, your website, and all the decisions it took to get where you are makes you unable to see the world, and your website, as if you were a beginner.  

With usability testing, you have the opportunity to see things through sets of eyes that don’t connect to your brain. You’ll observe users doing and saying things that shock you. You’ll have those moments when you say to yourself, "I can't believe they...

• "can’t find that button.”
• "don’t understand what our company does.”
• “don't feel like we're giving them enough information to act."
• "can’t find the directions to our office, our return policy, our testimonials, etc."

Just like the exchange I had with my daughter; to me, it was obvious what I meant. To her, it was not and she was lost.  Are you losing potential customers because you're not being as clear as you think you are?        

The Curse of Knowledge: Another reason to usability test

In the book, they illustrate the curse with a memorable 1990 psychology study at Stanford of “listeners” and “tappers.”  The tappers tapped out the rhythm to a well-known song such as “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “Happy Birthday” on a table while the listeners had to guess the song based solely on the tapped rhythm.  Ahead of time, the tappers guessed the listeners could name the song 50% of the time.  What really happened?  The listeners guessed the song just 2.5% of the time.  That means that out of the 120 songs tapped out during the entire experiment, just three were correctly named.  That was quite a gap between what the tappers thought was obvious and what the listeners were actually picking up on.

Why were the tappers off by so much?  Because they couldn't put themselves in the listeners' state of mind.  While the listeners could hear only tapping, the tappers could hear the entire song in their heads. 

In the case of websites and mobile apps, the curse of knowledge is a number of things.  It’s knowing what you mean by the content on your site.  It's knowing what items you sell go with other items.  It’s knowing exactly what sets your business apart from the competition.  It’s knowing all that is available and how to log in, check out, subscribe, find out more, etc. You know all the ins and outs of the decisions made, which is exactly what makes it difficult for you to look at it like your customers do. Are you sure your customers know where to click?  Are you sure they understand the error messages?  Do you know what content on your site they actually read and what it means to them?

Usability testing is a powerful tool that bridges the gap between you and your customer, the tapper and the listener.  Contact us for more information and start your first usability test!