Marketing Profs

Every Web marketer knows that success in the online channel is a game of inches: it takes a rigorous process of campaign testing, optimizing, aggregating and retesting just to get the tiniest incremental improvements in user response rates and conversions.

But while the industry focuses on squeezing every dollar of value out of acquisition strategies, billions of dollars are being left on the table by campaigns that drive users to sites they can't use.

Just how severe is the problem? Consider this: last year, companies that advertised on the Web spent $6 billion to send users to sites that failed 44% of the time. In a study by the Nielsen Norman Group evaluating user behavior on 20 e-commerce sites, users were unable to complete 218 of 496 very basic tasks—such as locating a store or buying a gift—due to poor usability. Nielsen calculated that the average site could increase sales as much as 79% through improved usability.

In a game of inches, that's a country mile.

The good news is that improving the usability on most sites can be relatively simple and inexpensive. Most poor user experiences are the result of a site's failure to conform to basic usability best practices, such as those governing page load times and consistency of navigation. Usable, well-accepted data on what users need to succeed are widely available and should be an integral part of every Web marketing strategy.

The best method for pinpointing the precise causes of breakdown in the customer experience is actual user testing. Usability testing involves active listening and engagement of qualified users as they attempt to complete typical tasks on the site. It improves on survey and clickstream methods by providing raw, qualitative feedback from real users, allowing the moderator to dig deeper into usability issues the moment they occur.

The first step in undertaking usability testing is to work to articulate the site's purpose and role in the overall marketing plan. Then, identify user groups (new users/existing users, internal users/externals users, etc.) and their goals.

Following this, define the essential user tasks necessary to accomplish the goals. In many cases, other data collection methods, such as clickstream and surveys, help identify which user paths are most in need of improvement (e.g., users abandon shopping carts at certain points in the purchase process, or they consistently leave the site from a certain page).

A heuristic evaluation, conducted by a usability expert, such as an information architect, will also reveal aspects of a Web site that need further testing.

Testing is usually conducted on the existing site, but if there are well-known areas of concern the information architect may recommend prototyping alternative scenarios. This way, variations in the navigation or instructions can be tested alongside the existing user experience. This “mirroring” technique helps to immediately identify alternatives that work better, limiting the need for further testing down the road.