Outsourcing Web Usability Testing

from the why,-there's-Jakob-Nielsen-again... dept

Just how usable is your own company’s website anyway? Apparently, most marketing people over estimate just how great their own website is (is that really a surprise?). So, according to the folks at the NY Times, more companies are starting to outsource their usability testing to companies that focus on those things. They do everything from focus groups, to testing response times. Like all articles that have anything to do with web usability, this one quotes Jakob Nielsen. I’m still wondering if it’s even possible to write an article about web usability that doesn’t involve Nielsen.


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Comments on “Outsourcing Web Usability Testing”

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2 Comments
David (user link) says:

Usability testing a good idea

Coming from the land of Media Software and Hollywood, I can say that it is about time that marketers pay more attention to usability. There appears to be a low-scale, flash-based arms race in the media world based upon who can release the site with the most bells and whistles. Bands I meet with want nothing less than a website that is a feast for the eyes – yet music fans and users beg to differ.

There is a need to not only test these sites for user interaction and exprience, but also to test these sites against reasonable research related to what people are looking for in the first place.

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