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Here is an excellent summary of the kinds of user testing you can employee, and how to choose.

In my new book Your Customer Creation Equation I discuss the importance of getting new users of Online Services to return and login. This process is called "on boarding" and it is the process of making your new users experts at using your service. Wunderlist is how me and my wife share grocery lists. and their on-boarding process is very tight. Here's how they do it.

Here's a nice story about how data can be used to drive design and content decisions. Click tracking (heatmaps), session recording and user polling are all tools we put to good use here in the lab for our clients.

And if you want a fantastic example of using storytelling to educate and entertain, this post is just such a thing.

We believe that mobile traffic is every bit as important as desktop traffic. Many businesses walk away from their mobile traffic because it doesn't convert well. This is a mistake.

Two points found in this article drive the point home:
App and Mobile Functionality (sucks)Mobile Represents a Different Type of userSpend some time on your mobile site. Don't just create a responsive version of your desktop website.

The last one on the list can really make a big difference.

7. Conduct user research or share findings with developers

It isn't hard to get user input thanks to inexpensive and easy-to-use services like UsabilityHub.com and Verifyapp.com.

Learn more about how and when to use tools like this in our free Everyday Behavioral Science training.

For online services like Shopify, "Onboarding" is a fancy word for conversion. This slideshow takes you through Shopify's successful onboarding process.

One thing to note: they have Optimizely split-testing software installed. This could be how they came to this successful "onboarding" implementation.

 @conversion_team-I'm speaking about "flipping" you message when writing copy that converts at #convcon West in San Francisco. Basically, "flipping" prevents "blending" your message, which makes it lose impact and relevance.

The catch is that you must understand something about the Web visitors that you're flipping your message toward.

The Conversion Team has a solution, and this article does a great job of helping you get an actionable understanding of how to write for your visitors in a persuasive and relevant way.

While good UX (User eXperience) does not always translate into higher conversion rates or revenue per visit (RPV), these trends point to excellent hypotheses for what MIGHT increase the performance of your site.

Single Page Sites: Simplicity is often a great way to increase conversion rates Infinite scrolling: Consider this for category pages. I haven't tested this yet. Persistent top nav: I am very curious to see if this increases CR and RPV. Let me know if you've tested it. Web 2.0 Aesthetics: I hope this includes the rotating banners at the top of so many sites. Typography Returns: Your message is the most important part of your conversion optimization plan. Typography can help... or hurt

@_EricElliott makes a strong case for choosing Web apps for your mobile users over deploying native apps through the app stores. We can add to this that AB testing Web apps (Elliott calls them progressive web apps) is easier with the tools we have. Many advanced tools don't yet support native applications.

However, responsive web designs aren't enough. You should still put the effort in to craft a mobile-centric web app, as if you were developing a native app.

@jnmnrd puts it well: "By putting all of your time and effort into one concept that you're confident in, you save yourself time in which you can then apply towards user testing, gathering useful feedback and iterating."

I couldn't agree more.

We test the content of header and footer bars on mobile websites--we call them stickies--and this includes the use of the hamburger menu icon. It doesn't always work well.

For apps and mobile websites alike, "an app's popularity is determined more so by user engagement and retention rather that its App Store ranking."

When users look for information, they have a goal and are on a mission. Even before you started to read this article, chances are you did because you either had the implicit goal of checking what's new on Smashing Magazine, or had the explicit goal of finding information about "Navigation Design".

 @peeplaja - This is about as complete a summary of home page best practices that I've ever seen. Peep could have made this an eBook. There are some great examples, specific recommendations and tons of links to other resources. This ambitious post covers:Map out buyer personasCraft a value propositionBuild a connectionUse proper visualsDefine most wanted actionCreate call to actionWrite user oriented copyAdd trust elementsTest lengthCheck load speed

I recently went to a website to buy a new keyboard for a laptop. I found the site with the right price and delivery and put the keyboard in my cart.

When I went to checkout, the first question on the billing form was Gender.

Gender?

Why does an electronics part manufacturer need to know if I'm a man or woman?

It introduced enough doubt in my process that I left -- I abandoned my order.

The unfortunate statistic is that 86% of visitors abandon forms of all kinds. It's doubly heartbreaking when they do so in thei cart, because that costs you ready buyers.

The eleven recommendations made here will set you on a path to reduce your abandonment rates. My favorites are: 5. Use a title that explains why the user needs to sign up 6. Show them their password (who said invisible passwords was a good idea?) 12. Put errors in an obvious place and make them visible. Happy Converting!

The greatest threat to the accuracy of your analytics data is inconsistent implementation. Too often, Javascript "Tags" are left off of some pages, put on some pages twice or simply implemented wrong. And, as your site changes, more inconsistencies are created.

This affects more than just analytics tools. Advertising networks, ratings and review systems, user feedback systems and more rely on properly implemented javascript tags.

The promise of "Tag Managers" is that you can put one set of code on all of your pages, and then control, monitor and edit the javascript for all of these tags in one place, using rules to determine which tags get placed on which pages. It's another way for marketing to monitor the implementation of online systems without being beholden to IT.

Yay!

So, how are the biggest ecommerce companies using Tag Managers? Here's your answer.

How important is copy to your Web site? Find out by removing the copy. This interesting tool turns all copy into X's and O's leaving just the design.

Designers, THIS is your job on a landing page, not creating "engaging Web experiences."

Interesting positioning of product Verify and how they defined their market.

Personas tell you who to target with your Web site. It often isn't the end user.

by @chiefmartec It's time to stop making excuses. Most interesting to me is the UX Fund, that invested in companies commited to design and user experience. They outpaced the market by over the past five years. Scott also puts a nail in the excuses: "We want to be simple, like Google", "It pays to be cheap," and "The CMO doesn't get it."