Group items tagged

Internet Explorer has definitely been a source of problems for our customers. There is an overlap between users of IE and visitors in an older age group.

Now, IE is promising yet another browser for Win10, and it may be less functional, a "lite" version.

This means that we will have another potential curve ball from Microsoft to deal with. Don't worry. We'll have a Windows 10 machine in our QA lab as soon as it begins shipping.

The steps we take as conversion optimizers look suspiciously like designers. Each of theses steps can use more data, though:User PersonasJob StoriesUsability TestingAffinity Mapping2x2 AnalysisProblem DefinitionIdeate & CreateMockupsPrototypeValidateOur task is to execute on this with high frequency and make small changes as we go to learn what moves the needle.

"After clicking through 900,000 ads, researchers from Google discovered that the average mobile landing page loads in an embarrassing 22 seconds. That's over 7 times longer than most impatient internet users will wait before they abandon a page - 53% to be exact."

Kinds of user tests include Explorative, Assessment and Comparative. The article discusses "Hallway Testing", "Remote Usability Testing", "Expert Reviews", "Paper Prototype Testing", and "Thinking Aloud".

This sentence summarizes why website optimization is hard: "But despite our intellect and like all earthly creatures, the mental circuitry of our biological ancestors had been optimized by evolution for a world where timeliness was more valuable than accuracy."

It feels good to get Liked on Facebook. Brands are working hard to get more and more likes for their pages. However, does this translate into loyalty and sales? eMarketer tries to answer that question.

If conversion is important, think twice before letting your designer drop stock photos of pretty people onto your site.

Simulates eye tracking for any page image uploaded. Free for lite version.

Tips and blogs for usability

The first rule of usability: "Know thy user" which is my primary job.

Inexpensive on-page reviews like Bazaarvoice

This article talks about how visitors to web sites are more results oriented and selfish. Referred by Erin.

Great reading list for any Conversion Scientist

Most interesting part of this article, is the way that people make up stories about why they do what they do. This is why self-reported data is always we use it for qualitative research, that is but never to find answers to questions. Humans are very good at making up stories about why they do, and these stories are usually lies.

I reviewed 47 wordpress templates for a competition earlier this year. 98% of them used a "flat" design approach. Of course, we're seeing this style of design pervade websites.

Is this a good thing? Nielsen Norman Group says we can use flat designs if we follow some smart guidelines.