Calling all web designers, you may be interested in this cool little tool we discovered that lets you test the usability of your brand spanking new website. So before you start slicing and dicing, stop! Like Grolsch Lager, “it is not ready yet!”
As a designer I can stand up tall and confidently say I have designed a lot of websites that have under performed (not lately of course 
). Designs that have failed to fulfill the objective of the brief and work for the client. A successful design isn’t just made up of a few pretty graphics and a jazzy logo, it’s strategically planned to give the user exactly what they want. Within 5 seconds they need to know who you are and what you do. Secondly comes the every so important ‘Call to Action or CTA’.
JARGON BUSTER : CTA : Simply getting the user to do something specific, like signup or leave a comment.
Now the best way to see if your new design works is to do a very simple usability test. Five Second Test is a smart, yet simple online tool that lets you upload a design to be tested. It’s a simple process:
- Upload a JPEG of your swanky new Badger Traps website.
- Choose whether you want a Classic or Click Test
- Sit back and wait for the results.
Classic Test: Testers have 5 seconds to name things they remember about the design they have just seen.
Click Test: Testers have 5 seconds to click on the design then describe what they clicked on.
So far over 17,000 tests have been completed (17,000 x 5 seconds is like…. a whole lot of time). If your new Badger Traps websites gets comments like:
“I have no idea what they sell” or “I think the name of the website was Cat Houses” then the design may need some work.
It’s so easy to use it’s worth a go. Spending 2 minutes to upload a design to ascertain these valuable comments could save you a lot of heart ache down the line.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
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