Not Sure If Your Business Website Works? Try Userlytics For Free!

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Most users will make an assumption about a company/brand based on the design of their website in a matter of seconds. Does the site look clean? Does it look professional? Can I trust this site? Can I find what I need to find? These questions are running through a visitor’s mind each time they view a new webpage.

Testing the usability of a website is crucial – your website is what is selling your company even when you are not. How can you tell if you need to make changes or improvements? It’s impossible to know what your website visitors are thinking – or is it?

What is Usability Testing?

Usability testing means sourcing “test-drives” of your business or personal website to a sample audience for feedback on what “works” and what doesn’t. Usability tests make it possible to reach into the minds and find opinions from your desired demographic. There are several “usability companies” that have sprouted to offer test runs and reviews of a website’s usability, functionality and design. With usability testing, small businesses can run tests and ask respondents complete certain tasks and answer questions after completing the test. With these tools, web designers and developers have the ability to fix key problem areas based on the results from these user tests. Usability testing before a website launch can literally mean the success or failure of your business startup.

Userlytics Company History

Userlytics‘ main office is in San Francisco with a subsidiary in Madrid, Spain. The company was incorporated in 2009 and began commercial operations in 2011. Their client list is long and distinguished, among whom they are happy to count American Airlines, Intuit, RGA, corporate advertising agencies, and market research firms.

Founder and CEO Alejandro Rivas-Micoud is no stranger to business success. A  member of the WPO and Mentor at the Founder Institute, he has successfully founded and sold a number of startups, including a wireless telecommunications firm sold to Clearwire Corporation and a fixed line telephony firm to Euphony in 2006. This relatively new venture provides businesses and startups alike with the opportunity to start off on a better footing, or reassess a business’ online presence to avoid going down the wrong path for too long.

A Review of Usability Testing with Userlytics

Userlytics provides usability testing to clients that pay a monthly membership. With a membership, clients can have access to test respondents from the Userlytics Panel or can test respondents that they choose. In addition to website testing, Userlytics offers mobile application testing.

Each respondent is required to have a microphone so they can voice their opinions about the usability, functionality and design of the test. You also have access to their screens so you can see exactly what the respondent is doing in real-time.

Here’s how it works:

1. Name your test.
2. Plug in the URL for the website you want to test.
3. Define the tasks/goals. For example, have a respondent register on your site and voice their opinions about the process.
4. Recruit a number of people (either from the Userlytics Panel or your chosen respondents).
5. Set a time limit.
6. Create a list of “post-task” questions.

Userlytics Review: Usability Testing for PanacheDesai.com

Florida web developers at Atilus recently tested a re-launched website for a client, Panache Desai, and completed usability testing through Userlytics. Panache Desai is somewhat of a self-help guru that helps people discover their self-worth and “infinite potential.”

One of the main services offered by PanacheDesai.com is streaming webcasts. Webcasts provide users with the ability to tune into the words of Panache Desai through the comfort of their homes. Given that this was such an important aspect of the website, we needed to be sure that all new features were properly functioning and easy for the average PanacheDesai.com visitor to use.

We completed 2 tests in total with these tasks:

Test #1: Starting at the homepage create a user account. Once an account is created, purchase a free webcast. Please provide any and all feedback on experience, usability, implied meaning/message of website, etc.

Test #2: Starting at the homepage create a user account. Once account is created purchase a free archived webcast. Then figure out how to view your purchased archived webcast. Please provide any and all feedback on experience, usability, implied meaning/message of website, etc.

Once you’ve designed your test, you are able to choose how many respondents you’d like. One of my absolute favorite features of Userlytics is that they send you an email notification once a test has been completed. There’s no need to keep checking back incessantly to see if it’s done – Userlytics does the work for you!

Reviewing the Usability Test Results

This is probably my favorite part of the user testing process: viewing the user testing videos. With these videos, we were able to come away with a list of suggestions for improvement. One feature I really like about Userlytics is that they encourage negative feedback from testers. In this case, negative feedback is a must. As much as web designers like to have their work praised, it’s even more important to find out what needs to be fixed to provide the most user-friendly experience.

We also set up a list of “post-task” questions for testers to answer. With these questions, you have the ability to have respondents write in their own answers or respond with a strict yes/no.

With a Userlytics membership, we are able to not only view the user testing videos, but we can also download them for further analysis or to send to a client to view. We compiled a series of summaries to hand off to the Panache team and were also able to send the videos.

A Bump in the Road

Many testers from the Userlytics Panel have the best intentions, but some of them didn’t seem to follow instructions. Upon my viewing of a few videos, I ran into testers that did not speak for the entire time. Being a consumer at heart, I was prepared to argue to the end for new testers since I felt I was cheated by the Userlytics Panel. Why would we pay for a service and not get the service we were promised?

As it turns out, no argument was necessary. I simply reported the videos, and had a response from a Userlytics support member (special thanks to Eric Lawson) within minutes (keep in mind that I was working on these videos around 9pm on a Tuesday evening). Not only were we refunded each test, but the support member was willing to work with us to try to obtain testers quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by the responsiveness of the Userlytics Support and am extremely happy with the resolution.

The Userlytics Verdict

Userlytics is a superior usability testing service. With its clean website design (yes, I am reviewing them now), variety of testing options and AMAZING support staff, Userlytics provides web designers the best in user testing insight and feedback.

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