by Jubran Moe – Netstarter – Web Design Sydney

With businesses cutting back on spending and the growing need to stand out from competitors with a fresh online face increasing, it’s not uncommon for a business to spend months delivering a new website, only to rush through to the launch phase in an effort to make it live as soon as possible. Usability testing is often the first part of a web design project that is dropped because it is typically the most time consuming and expensive.

Businesses who neglect usability testing often end up with ‘flashy’ websites that look fantastic, but fail to really engage and appeal to their target audience. These businesses need to slow down and conduct actual usability testing, with real users instead of staff, to ensure the website accommodates these users in every way possible. Usability testing is even more important as the online world becomes populated with web applications, instead of static web pages.

What businesses don’t know is that they can use their web design agency to conduct guerilla-style usability testing for a fraction of the cost it takes to hire a professional. Web design agencies can conduct usability testing very early on in the project by creating HTML wireframes of the website, and then inserting images that make the website appear like its fully functional. The wireframes will also be designed to only work on one browser, so as to save time, which saves the business on development costs. Users will be free to move about the website, while the agency uses advanced monitoring techniques to track each movement. Everything is captured by the web agency and the feedback is used to improve the overall design of the website.

Bookmark It