Jim Sterne Will Not Be Played
I sent Jim Sterne an email a couple weeks ago hoping he might review a client website during his Website Assault session. Jim is the President of Target Marketing, and President of the new Web Analytics Association. And, wasn't I happy when he returned my message. Sure, it was titled "my first victim", and sprinkled with suggestions like "wear your aesbestos underwear". That's just his form of good natured kidding. Right? Wrong.
Jim first reviewed Tribe.net. The company representative, Wade, wisely positioned himself near the back of the room close to the exit. Jim proceeded to comb through the Tribe.net site as if he were an innocent, an imagined everyman user, asking the most basic questions like "what does this site do?". It turns out that is more difficult to ascertain than you might think. Certainly more difficult than the people at Tribe.net might have thought. We in this industry are insulated from the small inconsistencies with the sites we use. We know the work-arounds. So, when someone like Mr. Sterne points out how difficult this can make the typical user experience it is suprising. And uncomfortable.
About ten minutes into the Tribe.net attack, I began wondering whether I'd made a mistake. This was soon confirmed, when Jim pulled my original email up as the intro to the next phase of the session. I don't know about you, but I don't write email expecting that it will later be displayed to a crowd of my colleagues.
This is when Jim really turned my plan upside down. Instead of reviewing my client's site, he noticed my email address, cogbox.com, and decided to review that instead. As the blood drains from my face, I think back on the many times, over many years, that the conversation in our office turned to the company site. Ever present on the to-do list, but always near the bottom. Our procrastination has come back to bite us. With a vengance.
I'll spare you the details. By that I mean, I won't repeat what was said.
He did eventually make it around to reviewing our client website, QqestTime. And, yes the first observation was that the name is very difficult -- two "T"s and two "Q"s?
Jim did provide a number of important observations and suggestions that could help just about any company including:
- Provide a clear statement of purpose on the homepage. Tell your visitors who you are right up front.
- Test your sites with people who have nothing to do with you, who don't understand what you are all about. Simply observing five people using your site will uncover a host of usability problems.
- Be conscious of simple browser standards that enable popular features like a form autofill. Name your form fields creatively and you may break this functionality.
But, I think the most important lesson from the Website Assault is to just look at your company or client's site with fresh eyes. Don't take the simple little inconsistencies lightly and you may uncover a host of small problems that, once rectified, will add up to a big improvement in user experience. Oh, and start using your Gmail account if you ever have cause to contact Jim.
