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My Essential User Experience Consulting Toolkit
by Todd Follansbee Nov. 2010
Abstract - This article lists the key tools I use on a day-to-day basis and explains how and why each one is used.
Attached is the Excel guidelines file. Click to download Good UX Guidelines set for download.xls
Improving site results is the prime focus of the User Experience (UX) consultant and I have used a variety of tools to accomplish this over the past 12 years. This article lists the key tools I use on a day-to-day basis and explains how and why each one is used. Most offer free trials so you can discover what works best for you. I also present low cost alternatives for each tool. As an “early adopter”, I am quick to test new tools but this is a list of what I find productive not a review of what is available. We have come a long way from the early testing days when we used a notepad and occasionally a video camera. FYI, I accept no remuneration for any tool I recommend.
Before investing time or money in any tool, begin by checking your site for compliance with basic UX guidelines (most sites fail to meet even minimal ones). Discovering guideline problems will reveal conversion barriers and you will identify a great many issues, enough to overwhelm most people so your first goal will be to find the low hanging fruit. Don’t expect many easy fixes, but do expect some and the financial benefits are usually almost immediate! Building a great UX is not easy as shown by a recent study of 1200 sites by Forrester, which revealed that 97% failed to meet even basic guidelines. I hope that you see this as a great opportunity for your site to excel by becoming one of the 3%. If you feel overwhelmed by the list of guideline issues you can always bring in an expert but this guideline review alone will make you far more knowledgeable.
A UX consultant uses tools for three main tasks.
- Analysis and review - the objectives are to:
- Identify the barriers to conversion by checking for guideline compliance
- Establish a starting point (baseline) of current site performance
- Collaborate and Redesign - the objectives are to:
- Review barriers and collaborate with clients/team members to develop solutions
- Implement solutions in online.
- Test and Refine - the objectives are to:
- Determine which elements are working and which are not
- Refine or improve the weak points and retest.
1. Analysis and review starts by checking to see how the site complies with accepted User Experience guidelines. Here is a free list of guidelines in a question and answer format. (Attached file you can post it for download or I can, your choice.). A web search will reveal an assortment of guidelines but I find many to be either too simplistic or overly technical. Within a month, we will offer a guideline tool that includes best practice examples, references, a weighted score, and a strategic plan to identify the easiest most impactful guidelines first. Contact me if you are interested but try the free download first.
As you review your site using the guidelines, it helps to save screen captures of problems. I use a screen capture tool called Snag It (free trial at www.techsmith.com). There is also a free native windows screen capture tool but Snag it does such a great job that I gladly spent the money. Along the same line is another Techsmith tool Camtasia, which makes a video screen recording of a multi-page site experience and, like Snag it, it allows for notations and narration. I use this to record a conversion path from landing page to confirmation and capture my impressions of the experience. Windows offers a free tool here as well but it is limited. (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/screencap.aspx) As you visit other sites, use Snag it and Camtasia to record examples of successful site practices and begin to build your own “Best Practices Library”.
Establishing a baseline of performance includes making screen captures and videos of important site elements before making any changes. You will also want to document “Key Performance Indicators” about current site traffic such as new and returning visits, conversion rates, traffic sources, bounce rates, key page views and more. Determine which KPI's are important to you because traffic analytics tools can record an amazing amount of data and it is easy to get distracted so stay mindful of your goal. Focus only on your key site objectives such as product sales, lead generation, downloads, signups, new members etc. .
Google Analytics is an essential free traffic tool but I supplement it with ClickTale (free trial ClickTale.com) and now insist on it for every new site I work on. It records individual visits, provides advanced form analytics and conversion funnel reviews in detail. I also can look at multiple visits by the same visitor, see where visitors focus attention, measure scroll reach and mouse movements, share these video and much more. These two tools combine to deliver valuable insights into how visitors experience your site. Download and Save representative ClickTale videos at the start for your baseline analysis.
I next apply what I learn from analytics (i.e., conversion rate) to business data such as “average sale” to learn the dollar value of a visit, signup, lead, or conversion/sale. I then use a cost justification tool to determine if the cost of implementing a solution will have a positive return. Using dollar values with your Key Performance Indicators is a great way to make changes understandable to all stakeholders. Build credibility by using very conservative dollar estimates. Dr. Deborah Mayhew, an internationally recognized UX expert and co-author of Cost Justifying Usability offers the best (free) tool at: http://drdeb.vineyard.net/index.php?loc=12&nloc=1.
2. Collaborate and redesign work. You may need to work with a combination of graphic designers, coders, and content writers to build solutions. I always design solutions (treatments) before they go to code (online). The ability to make quick and easy changes encourages creative brainstorming and that results in higher conversions and a better UX at launch. My essential tools must make the change process as easy as possible.
My design tools include the capture tools mentioned earlier as well as Microsoft Visio, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Photoshop. Each has advantages and I go back and forth depending upon the project but my recommendation is to use whatever tool you are comfortable with already. There are professional design tools of all prices and types but for the amateur, any of these tools will allow you to easily assemble visual presentations of redesigns. I keep coming back to Visio because I am comfortable with it and can efficiently produce quality work. Many respected colleagues use Excel or PowerPoint. I recommend that before buying a costly and sophisticated tool, get your feet wet with the capture tools and one of the above common options. Photoshop is also expensive though so be sure to explore the free photo creation tools that are native to Windows or are often included with many digital camera or printer packages.
To facilitate collaboration between remote parties I use a combination of conference calling and screen sharing tools but after trying several, I use Free Conference.com because it has been reliable and integrates easily with Outlook. (Skype is another I am looking at). When discussing designs and sites, screen sharing eliminates the need for passing files and lets us share all solutions regardless of the tool I used to build them. More importantly, I can often integrate group suggestions instantly on screen. Screen sharing typically costs a nominal amount but many services offer free trials. Another approach is to upload solutions to a website which team members can view online (image files not necessarily web pages). You can also distribute all files via email (pdf's works well) and use free conference calling to discuss them. I prefer controlling the discussions by screen sharing; it is efficient and much less cumbersome and keeps the team focused on the right pages.
When it is time for implement the solutions online, I leave the choice of a web development tool to the web developer. Unfortunately, I have not found any template based sites that meet a sufficient percent of even basic UX guidelines to be acceptable. If you take the time to present your site developer with page treatments including a set of guidelines and then insist that the delivered product meets those guidelines, you can expect to launch a usable site.
3. Test and Refine – ongoing testing and improvement is key to optimizing site conversions. The two testing approaches I use are analytics and direct user testing. We use analytics first to compare design solutions with the baseline. We use direct user testing to identify opportunities to further improve the site and the analytics to measure if these refinements have been successful.
The only site analytic tools I use are Google Analytics and ClickTale described earlier. In addition to recording KPI's, I use analytics for comparative (also known as A/B) testing. If there is sufficient site traffic, Google Optimizer can test multiple elements on the same page. ClickTale allows you to watch visitor reactions to different versions of the same page, which helps understand why one treatment is more effective. Consider saving videos and traffic reports in your library for future reference.
Direct user testing is still the best way to understand a sites’ persuasiveness and to refine our understanding of the emotional responses of the customer. Buying is still more of an emotional decision than it is a logical decision so until I understand the visitor mind set and address these emotional elements, I leave sales on the table. Observe how target customers respond on to your site or a competitor and then carefully probe for understand to reveal the whys and hows of their decision-making. Techsmith’s Morae is still our first and only choice for direct user testing though at $1495 it is pricey though they do provide a free trial and excellent support information. Morae’s great strength is in the detailed data it captures (time on task, keystrokes, facial reactions, task success and failure). One way to get a low cost feel for the process is to use the same free testing tools we all used in the early days of web User Experience testing: a note pad, an inquisitive mind and occasionally video cameras as well. For an explanation of the process, read my article called “Zero Budget Usability Testing” (free - on this site) or review the many online resources. Once you begin to see how the power of direct user testing can affect your site, you may well decide to take the plunge for Morae.
Improving your site’s User eXperience remains among the best investment you can make in your business. You can begin to make improvements with little or no investment up front and as you identify the potential ROI for each step, you can make sensible investments in your own tools. The other alternative is to either hire a competent consultant or hope your competition ignores the quality of their UX.
My bookshelf -a very short list of good books, all should be readily available online.
- Cost Justifying Usability – Mayhew/Bias
- The Usability Engineering Lifecycle - Mayhew
- Influence and Yes Robert Cialdini
- Visual Explanations – Tufte
- Call to Action – Eisenbergs
- Don’t make me Think – Krug
- Homepage Usability: 50 web sites deconstructed Nielsen/Tahir
My Web Resources a very short list
- Web Marketing Today – excellent newsletter
- Google Analytics
- ClickTale Analytics tool
- Web Marketing Resources “Zero Budge User Testing” and 35+ UX articles
- http://www.useit.com/ The original web usability research site. Lots of great content.
- www.techsmith.com (for Morae, Snag it and Camtasia)
- http://drdeb.vineyard.net for the cost justification tool
- Marketing Experiments.com – good resource and newsletter
This article is free for reprint as long as you provide a link to this site and acknowledge ownership. For more information or special permission, please email me. - Thanks, Todd
