Media: MarketingProfs preaches Usability to the Uninitiated

"Usability Testing: Ask Me If I Care" by Jim Sterne gives a sobering view of the marketing department's grasp of usability.

'The Web is a wonderfully measurable medium. Clickthroughs, pageviews and revenues have become the watchwords in datacenters and marketing departments throughout the land. But most companies seem to blithely ignore one set of metrics: their customers' feelings.

Having castigated his own for overlooking this source of information, he concludes:

'Have real, live visitors identify trouble spots before engaging in an analytic analysis. When you read a log file or sophisticated analytics reports, you surmise where to focus your attention. But when you look at actual customer comments, they'll tell you where you need work. Then use the analytics to figure out how well you're fixing the problem.

'Rich datamarts filled with cross-server, multiplatform, path analysis and conversion data are necessary for survival for larger companies that are becoming more and more dependant on the Internet as a way of doing business. But let's not forget the reason we want the nuggets of knowledge buried in those datamarts: to make our site visitors happier about their experience. Asking how they feel is a great way to measure whether you are achieving that goal.'

Nothing you've not heard before a thousand times in the way of advice, but it's sad that he's having to give it.

Associated Link: MarketingProfs: Usability Testing: Ask Me If I Care

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