Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Author: Atlantic BT

  • You don’t need a hallway to have a hallway test.

    Here at Atlantic BT we take great pride in our Experience Design capabilities.  They help guide our designers and developers into making some truly outstanding websites.  We’ve equipped ourselves with a series of tools and methodologies that are proven to deliver delighted users. We rely on user stories, card sorting, site outlines,  interviews and wire-frames to guide our projects to completion.

    In between these processes we find ourselves turning, in a pinch, to a great tool.  The Hallway test.

    Just yesterday I was working with a designer on a website’s navigation issue.  We discussed what it could be, sketched out our ideas, and the designer crafted a working prototype.  The interface functioned exactly as we had described, but we were both unsure if it would be understood by our users.  Since we had both been involved in the process from idea to near-execution, we were both tainted.  We were no longer impartial about this idea.

    To test our navigation scheme we literally stepped down the hall to find another Atlantic BT staffer with no knowledge of what we were working on.  We sat her down in front of the prototype and asked her two seemingly simple questions:

    • “Where do you think you are in this website now?“
    • “How do you get to a different page within this section of the website?”

    Since this was her first exposure to the page, we knew her experience would be similar to that of our users.

    The Helpful Sound of Crickets Chirping

    She took glance, made a few guesses, and neither matched up with our plan.

    Her answer revealed some confusion about a navigation scheme we thought would work.  We then repeated the same Hallway Test with two other co-workers with the same results.  We knew we had to re-examine our idea and then retest with different people who are not tied to the project.  (Our original Hallway testers were now tainted to what we were trying to accomplish).

    This simple act of checking the validity of our ideas early (and often) has saved us from a lot of rework later on down the line.  The Hallway Test isn’t the most accurate or powerful user experience test, but is pretty great for quick checks of new ideas.

  • Google Boost : Local Business Marketing

    Google Boost allows businesses to advertise to consumers who are seeking local products or services. If your business has a physical location and relies on walk-in customers, this blog post will show you a useful advertising channel to increase foot traffic to your business. As always, comments are appreciated.

    What is Google Boost?

    Google Boost is a new advertising platform that Google has begun to roll out to all industries across all cities in the world.  In short, the platform allows you to pay for placement at the top of the page when an individual searches for a keyword that matches your industry. In the example shown below, you will notice the individual has typed “Asian restaurants San Francisco.”

    Can you spot the Google Boosted ad?

    Aside from the red box highlighting the Google Boosted business, the blue arrow is quite noticeable both on the map and at the top of the page. Google Boost gives the business room to place a well written ad that explains their business in more depth.  “A fresh take on Asian street food.  Made with farm-fresh ingredients.”

    Assuming the individual is in San Francisco, I believe that they only needed to type “Asian restaurants” to get the same result. If you type in “Chinese food” in Google without a city, it will most likely display results of local Chinese restaurants. Not only will the individual who is searching for “Asian restaurants San Francisco” pull up the Google Boosted ad,  but so will another individual who lives in San Francisco that searches for “Asian Restaurants.”

    The Business Case

    Why should I be interested in Google Boost? And, what does a local consumer mean to me?
    Did you know that there have been multiple studies that have shown the majority of customers who buy local conduct research online?
    Here is a quick snapshot of the result of those studies.
     
    % of individuals who research online before buying locally:
    Google.com : 97%
    Compete.com : 94%
    BIA/Kelsy and Constat : 97%
     
    The results are staggering at first, but does the survey necessarily apply to your business? If my business relied solely on returning customers, had zero competitors in the local market, or does not rely on local customers – I would be less inclined to invest in Google Boost. However, if you are a retailer with competitors in the market I would consider signing up for Google Boost today.
    For the purposes of this blog post, let’s assume you are the owner of a business that has 5 competitors in the local area. Your product or service offerings are substitutes of one another and customer loyalty is zero. It is important that once you get that customer, you had better make them happy. Otherwise, they will go elsewhere for the product or service.  The online market has created a bargain hunting wonderland and forces businesses to keep a watchful eye on their profit margins, overhead and customer satisfaction (all good things to keep an eye on obviously).
    The latest .com sensation leads me to believe that bargain hunting smart shopping will only become more prevalent as time progresses. I have seen the research that shows this, but an easier place to look is the potential $15 billion IPO of the deal website Groupon.  (source)
    Back to our scenario, you have 5 competitors and your business.
    Let’s assume there are 3,000 conversion focused individuals who want one of your products.  They performed a Google search for your product / service… in this case “luxury cars.” Which ad would you want to be?  Which one is more prominent?  Which one has more real estate with longer messaging?
    In the following screenshot of a click density report on a Google search engine result page, can you identify where the BMW ad would be?  If you said the dark pink area, that is where a Google Boosted ad would be placed.

    Another way Google Boost can help (or hurt)

    If you take a better look at the Google Boost ad, you will notice five yellow stars. By now, most Internet users are familiar with the yellow stars and can quickly associate that with reviews. The following report performed by Kudzu.com tries to show how important consumer-generated media (CGM or in layman terms reviews) really is.

    When 600 users were surveyed in December 2008:

    86% of shoppers said product evaluations and reviews influenced their purchasing decisions.

    Of those 3,000 conversion focused users, 2,820 – 2,910 are searching online for your product / service before setting foot into your store. Of the 2,820 – 2,910 visitors 2,425 – 2,502 are allowing reviews to influence their purchasing decision.

    So, if you start getting reviews that are negative it may be wise to hire someone who takes care of your online reputation management. It is also a good move to give some perk to customers who choose to give your business feedback / review online.

    Why Google Boost then for this audience segment?

    1. Your business is local.
    2. Your ad / business is displayed prominently in the area where clicks are coming in the most.
    3. Low cost (several hundred dollars a month) for a local person interested in your product / offering.
    4. Pay per click is only growing in popularity.
    5. You have the opportunity to tell people about your business first before they read the rest of the page.
    6. Your UVP is displayed first. UVP stands for Unique Value Proposition. Remember, these individuals are still smart shoppers and most likely bargain hunters. So, having your UVP (also known as competitive edge) be the first thing they read is extremely important.

    I would like to expand on point #6 because it is 100% necessary to have one when targeting online shoppers. In the previously shown screenshot,  the UVP is that they use, farm-fresh ingredients.

    Let’s assume the example business we own is a car repair shop. There are five competitors who will most likely rank within the top half of the Google page when the user searches for “car repair in Raleigh.”  Having your Google Boost ad say, “Car Repair Shop located in Raleigh.” is less effective than delivering a clear UVP such as, “Car Repair Shop with Competitor Price Matching.”

    Oh…nobody trusts pay-per-click…right?

    It is true that a year ago, there was a study conducted that showed 85% of all online searches do not result in a click on a paid advertisement.  However, the growth of the industry leads me to believe that the sponsored search area is only going to get more prominent and more targeted as Google attempts to make the searchers experience relevant and enjoyable.
    Paid Click Stats
    • 18% more clicks Q4 2010 compared to Q4 2009.
    • 11% more clicks Q4 2010 compared to Q3 2010.
    Combined PPC revenue for Google (Google Sites revenue and Google Network revenue)
    • $8,170,000,000 of its $8,440,000,000 billion dollar revenue came from pay per click.
    • 26% growth when comparing 2010 to 2009.

    Takeaways

    • If you are a local business who relies on customers, I’d recommend getting started today.
    • The pay per click market is growing. Google Boost is similar to a pay per click system and I maintain that it will have a high chance of growing alongside that market or turning into pay per click altogether.
    • The majority of people making purchases are doing research online for local shops prior to the trip to the location.
    • Have a Unique Value Proposition ready if you want to create a Google Boost advertisement.

    Please feel free to comment with any questions or counter points.

     

  • Can’t publish pages from the root of an Umbraco site?

    I recently came across an issue when working with Umbraco (v 3.0.5) pertaining to the publishing of a node that lives directly at the root of the site.  For some reason I kept receiving the “Error: Publising failed because the parent page isn’t published” (side note: Publishing is spelled wrong in the speech bubble that pops up at the bottom right).  This message seems straight forward and easy to solve right?  Well it would be an easy solution if the node I just created was not directly at the root of the site.

    So how is it that I came across this error?  How is it possible that the root of the site is not published, but I can still successfully view the pages on the front end of the site?  HOW CAN I PUBLISH THE ROOT?!?

    After reviewing a couple of blog posts the most prominent answer seemed to be to right-click the Root Node and choose the “Republish entire site” option.  I tried this but unfortunately it did not solve my problem, that would have been too easy.

    Republish entire site
    View this menu by right-clicking the root node of your site

     

    In normal circumstances this probably would have fixed the problem, but this was not the case for our scenario.  During development the root node was accidentally deleted, which sent it into the Recycling Bin of the site.  Umbraco’s default behavior updates the umbracoNode table to modify the path of the node  and set it to the appropriate value for the application to assume the node is in the trash can (“-1,-20,-1”).

    Database Record
    View of SQL Server database record for the root node

    The path column is important for the location of the actual node in the site, but the column that is really causing the issue for me is the “level” column.  By default, the level of the root node for Umbraco sites is 0.  In this scenario, since we deleted the root node it was moved into the Recycling Bin of the site and Umbraco did something behind the scenes to set the level of the root node to 1.

    To resolve the issue, we simply look into our database, view the umbracoNode table and modify these two column values to reflect the appropriate values for the root node (the root node should have an id of -1).  Change the “level” column back to 0 and set the “path” column to -1 and you should now be able to publish nodes freely from the root of the site.

    Have you run into something similar or know a different way to resolve this?

  • Two Online Tools to Validate Information Architectures

    After determining a site’s navigation, or information architecture (IA), it should be put to the test with your users. Brainstorming and card sorting can help determine and validate the main levels. But, with deeper menus, it is worth considering a tree test.

    A tree test is a method where users are asked to find something in an IA (usually for websites or software) and their path is recorded. Tree tests can be done with index cards, or with online tools (like PlainFrame and Treejack). The benefit of using online tools is that you can send the test to many people, quickly and easily. You can send a link in an email to a bunch of people, sit back and collect responses. The benefit of in-person tree tests is that you can ask follow-up questions and it can be tacked on to something else you are already doing (like an in-person interview). Currently, both online solutions available do not offer the ability to ask why a user picked a particular path.

    PlainFrame

    PlainFrame, which came out of beta on January 11, 2011, is the newest online tool to conduct tree tests from the same company that does the online card sorting tool WebSort. PlainFrame is the most affordable solution to conduct tree tests. Here’s an example of how a task looks on PlainFrame.

    An example of a task on PlainFrame

    Unfortunately, PlainFrame still is new and has some issues (like the task being cut-off on the top).

    PlainFrame allows you to have either a vertical or horizontal-style menu. You can also have menus in the header (upper right) and the footer (bottom middle).  You can customize the tree test with a logo. Results are collected by simply sharing a link with the people you want to collect results from. The results are presented in a simple format, without graphs. But, you can easily export to Excel where you can generate any graphs you need.

    TreeJack

    The first-to-market online tree test solution was TreeJack, from Optimal Workshop. Here’s an example of how a task looks on TreeJack:

    A task on TreeJack

    TreeJack looks less like an actual navigation, but should be just as effective.

    TreeJack allows you to customize your tree test’s look and feel beyond adding a logo. Like PlainFrame, you send a link out to collect results. Unlike PlainFrame, TreeJack has a dashboard which shows useful visualizations about the data you have collected. Even the exported Excel results are formatted nicely.

    Summary

    Tree testing is still a relatively new method to refine information architectures. Tree tests can either be conducted in-person or online with either PlainFrame or TreeJack. TreeJack is the more expensive tool, but has two main benefits: it is highly customizable, and it has useful reporting features.

  • One Web Page is Better Than None

    When I tell people I work at a web design company, they often respond with “I really need a website for my _____.” More often than not, they should have said “I really need a web page.”

    This weekend, I came across a tumblelog called “Never said about restaurant websites”. In Raleigh, we have a lot of great locally owned and operated restaurants. Many of them, unfortunately, either don’t have a web presence or are, well, doing it wrong. While it’s fine to think about what you want to put on your website, it’s more important to think about what people will expect on your website. When it comes to restaurant websites, people expect to find hours of operation, location, and a menu. All of those could fit on a couple of web pages (and the menu should not be a PDF).

    The Good, Bad & the Ugly

    To illustrate my points, I went on an Internet safari where I visited some of the websites of my favorite restaurants.

    Good: Everything I need, at the top of the page

    Address, phone number, hours, and map
    While this site used Flash and it took a little bit to load, everything I needed was right at the top of the page, clearly visible. Well done!

    Bad: Difficult to find (and read) the Hours of Operation

    Hours of Operation at the footer of a restaurant's website

    A restaurant’s hours need to be very visible. My eyes shouldn’t have to wander to the bottom of the website and then adjust to read light-gray text with strange formatting.

    Ugly

    An ugly restaurant website

    On the left, the address (without the link to the map) and phone number are clearly visible (I removed pieces of their contact information). But, unfortunately the site is difficult to look at. The menu is available as a PDF file, and the header requires Java, which I haven’t needed to install on my computer yet. I can’t find the hours anywhere except in the Menu.

    Does every business need a web presence?

    Unless you’re operating in secrecy, the answer is yes. Most businesses that don’t have a web presence either are doing fine without one, and/or are intimidated by the large investment of a website. In reality, just one or two well-designed web pages will often suffice when one of your customers thinks “what is their phone number again?” or “I wonder if they’re open” and tries Google unsuccessfully. Then, your customer has to resort to the phone book. Or, if they’re like me, the online phone book. Phone books, in any form factor, are not an ingredient of a healthy user experience.

    The user experience extends off the screen. Proper signage, well-lit parking lots, ramps for the handicapped, and a useful voicemail message are also very important. For the established single building restaurant, barber shop, or tailor shop, a web presence might not seem like a priority. For some, they might not even want to attract new customers. But a great user experience is also important for established customers. And now, more than ever, the Web (including the Mobile Web) is part of that.

  • No One Likes the Mobile-to-Desktop Hand-Off When Snow is Coming

    Like many holiday travelers this past December, I was recently reminded that nature was really in charge of my family’s holiday travel plans. Nature has blizzards. All I have is a GPS and a snow brush.

    Not one to panic, I quickly turned to the internet to solve my problems.

    screenshot of Name brand travel website mobile mobile
    Here’s how it started out – a good mobile experience.

    I fired up my mobile device in an attempt to find an affordable hotel room. Why slip and slide in the snow when my family and I can order pizza and wait warmly while it all passes by?

    The hotel finding experience started off well enough – I went to a name brand discount travel website and found they had a mobile-formatted home page. This allowed me to quickly search for and find a hotel room nearby. The site’s layout was great and the menu options helped me narrow things down quickly and efficiently.  It let me view features, reviews, and see estimated prices of the hotels I was considering. This is the sort of top-notch mobile user experience we all want, especially when a blizzard is coming.

    Then, when I went to purchase the hotel room, I received what mobile web users have come to dread – the mobile-to-desktop hand-off.

    We’ve all experienced it. It’s that one link tap that, without any warning or context, takes you straight to a traditional full-width desktop website. Now I’m sliding, re-sizing, tilting, and zooming the screen to find the links and buttons I’m looking for.

    Sure, my iPod Touch browser handles it in stride, but if I was using my pay-as-you-go-low-tech phone browser, things would have been a great deal more painful, if not impossible.

    screenshot of non-mobile page
    When the hand-off occurs, users are left with a different looking site not optimized for their device

    This story has a happy ending.  I was able to book the hotel room at a reasonable price and ensure my family was happy and warm while we waited for the snow to pass – but I was left with a bad vibe about the travel company.  Not because I had to use a non-mobile website to reserve the room (not everyone had a budget for a dedicated mobile site) but because I was, without warning, passed off to a non-mobile website right as I was able to complete the transaction. Right when I was pulling out my wallet.

    Why tease your users with a great initial experience and then bring in someone else to close the sale?  And why do it right before I put my credit card information in?  Why push confusion before the conversion?

    This is why great online experience are often the result of user testing an entire process, not just an initial screen or menu design. Shocking layout and interaction transitions should not be part of your plan. Why leave your users out in the cold?