People use multiple devices to access the web – increasingly, they’ll refer to the same site at different times and in different contexts on different devices. So it’s important to ensure that they get a great user experience – whatever device they use, and regardless of whether it’s a responsive or adaptive design, or separate desktop and mobile sites. Just because desktop and tablet sites may look similar, it doesn’t mean people will use them in the same way – see the experience we describe in multi-device testing. The only way to check that people get a great experience – and which will build and reinforce your brand values – is to undertake user testing with real representative users.
Smart companies undertake user testing on desktop/laptop, tablet and smartphone devices – and we’ve got a lot of smart clients: here are some of the things we’ve been working on:
- Dixons had developed a responsive site for PC World and Currys. We undertook testing on both these sites, through the end-to-end shopping process on desktop, tablet and smartphone devices; as well as focussing on PC World or Currys we also got testers to go through the same process on key competitor sites. Dixons found that their sites worked pretty well across all devices, but also identified a number of improvements that will improve the user experience and increase conversions
- Waitrose has redeveloped its grocery shopping site and Web Usability is proud to have been their UX partner for over 2 years, 21 projects and across all devices. Waitrose has adopted a rigorous iterative testing process through the prototype development, and thoroughly user tested on desktop, tablet and smartphone, culminating in full end-to-end shops on all devices just before launch. The new website and mobile site were launched at the beginning of October 2013. Commercially, the site is performing exceptionally well, with sales and conversion significantly improved on the old offering. The site has also been very positively received, with many customers welcoming the new features and functionality that we helped refine in our user testing.
- Petplan is designing a new quote to buy funnel, and we user tested the prototype across all devices – each tester used two devices so we could see how well the funnel worked on each device, and to get testers’ reactions to their experiences on the different devices. Overall the funnel worked well but the testing surfaced lots of small improvements that will ensure the process works smoothly across all devices on launch
- English Heritage has redeveloped its Stonehenge pages to reflect the changes at Stonehenge itself, with the opening of new visitor centre, housing museum-quality exhibitions, shop and café. Web Usability has worked with English Heritage through 2013 over four iterations of prototype testing during testing and a final round of testing on the live site on desktop, tablet and smartphone, with each tester using two of the three devices. Overall the site tested well with most testers feeling encouraged to visit Stonehenge and saying they would use the site to help them plan a visit. All testers said they would recommend the site, and that the site is useful if not actually visiting Stonehenge. Despite this, various usability issues were identified which, when addressed, will make the site even better.
