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Learn usability testing from Apple

Usability testing is a vital part of any retail business both on the high street and online. So why is usability testing so rare. One reason is that many people consider it to be expensive and if you take the example of Apple it probably is. However it does not have to be. Apple joined the world of retail in May 2001 and now has 287 stores worldwide as of March 2010. However Apple did not jump into the world of retail blind and they knew their stores would be a success before the doors of the first store in Virginia even opened.

With no experience in retail how could they be so sure it would work?

First of all Apple brought in the leader in the retail world Mickey Drexler to fill the skills gap on their board. Then on the advice of Drexler they hired a warehouse where they built a prototype of the store they had designed on paper. They then brought in a test group and watched them interact and interviewed them to see which aspects of the store were the most popular. From the results they knocked down the first version and rebuilt a new store layout and re-tested. They did this several times until they were happy with the study and this final design was then used universally in all new Apple stores. The data they collected was invaluable and even the most bizarre questions in the interviews gave them the best ideas for the design. The famous genius bar came from the question “Tell us about the best service experience you have ever had”. With 90% of interviewees stating that it was in a hotel. Once you have booked your hotel they are not selling you anything except good service and the staff are all there to help you. Based on this answer Apple decided to set up their genius bar to mimic a bar in the hotel lobby but instead of selling alcohol their bar would be a source of information and advice to all their customers.

Your online business is no different to this we can study the movements of visitors to your website with Google analytics. You can ask your customers opinions with polls and surveys and with the WSI Inter-View service you can have real people browse your website, complete chosen goals or search online for your products. You can see exactly what they are doing and even hear them as they think out loud and give their opinion on your website.