[csforum] Special offer to CSI members: Usability Testing Services

[Alan Cox]

Is poor usability costing you? "Badly designed software is costing businesses millions of dollars annually because it's difficult to use, requires extensive training and support, and is so frustrating that many end users underutilize applications," Computerworld June 2005 reported. Software products and websites that provide a positive User-Experience provide the following benefits (to name a few): ·          Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty ·          Increased conversion rates ·          Higher actual and perceived value ·          Increased operational efficiency ·          Reduced internal costs, e.g. support and maintenance The User-Experience Lab LeftClick is proud to announce the opening of the first fully commercial User-Experience-Lab in New Zealand. The lab is used as an integral part of our user-centred design process and is also used for testing the usability of existing products and design prototypes. To celebrate this new facility we have some special offers for CSI members.   Special offer #1 - FastStart LeftClick is pleased to offer a special introductory offer on our FastStart service which is a low cost entry point into usability testing and is aimed at identifying the primary issues that are affecting the user-experience of a website. What happens: ·          You complete a simple questionnaire that tells us about your website. ·          We then conduct a high level expert review that looks at the usability based on our knowledge and experience. ·          We then test with 3-4 users in our lab using some structured scenarios and tasks. ·          You then get a succinct report that tells you what we’ve found and what should be done.   We are providing this service to CSI members for a very special fixed cost price of $1,500 +GST. Offer available until the end of August 05 (subject to booking availability).   Special offer #2 – Usability Evaluation LeftClick offer the following services for evaluating the usability of software products: Expert Review: An expert review (AKA heuristic review) involves our usability reviewing your product based on our experience and known design rules. As this does not involve real users it is low cost and can be kicked off quickly. Although this review carries less weight than usability testing, it is a good way of identifying major barriers to a product ' s success. Usability Testing: Usability Testing extends upon the expert review by testing the product with real users. Here we examine the user’s behaviour and interaction with the product, and identify areas where the design is failing to meet the user’s expectations.    We are providing CSI members with a 30% discount on both of these services during July/August 05 (subject to booking availability). :: Should you require further information on any of these offers or would like to discuss your specific needs in more detail then please do not hesitate in contacting us.   Alan Cox LeftClick Ltd - User Experience Design   Mobile:              029 981 2686 DDI:                  03 3798981 Physical:            Cii Building, 200 Armagh St, Christchurch CBD, NZ. Postal:              LeftClick Ltd, Cii, PO Box 13890, Christchurch, NZ Web:                 www.leftclick.co.nz