PRWD

Our Ferbruary Newsletter below provides an update of our recent work with clients Hitachi and AllSaints, along with some useful links to a recent presentation I have delivered on conversion optimisation.

In-house Training with Hitachi

I’ve recently had the pleasure of delivering our usability and user experience training course to the Hitachi team in Manchester. The full press release can be seen here, which includes comments that I’m really proud of such as this one below.

“I searched high and low for a reputable company to provide guidance and training to my team in order to further bolster our capabilities around ‘User Centric Design’. I became aware Paul’s company PRWD and was immediately impressed with the level of expertise and reference able collateral on show on their website. It was a no brainer for me; being local was also a major plus point as there is clearly a lack of expertise in this field north of London. Paul proved invaluable on the day as he led us through ‘idea after idea’ in which we could improve our services to our clients. His knowledge of the subject was clear for all to see and his approach to training very professional.”

Taz Ali, Creative Services Manager

Remote User Testing for AllSaints

Also in the last month we have been working with the AllSaints team to deliver a range of invaluable user insights, using our partner company Whatusersdo to provide the remote testing videos. The AllSaints e-commerce platform is developed and maintained in-house, and no sooner had we presented back the findings and recommended user experience improvements, they set about starting to plan in development time to. At the time of writing the first site improvements are due live in the next few days, with more to follow in early March. Below are some comments from AllSaints on the project.

“I have been very impressed with the user testing service PRWD have provided, from initiation through to delivery.

The insights that we gained from the users have been valuable, but what made the project a particular success was what Paul brought to the table. Without his considerable experience we would never have created the right scenarios for the users, or indeed have been able to glean the right information from the videos.”

Stuart McMillan, E-commerce Operations Manger at AllSaints

Lings Cars and the art of persuading visitors to buy

This truly is a fascinating site, one that generates sales of £35m per year, yet on first viewing is one of the most insane, wacky and unbelievable site designs that you will find.

I’ve recently published an article on Econsultancy examining how they employ a wide range of persuasive techniques to deliver their proposition and engage visitors for conversion. The comments are well worth viewing too, which include some extremely valuable insights from Ling Valentine who owns and runs the website.

Presentation – Applied Techniques for Conversion Rate Optimisation

I’ve recently spoke at the monthly Northern User Experience session, with a talk dedicated to sharing customer insights and some performance improvements for some of the main conversion rate optimisation techniques we use when working with our clients, particularly retailers.

View full details and the slides for Applied Techniques for Conversion Rate Optimisation

For those of you considering attending Conversion Conference London, I wanted to share 6 reasons to attend what should be a fantastic, insightful and engaging 2 days.

I have been privileged to be on the advisory board for the conference as well as presenting at 2 of the sessions, on e-commerce best practice and rapid fire live page critiques.

Read on to find out more about this 2 day conversion conference.

1) Confessions of a Conversion Rate Optimiser – Bryan Eisenberg (Conversion Guru!)

With three best-selling books and more than 15 years of conversion optimisation experience under his belt, Bryan Eisenberg is legendary for his work is persuasion architecture, persona development and conversion rate optimisation. In this tell-all keynote, he reveals the intimate secrets that few insiders ever get to hear.

Glimpse into the history of CRO and understand what will happen to this discipline in the future. Learn from almost two decades of successes and failures — why Bryan thinks most marketers are still in the dark ages in terms of conversion and testing, and how his simple three-step formula has streamlined the testing process for some of the most successful companies on the web.

If time permits, we put Bryan in the hotseat when he opens up the session for a no-holds-barred question and answer period that could transform the way you think about online marketing.

2) Mobile & Realtime Optimisation – Amy Africa (Eight by Eight)

Why is your established online strategy not transferring well to mobile? What are the important factors (and what aren’t) in determining how to increase your mobile conversions? What delivers results, how do you deal with “abandons” and save up to 60% of them? What should you be tracking? For anyone currently active in mobile, or planning to be, this is a keynote session you really cannot afford to miss. You’ll hear why your mobile conversion strategy has to be different and pick up the tips and tricks you need to put it in place.

3) Praxeology – Lessons from a lost science – Rory Sutherland (Ogilvy)

Advertising and communication has changed immeasurably over the last twenty years. But our tools for understanding people and brands remain largely trapped in the 1970s – if that. Can a missing science fill in some of the gaping gaps in our knowledge?

4) E-commerce Best Practices – Paul Rouke (PRWD) & Stephen Pavlovich (Conversion Factory)

How do you design your ecommerce website to persuade more visitors to convert? What guidelines should be followed when designing product and category pages? Learn guiding principles for making changes to your ecommerce website that will significantly increase your conversion rate.

5) Rapid Fire Landing Page Critiques – Paul Rouke (PRWD), Stephen Pavlovich (Conversion Factory) & Rob Jackson (Conversion Thursday)

Your landing page stinks – it’s just a question of degree. Bring your URL and our experts will give you some quick and actionable tips to immediately improve performance. Guaranteed to be an educational and entertaining session.

6) Plus lots more engaging and insightful sessions

Along with these 5 reasons to attend, take a look at the day 1 and day 2 agenda to see what other sessions are on which may interest you.

Use #ConvCon to follow the conference live

If you are unable to attend you may want to keep any eye on the #ConvCon twitter hashtag which I expect will be getting used extensively during the course of the 2 days.

Further resources on conversion optimisation

If you are looking for more resources on usability and conversion optimisation, view our up-to-date list of articles, case studies and presentations – Conversion Optimisation Resources

What you’ll find here is:

• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for lead generation
• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for e-commerce
• Tools that you can use to monitor & improve your website
• Conversion rate optimisation case studies
• inks to presentations & slides from events & conferences

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you at the conference!

Our latest newsletter features conversion insights from some of the worlds biggest retailers. Full details and links are below.

This month there are links 2 articles which should be of interest if you are wanting to make your site experience more persuasive to improve conversions, or if you want to know how some of the biggest retailers are removing common barriers for new customers checking out for the 1st time.

Booking.com – Persuasive Design Best Practice

A few weeks ago I published my latest article on Econsultancy, looking at how Booking.com deliver some superb examples of persuasive design to improve their conversion rate.

I highly recommend you read some of the extensive comments and debate as these provide further insights into the art of persuasion – and perhaps sometimes what converts better might not be the most usable of designs!

ASOS, Lakeland & Speedo – Essential Checkout Techniques You Should Consider

I also wrote my latest article for Smart Insights, looking at how ASOS, Lakeland and Speedo deliver their checkout experience to resolve one of THE biggest issues make e-commerce sites have – forcing new customers to register or create an account.

Conversion Conference – London 2011

This is just quick reminder of the upcoming Conversion Conference London, where I will be jointly delivering 2 of the sessions:

• E-commerce Best Practices
• Rapid Fire: Live Landing Page Critiques

It’s shaping up to be a superb event, including a keynote talk from Brian Eisenburg, Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author and Consultant.

Popular Usability & Conversion Optimisation Resources

By far the most popular page on our blog is this up-to-date list of usability & conversion optimisation resources.

What you’ll find here is:

• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for lead generation
• Usability & conversion optimisation articles for e-commerce
• Tools that you can use to monitor & improve your website
• Conversion rate optimisation case studies
• Links to presentations & slides from events & conferences

Over the last few months we have spent a considerable amount of time working with Speedy. We have carried out 3 projects, 2 usability evaluations (including some remote user testing with our partner WhatUsersDo) and a comprehensive moderated user testing project.

Following the projects we have published a very comprehensive press release, titled ‘Speedy Services choose PRWD to provide strategic customer insights‘.

What I wanted to do here is pull out the range of extremely satisfying testimonials that senior members of the Speedy team have provided following the delivery of the projects.

Speedy Assist Usability Evaluation and Remote User Testing

“The usability evaluation project Paul has conducted for Speedy Assist has given invaluable recommendations to help improve site conversion and user experience. The resulting report was very detailed, professionally presented and well received across the business.”
Dave Clarke, Digital Marketing Manager at Speedy Services

“Paul has clear and specific expertise which he is able to bring to bear in very efficient and effective way. The turnaround and quality of this work was exceptional.”
John Byrne, Product Development Director at Speedy Services

“The recommendations made by Paul were clear and concise, highlighting quick wins that would make an immediate impact on performance.”
Jenny Cain, Project and Operational Manager for Speedy Assist

Speedy Services Usability Evaluation

“The usability evaluation project Paul has conducted for Speedy Services has provided great insights into the site usage issues and recommendations for improvement.”

The report findings show that the project was conducted with a high degree of detail and Paul’s experience in usability is clear in the design and page structure recommendations that were made. The actions taken on the back of this project are likely to make a significant impact on the site performance and the brand perception of Speedy.”
Dave Clarke, Digital Marketing Manager at Speedy Services

“After developing our new e-commerce site over an 18 month period, PRWD helped us view it with a fresh pair of eyes and route out issues we were not aware of, and also demonstrated the impact of the issues that we did know about.”

“We have received a very comprehensive write up of the site, including suggestions with a RAG indicator on each item. We are now in the process of drawing up our first development plans based on this feedback and have a clear mandate on how to improve the site over the coming months.”
Sue Raby, Technical Project Manager at Speedy Services

Speedy Services Moderated Usability Testing

“The user testing sessions have been essential in assessing whether Speedy Services’ investment in our online services meet with customer expectations. The testing sessions were professionally planned and moderated, and it was reassuring to hear first hand that many of our developments had created real customer engagement.”

“However it was some key comments raised by users that gave the greatest insight. We have already started implementing PRWD’s recommendations based on these points that will allow us to improve elements of content and online processes. This is something we would not have been able to do without conducting this activity with PRWD.”
Dave Clarke, Digital Marketing Manager at Speedy Services

“There was clearly a lot of work put into the usability testing. The scenario planning meeting was well structured, and the testing sessions were well run.”

“The recommendations were detailed and well presented, and the video footage of customer comments provides a rich source of direct feedback. I would definitely recommend using PRWD for this kind of study.”
Jenny Fellows, UK Operations Marketing Manager

Speedy Services, Internet Retailing Conference, Conversion Conference, E-commerce Training & 67 Questions

This month there is information on:

• Our comprehensive evaluation & user testing work with Speedy Services
• Internet Retailing conference on the 4th October
• Conversion Conference, taking place on 30th/31st November
• Usability & User Experience training in Manchester
• E-commerce Usability & Best Practice training in London
• 67 questions usability testing can answer

Evaluations & User Testing for Speedy Services

Over the last couple of months me and my consultancy team have completed some of our most detailed and insightful usability evaluation and usability testing projects to date, for Speedy Services, a leading provider of equipment and associated services to construction, manufacturing, industrial, rail and related industries.

We’ve just published a press release detailing how we have delivered strategic customer insights for Speedy Services if you would like to know more about our approach.

Remote v Moderated User Testing at Internet Retailing Conference 2011

I’m really looking forward to speaking at the Internet Retailing Conference on the 4th October, along with one of our partners, remote user testing service Whatusersdo.

They have very kindly invited me to speak at the workshop they are delivering at the conference. In the workshop, entitled ‘Three steps to improving your website’s User Experience & why you should bother!’ I will be talking about:

“Choosing the right UX testing method (moderated or remote) and the types of insight you can expect from each”

Having looked at the keynote speakers including Facebook and Ebay its sure to be fantastic conference with the great and the good of the retailing world in attendance!

Conversion Conference – London 2011

The conference is dedicated to anyone wanting to achieve maximum ROI from their online campaigns as this is the place where internationally renowned experts explain how to improve sales and dramatically increase your site’s conversion rates.

I’m delighted to announce that as well as being on the advisory board for Conversion Conference London, I will also be jointly delivering 2 of the sessions:

• E-commerce Best Practices
• Rapid Fire: Live Landing Page Critiques

It’s shaping up to be a superb conference, including a keynote talk from Brian Eisenburg, Professional Speaker, Best Selling Author and Consultant.

Usability & User Experience Training – 20th October in Manchester

Next month is my next Usability & User Experience training course for Econsultancy.

Course Overview

Many website owners are identifying usability as a primary way for them to improve online revenue. In particular businesses are looking at ways to improve the ROI they get from their acquisition spend.

This training course aims to give a solid foundation to this wide-ranging subject through case studies taken from ecommerce and non-commercial websites as well as hands-on experience through workshops on the key principles of usability and user experience.

E-commerce Usability & Best Practice Training – 11th October in London

Next month is my next E-commerce Usability & Best Practice training course for Econsultancy.

Course Overview

The course objective is to expose and explain a wide range of vital best practice techniques taken from SME and blue chip retailers which you can implement into your organizations’ own e-commerce platform in order to drive improvements of conversion rates.

Focusing on 3 key stages of the buying journey, Product Page, Shopping Basket and the Checkout Process, this training course will provide you with a wealth of knowledge and industry-leading insights that can be utilised to make iterative usability improvements to your e-commerce platform.

67 Questions Usability Testing Can Answer

I’ve recently published my latest article on the Econsultancy blog, titled 67 questions usability testing can answer. In addition to this I’ve recently spoken at Manchester Digital’s Content Creator Sessions, with a session titled ‘Moderated Usability Testing – uncovering so much more than just usability insights’

If you’ve managed to get this far well done!

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of your week,

Paul Rouke
PRWD

We’re currently looking for people to take part in some user testing for one of our clients in August. Full details below.

Who we’re looking for

We are looking for people working in the building and construction industry located in Manchester. Typical job roles or employment as follows:

1. Site Managers
2. Plant Managers
3. Contract Managers
4. Site Foremen
5. Specialist Traders
6. Sub Contractors
7. Site Workers
8. White Van Men!

What, When & Where

• What - 1 hour of your time between 12pm and 8pm
• When – Monday 15th August, Tuesday 16th August or Wednesday 17th August
• Where – Oxford Road, Manchester city centre

Whats in it for you?

• You’ll get £60 for 1 hour of your time
• You get the chance to play an important role in helping to improve the website of one of the building and construction industries biggest organisations

Are you (or someone you know) interested?

• Fantastic! Please call me directly on 07739 745 126 and we can confirm full details and book your 1 hour session in.

We’re delighted to be representing the North West of England in Econsultancies 2011 User Experience Buyers Guide. Full details can be seen on the press release announcing this.

PRWD featured in the 2011 User Experience Buyers Guide

The User Experience Buyers Guide 2011, which is over 268 pages long and aimed at companies interested in the growing areas of usability and user experience, covers issues and trends affecting the sector and contains information about best practice, as well as useful advice for those seeking a suitable supplier.

View and download the user experience 2011 buyers guide.

This is our March 2011 e-newsletter. To subscribe simply visit our website and you’ll find a sign-up box at the bottom of every page.

Welcome to our March newsletter. As with last months newsletter this month there are a number of links to articles, training courses and events which you will hopefully find worth a click!

New Articles

We have published 2 new articles on external sites as follows:

• Smart Insights – Ask for more not less to encourage enquiry form conversions
• Econsultancy – 9 women x 9 hours = 9 usability insights

If you missed last months Econsultancy article, Shopping Basket Best Practice by ASOS, its a recommended read, both the main article and the variety of comments including insights from James Hart, Head of E-commerce at ASOS.

Commentary in the Sunday Telegraph

On Sunday 24th February Paul was featured in an Internet Retailing supplement in the Sunday Telegraph. Read more about the supplement & the article which was titled ‘The importance of good website design’ as well as a link to a pdf of the full supplement.

Event Speaking

Over the last 4 weeks Paul has spoken at 2 events:

• Usability & User Experience 101 –10th Feb – view slides & resources
• Conversion Thursday Manchester – Thursday 24th Feb – How to improve basket to checkout conversions – the ASOS way

Upcoming Events & Conferences

There are a variety of upcoming events and conferences that we are either speaking at, attending or recommend you consider taking a look at:

• Digital Pathways – 9th March – we will be attending this alongside our partner MMU, to promote user testing and the MMU user testing lab – view event details
• Conversion Thursday London – 10th March – unfortunately we can’t attend what we’re sure will be another superb event, following on from last months 1st Conversion Thursday Manchester that we spoke at – view event details and register for FREE
• Internet Retailing Expo 2011 – 23rd/24th March – we are attending on the 23rd – view expo details and register for FREE

New Press Release

Following on from our initial work with Lakeside Hotel, who are recognised as the best 4 star hotel on the shores of Lake Windermere, we have been delighted to see that our work has already had a positive impact on the performance of their new website.

View the press release – PRWD Help Improve Online Bookings for Lakeside Hotel by 20%

User Experience Buyers Guide 2011

Recently we were invited by Econsultancy to have our company profile in the User Experience Buyers Guide 2011 . In the words of Econsultancy, the guide is an invaluable resource for those investigating the market for user experience agencies, with profiles of 27 suppliers, the latest market trends and tips and pitfalls for buyers. The 263-report covers issues and trends affecting this sector, and contains information about best practice, as well as useful advice for those seeking a suitable supplier.

View the press release – view the buyers guide and download a sample

Training for Econsultancy

Over the last few weeks Paul has delivered 2 public training courses for Econsultancy. Both these courses are also delivered to clients directly, full details are below.

• E-commerce Usability & Best Practice training
• Usability & User Experience Training

New Date for E-commerce Training

Due to popular demand there has been a new date added for the E-commerce Usability & Best Practice training course – 3rd May 2011 in London. View details and book online.

We’ve Won an Award!

We were delighted to find out that our 1 submission into the WhichTestWon annual split testing awards won an award, in the business to business lead generation category

View the winning entry and take the test – PRWD’s winning split test project

Usability Resources

We have updated our list of usability resources to include more presentation slides and new articles that we have published online.

• Usability & UX Resources, Tools and Presentation Slides

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your week.

The PRWD team
PRWD

Due to the 1st March training course for Econsultancy being over-booked, a new date has been added for 3rd May 2011. Details and how to book online are below.

• Course Title: E-commerce Usability & Best Practice
• New Date: 3rd May 2011
• Time: 9.30am – 4.30pm
• Location: Etc Venues, Moorgate, London, United Kingdom
• Cost: £525 + vat
• Course Details on the Econsultancy website: E-commerce Usability and Best Practice training
• Book Online at Econsultancy
• Twitter Hashtag: #UCDtraining

Recently I was very privileged to be asked to provide some industry commentary for an article which was to be printed in an Internet Retailing supplement going in the Sunday Telegraph.

Click the cover to view the full supplement as a PDF.

The 16 page supplement was published on 20th February 2011 and features articles on the following:

• Retail opportunities in the age of the multichannel customer (pg 2) – Ian Jindal, Editor in Chief at Internet Retailing
• Switching on to mobile retailing (pg 4) – David Smith, Managing Director at IMRG
• The importance of good website design (pg 5) – by me, inc. comments from Max Childs from Scene7
• Good service: its all in the delivery (pg 6) – Garry Farwell, Head of Supply Chain, Royal Mail Marketing
• Going multichannel: builing around the brand (page eight) – Jonathon Brown, Head of Online Selling at John Lewis
• Making your online security pay (pg 10) – John Wilson, Editor of retailfraud.com
• Getting to know you: consumer insight (pg 12) – Neil Mason from Foviance

Download a PDF of the Supplement

Extract

Below is an extract from the article I contributed to, including 3 key tips for retailers.

When a retailer or brand comes to design their website, thinking about the needs of the end user is of paramount importance.

If you’re a retailer, the question isn’t: ‘Do you have a website?’ It’s: ‘What kind of website do you
have?’ In 2011, after all, a brand without an online presence isn’tjust unthinkable. It’s suicidal.
Paul Rouke is from PRWD, a consultancy which provides a range of usability services for websites, intranets and business systems.

“A well-developed retail website, which has been developed with the end-consumer in mind, has the ability to transform a business,” he says.

Good experience
And this, ultimately, is the key point: end consumers should never be underestimated. “End consumers are the most important part of website design,” says Paul. “However good your website looks, it might fail when it comes to being a good experience for them.” The best way to overcome this is through ‘user-centred’ design: i.e., involving the people who will be accessing the site right from the start of the design process, via market research and focus groups, etc.

Top tips for retailers

Think like an end user
Whatever your site sells, you need to understand the requirements of your end users from the very start of the design process — so undertake focus group and market research, etc. Otherwise, you may encounter issues after the design process has been completed

Learn from your rivals
Undertake competitor analysis. No doubt there will be existing retailers in your industry selling online; and, potentially, there may be a number of things you can learn from them.

Define usability goals
3 Ask yourself about the different goals your consumers have. Some will be looking to find an item as quickly and as efficiently as possible and make a purchase. Others will want inspiration and ideas and be able to compare products side by side. Others will want to log-in and check the status of their order.

Useful Links

• Internet Retailing
• The Telegraph
• John Lewis
• IMRG
• Usability Consultancy PRWD

Also a quick thanks to Ian Pollard, Account Manager at RedEye International, for locating the pdf of the supplement.