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

I must say this was one of my most enjoyable presentations I have delivered, and if you would like to know more about the group please visit the Northern User Experience website.

Some of worlds most authoratitive figures spoke at the conference, including Bryan Eisenburg and Rory Sutherland. Take a look at the full list of speakers.

In summary I my talk focused on 3 key principles for improving usability, persuasion and conversion on e-commerce sites:

• Provide transparency
• Build trust and confidence
• Remove barriers to entry

View the presentation on Slideshare in order to see my notes on each slide.

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!

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

I was invited to speak by one of our partners, remote usability testing service WhatUsersDo. I chose to speak about remote and moderated usability testing. Below the slides is a list of useful links providing tips and best practice about usability testing, whether moderated or remote.

My slides below look in particular at:

• how important is usability testing?
• a comparison of moderated & remote usability testing
• what business questions can usability testing answer?
• plus in the workshop I carried out a moderated test session with one of the attendees

Useful links on usability testing

• 67 questions usability testing can answer
• User Testing 101 – Good, Better, Best Approaches
• 5 Tips When Conducting User Research
• Lab Based User Testing – Objectives, Methodology, Deliverables
• The business benefits of user testing
• 9 women x 9 hours = 9 usability insights
• Conversion rate optimisation tips and best practice articles
• How Appliances Online increased sales by 9.5% through usability testing
• How Speedy gained strategic business insights through usability testing
• MMU’s fully featured usability testing lab in Manchester

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

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

Below are my slides from my session, titled ‘Moderated Usability Testing – uncovering so much more than just usability insights’.

In addition, an article I have written on Econsultancy provides further insights relating to this presentation – 67 questions usability testing can answer.

View a wide range of best practice tips and articles relating to user and usability testing.

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.