Our approach

We help to achieve our clients’ aims for their sites and make these sites more effective. We combine rigorous user-focused research with a process to generate agreed and actionable results quickly and cost effectively.

• User centred
• Action focused
• Specialist
• Ethical

User centred

Only by putting the user at the centre of all decision making, can you be sure users will have a good experience on your site. All decisions (e.g. deciding a site strategy, developing an information architecture, writing content, improving usability, etc.) should be informed by user evidence. If you find you are disagreeing about an aspect of your site it means you don’t have a shared understanding of how users will behave. We involve users in all projects to provide user evidence and ensure decision making is user focused.

Action focused

Knowing the problems is only half the answer. Identifying the right actions and getting them implemented is the difficult bit! As well as doing research we focus on the ‘process’ of getting actions implemented. Our experience in change management consultancy means we have the understanding and skills to do this. Just writing a report will often fail to bring about action because individuals don’t accept the results, or there is no ’shared understanding’ of these, or recommendations may not ‘fit’ the client context. A key element of our approach is to encourage all those who can influence the implementation of the research outcomes to attend at least some of the research and a discussion facilitated by WUP. This discussion facilitates the process of ’sense-making’ enabling the development team to take ownership of the research results, develop a collective view of the issues to be addressed, and agree the appropriate actions.

Specialist

WUP is a specialist user experience research consultancy. We do not offer web site design and build services. Our entire focus is on understanding what users want and establishing how best to deliver this; we are not encumbered by concerns or other commitments involved in the construction of web sites, and we don’t have a rigid solution based on a proprietary design approach or software. We provide objective, unbiased and user based assessments of the effectiveness of web sites and recommendations tailored to specific client situations.

Ethical

WUP is committed to an ethical consulting approach and to providing value for money. We try and go beyond just offering usability research and consulting services. With all projects we try and ensure that we:

• Challenge clients’ views about user goals & behaviours and appropriate research methodologies to ensure all projects meet our clients’ objectives and provide value for money.
• Don’t undertake projects we don’t think will provide the client with value for money or for which we do not have the right skills and experience
• Transfer our knowledge and skills to clients’ staff to reduce ‘consultant dependency’
• Work closely with the client to ensure that recommendations are framed within the client’s financial, political and resourcing constraints and are, therefore, practical and actionable
• Continually improve our services by formally seeking feedback on our performance following each research session