Businesslink – Content Testing

• The brief
• How we responded to the brief
• What we did
• The outcomes
• Timing

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The Brief

Businesslink is a Government Agency providing advice and support to small businesses in England. It was preparing a series of 50 guides on International Trade for importers & exporters for its web site. Businesslink wanted to test these guides with users, to assess their suitability and usefulness.

How we responded to the brief

We proposed testing with 15 respondents: 11 of these in advance of a day’s observed usability testing with 4 testers, followed by a facilitated discussion of the issues and to agree actions.

In order to ensure buy-in to the research results, we felt it important that key Businesslink stakeholders gained a shared understanding of the issues through active observation of users on the guides. By following this with a facilitated discussion it would allow the observers to identify the key issues and agree actions in a single day.

What we did

We recruited a range of respondents from small businesses involved in importing or exporting.

We conducted unobserved testing in two locations (London and the SW). The outcomes were captured using our mobile usability equipment (i.e. a lap top with web cam, microphone and Techsmith Morae to enable picture in picture recording).

The observed testing (4 testers) was conducted in specialist studios in London where Businesslink staff watched the testing through a one way mirror. They were ‘active’ observers, writing issues on post-its as they occurred. Following the observed testing, a discussion was facilitated by a WUP consultant to agree the issues and appropriate actions.

The outcomes

Overall, the respondents thought the guides were relevant and useful, found them easy to use, and said they would definitely use them in their businesses. However, the observers identified a number of areas where the guides could be improved.

“The feedback we got from the sessions was invaluable in shaping our thoughts on how to finalise the guidance offered on the site. The methodology used by WUP allowed us to clearly understand the thoughts of users thus making it easier to improve our guides” John Davey – ITSW, Businesslink.gov.uk

Timing

The project was completed in July 2006, over a 6 week period.

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