UX & CX Testing

A lot of web testing focuses on finding errors, and this is something that doesn’t require a huge amount of skill, simply time. There is an entire industry on the fringes of market research and insight that focuses on this. It is often referred to as user or customer experience (UX / CX), but to us, this is more bug fixing. Our take on UX/CX is more detailed and more commercially rigorous – what does a customer think and how it be interpreted in a live purchase. Consider undertaking accompanied shops with someone who isn’t even a customer of your category, yet this is something that regularly happens when websites are tested. 

Due to our more detail and commercially focused take on this type of research, we find that we test as many new websites that are looking to get ready for launch as we do older websites, where the Client questions the experience and whether CapEx is needed to invest in new digital infrastructure. Surprisingly, a number of businesses that sell directly to customers invest heavily on NPD and brand, but ignore the purchase environment and will often blame conversion on disloyal consumers or competitor effect; we would advocate that any business that can sell online should ensure that their journey is as simple and competitive as possible. Some businesses do take this to heart and look to ‘throw away the baby with the bathwater’ – often, it is only minor changes needed to make a Client website work well again, notably reducing the necessary spend to bring sales back to where they were on initial development. 

We look to mimic the thought process of an accompanied shop in this digital environment. To achieve this, we ask participants to screen share with us. This means that the participant is on a device they are used to, on a browser of their choice on a connection that is familiar, all of which could skew the insights if not taken into account. 

We join them as they purchase and watch live to see where they struggle, any loops they get stuck in and generally understand their thought process as they navigate the site. We will then mimic the exercise on a competitor, as online purchases do not happen in a vacuum and consumers can easily move to a competitor with very little friction. We have, on many occasions, seen a site and journey that is considered good with no huge issues, but it is beaten by a great site that is quick and more obvious to use. This research can often provide ROI very quickly as we see conversion increase and the number of ‘baskets left full’ decrease.