Incorporating an eye tracker in a usability test gives us more precise information about how discoverable or attention-grabbing visual elements such as navigation structures, screen graphics, links, text, multimedia content, or promotions are to study participants.

Eye-tracking benefits

Eye tracking data can help clients improve and streamline designs. By identifying and understanding individual and common user gaze patterns and eye movements when viewing online content, we can address research questions such as:

• What do users look at first on our home page (or any page, for that matter)?
• Do the calls to action on this page stand out immediately?
• Are users reading this content?
• Are users noticing this interface feature and if so, how long does it take before they look at it?
• Which of these navigation systems is the most discoverable?
• What page elements are distracting users from easily accomplishing this task?
• Will our new design be more effective than the current design?

Eye tracking gives us valuable insights into how users perceive online content. Data generated from eye tracking, when combined with findings from traditional usability methods, can help teams optimize layout and visual design, leading to better user experiences and higher conversion rates. Eye tracking studies can also be a cost-effective way for clients to ensure that they are getting a good design and usability ROI.

How does eye tracking work?

We use an eye tracking system developed in Sweden by Tobii Technology. The Tobii eye tracker looks like a computer monitor (see Figure 1), but sensors are built into the monitor’s casing that send and receive reflections of infrared light from study participants’ eyes. It is quick and easy to train or calibrate the eye tracker to work with an individual at the start of a usability session, and the technology is completely safe.

Figure 1: Eye tracker built by Tobii Technology.

When users view screen content—a web site, application, image, video, marketing piece, etc.—the eye tracking system precisely tracks and records where their gaze pauses or fixates, even if only for a 10th of a second. The system also tracks and records the eye movements or saccades between the fixation points.

A brief example

For illustrative purposes, we ran a short eye tracking test with a small sample of five users on the web site of one of our favorite charities, Oxfam America. Participants, all unfamiliar with the site, were given the task of finding a way to donate to Oxfam. Figure 2 shows a “heat map” of what our sample of users looked at during their first five seconds on the home page. The bright red-orange spots are the parts of the page users fixated on most frequently. We outlined the two pathways to donate, “What You Can Do” and “Donate now,” in red.

Figure 2: An eye tracking “heat map” of the Oxfam America home page showing what test participants viewed most frequently during their first 5 seconds on the site.

Unfortunately, both pathways to donate on the home page received little initial attention. All testers found and clicked one of the links within 16 seconds, so task success was 100%, but if a primary purpose of the Oxfam America site is to collect donations, the call to action on the home page may not be clear enough. It’s also possible that a more subtle approach to soliciting donations is more effective for Oxfam’s audience—we don’t know, and Oxfam is not one of our clients.

While heat maps show how different page elements command visual attention relative to each other and can be generated for individuals or a group of users, gaze plots and gaze replays show the visual path that individual users take on a page. The numbered circles in Figure 3 reflect what one user in our mock study fixated upon first, second, third, etc. during her first two seconds on the Oxfam site.

Figure 3: A gaze plot showing one user’s initial eye movements and pauses (or fixations) across the Oxfam America home page.

By analyzing individual gaze plots, we can identify patterns about the order in which study participants view a page or application screen. These patterns can reveal mismatches between where users expect to find links, controls, or content and where they are actually placed on the page, and the patterns help us to recommend changes in the way content or navigational elements are spatially arranged or aligned. For example, a gaze pattern that involves a lot of back and forth movement may suggest a need to place certain items closer together.

One useful feature of the eye tracking system is its ability to track views or fixations in specific areas of interest (AOIs). Once defined in web page or other on-screen content, the eye tracking analysis software can then generate quantitative data such as:

• the percentage of users whose eyes fixate on the AOI
• their gaze duration time within the AOI
• the number of fixations on other page elements prior to viewing the AOI

Figure 4 shows data from an AOI we defined around Oxfam America’s “Donate now” box. This chart reveals that 3 users noticed the “Donate now” box, and it took them between 2 and 10 seconds to first fixate on it. Putting on our design hats momentarily, the brown “Donate now” box in Figure 3 looks a lot like a heading and less like a button, which may be why two of our testers did not notice it at all.

Figure 4: “Time to First Fixation” graphic based on the “Donate now” area of interest.

It can be telling how many people simply do not notice an AOI and thus are missing out on an important site function or brand message, echoing the old usability adage “If the user can’t find it, the function’s not there.”

How does eye tracking change how we conduct usability studies?

We do not view eye tracking as a replacement of traditional usability testing methods. With some minor modifications to introduce the eye tracker and fully take advantage of what eye tracking does best, we typically run studies very much as we always have. The data generated from an eye tracker complements other usability findings to give us a more comprehensive and sometimes more quantitative view of usability problems. Eye tracking data can help us pinpoint barriers and distractions that prevent users from finding things quickly or otherwise degrade their online experiences, and it can reveal interesting viewing patterns that lead to better, actionable design recommendations that meet both user needs and business goals—and those are the things we think help our clients the most.

Thanks to Laura Barboza and Jen Amsterlaw for their research assistance.

References

“Eye tracking in human-computer interaction and usability research: Ready to deliver the promises,” Jacob, Robert J.K. and Keith S. Karn. Published in “In the Mind’s Eye: Cognitive and Applied Aspects of Eye Movement Research,” Elsevier Science, Amsterdam (2003)
http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jacob/papers/ecem.pdf

“A Comparison of Eye Tracking Tools in Usability Testing,” DeSantis, Rich, Quan Zhou and Judith A. Ramey. Society of Technical Communication Proceedings (2005).
http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Eye-Tracking

“Tobii Eye Tracking: See through the eyes of the user.”
Usability brochure available from http://www.tobii.com

Oxfam America Web Site
http://www.oxfamamerica.org

About the Author: John Dirks is the Director of Usability Engineering for Blink Interactive. He has spent over 10 years helping companies improve the usability of their software, web sites, and hardware products. John joined Blink Interactive in the year 2000 following six years working as a Senior Usability Engineer at WRQ Software, Attachmate Corporation, and Microsoft

For illustrated information, please refer to:  http://www.questionpro.com/help/546.html

Have You Heard

This video asks the respondents if they know what “web logging” is, then blogging. then Twittering, etc.  Take a look at the span of years involved in the answers.

What did you know about blogging in 2004?  Had you heard of Twitter in 2008?  How quickly does it take for something to go from trend to mainstream and is there any value in that?

What are your responses to this video?

What questions would you ask?

Related articles :

• Kids Everywhere Up to No Good [Trendwatch] (gawker.com)
• Sucky Snooty Weenie Yuppie Foodie Greenies [Trendwatch] (gawker.com)
• All Human Interaction Now Meta-Interaction [Trendwatch] (gawker.com)
• 10 Tips to Ensure That You’re NOT A Social Media Sucker! (thoughtpick.com)
• Trendwatching 2009 10 Nowism (slideshare.net)
• Total Number of Tweets in Real Time (metrodcliving.com)
• What Makes People Happy? (harlemworldblog.wordpress.com)
• Trending “Functionall” (mpdailyfix.com)
• Laura Fitton Talks “Why Twitter?” (thetechscoop.net)

The 10 steps for a stress-free customer survey process will contain bits of information that is a result of decades of practice. Esther and Kathryn will be discussing a simple process to write a successful survey, and basic tips when using an online survey tool to ensure data reliability.

Register for the 10-Point Checklist Seminar or Sign up to receive announcements about upcoming seminars.

About the Presenters: Kathryn Korostoff is a market research professional with a special interest in how organizations acquire, manage, and apply market research. Over the past 20 years, she has personally directed more than 600 primary market research projects and published over 100 bylined articles in trade magazines. Currently, Kathryn spends her time assisting companies as they create market research departments, develop market research strategies, or otherwise optimize their use of market research. Prior to Research Rockstar, Kathryn completed the transition of Sage Research–an agency that she founded and led for 13 years– to its new parent company.

She is the author of “How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies“,

Esther LaVielle is currently an Account Manager at QuestionPro and Survey Analytics, which was started in 2002 in Seattle and is now one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. Prior to her adventure at QuestionPro she spent 3 years as a Qualitative Project Manager at the Gilmore Research Group.

The Interactive Portion of the Article: (Grab a piece of paper)

Before I tell you what kind of company Pixily is, why don’t you take a few seconds and think about what kind of product or service a company named Pixily might provide?  Write those down. When you’re done reading the article, tell us what you thought that Pixily did and what you think of the new name.

About Pixily

Prasad saw an opportunity for Pixily as soon as he got out of graduate school.  He was saddled with all kinds of papers, documents and research – boxes and boxes of it – and simply didn’t feel like carrying it around with him.  He wanted the information digitized and that meant scanning.  Purchasing a scanner wasn’t expensive.  But the mere thought of sitting there for hours scanning documents by hand wasn’t really appealing.  He could purchase a high-speed scanner.  But that was expensive and when he was done – what would he do with it.

And Pixily was born.  It wouldn’t be too hard for you to imagine the value of having a document scanning service – just like big companies do.  Imagine no longer having to route through those moldy file boxes in your basement for valuable documents, health records or income tax records.  What if you could ship those away in a recyclable safe container, have them scanned and secure online?  Even better, what if you could search and have access to these documents on demand – no matter where you are?!

That was Pixily.  An online document scanning and storage service just for the small office and home office markets.

What’s in a Name?

There was only one problem.  People liked the name Pixily – but they didn’t associate it with the service.  Pixily just didn’t say small business or home office.  Not only that, it didn’t really explain what the company did.  There were other companies that started with the prefix “Pixi” and the poor Pixily people were getting lost in the shuffle.  Potential customers kept thinking Pixily was a video editing company.  This name just wasn’t working.

How We Said Goodbye to Pixily and Hello to OfficeDrop

For the nitty gritty details on the name changing process, I spoke with Healy Jones, OfficeDrop’s head of marketing.  “Pixily, as a company loved its name.  There were quite a few Pixily customers that loved the name too.  But we knew they had to make a change.” He said, and this is how they did it.

Healy gave me a virtual step-by-step of how Pixily became OfficeDrop.  No expensive consultants were used to develop this new brand,  just a lot of common sense brainstorming, crowdsourcing and customer contact.  Here are my notes from our conversation.

1. Sit down and get everyone on the same page about what’s wrong with the current name you have.  “In our case, we intuitively knew that having people who love your name, misspell your name was a problem”
2. Set goals around the attributes of the new name.  “We wanted our name to be easy to spell and easy to remember.  We wanted the name to reflect what we did, be between 10 and 12 letters and be easy to type on a keyboard.”
3. We did some brainstorming internally.  We created a list of 90 names, then we took that list and checked it against what domains were available using the WHOIS directory.  After that process, we were left with about 30 names.
4. Next we created a survey on Google Docs.  We created a survey that took the 30 names and created 3 groups of 10.  Then we asked employees to force rank them.  Our goal was to get to a final group of 7 names.
5. We selected a group of trusted customers and talked to them about the short list of names we had come up with.  You could call these in-depth-interviews.  We simply had conversations with them.  Showed them the names, asked them which they liked and why.  We got some interesting feedback from those and were able to eliminate some from the short list just from that feedback.
6. Finally, it was time for our HUGE survey.  We did an e-mail blast to our list of several thousand customers and got several hundred responses.  Now we had something statistical.  We asked people what they thought of each name and gave them a space to write down their responses.  I grouped the responses in positive and negative groups. And finally, we had OfficeDrop that came out as the overall best name for us.

You can see that this process was fairly straightforward and yielded good results for very little money.

Here is a summary of symptoms for a name change and some resource ideas if you’re contemplating a name change.

Symptoms of a Pending Name Change

• People misspell your company name.
• Customers are confused about what you do.
• It’s holding you back from reaching new customers.
• Marketing your company is expensive because what you provide isn’t intuitive.
• People think you provide one thing and you actually do something completely different.

Tips and Resources For Name Changers

• Brainstorming: The OfficeDrop team simply got together and used sticky notes and index cards to come up with their 90 names.  You can try some of these brainstorming sites and articles to kick start your session.
• Survey Tools:  The OfficeDrop folks developed their internal survey on Google Docs.  Then they used Constant Contact’s survey tool for their large survey blast.  QuestionPro has forced ranking questions that makes tabulating this information easier.

Tell Us What You Think

• So, tell us what you thought that Pixily did and what you think of the new name- Office Drop.
• Has your organization gone through a name change?  What tips and resources can you offer and share?

Related articles :

• The #1 Mistake We See in Customer Feedback (questionpro.com)
• Body Language – Looking (slideshare.net)
• What We Do (slideshare.net)
• Closing the Sale and Eye Contact (thecustomercollective.com)
• Barriers To Communication (slideshare.net)

They use a variety of ways to collect this information — mostly by having feet on the ground all over the world who self report.  But this is the first time I’ve seen this kind of information collection and I’m going to show you a series of them over the next week so that you can not only see these powerful presentations – but get some ideas about how you can use this methodology for yourself.

The key in each of these video presentations in the series is the question they ask – and their collection methodology.  With a few basic clicks of a video editor – they’ve pulled together a powerful case for trends and brands.

Would Customers Say These Things About YOUR Brand?

In this video’s consumers are asked the simple question of “What phone do you use?”  For several minutes peole for all over the world respond.

• What pattern do you see in phones?
• What phone brands are conspicuously absent from the video and the responses?
• If you were to create one of these for your own brand – what question would you ask?  What would you expect to hear or see?

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Related articles:

• Resolutions for 2010: Trendwatchingcom’s Trends 2010 (fredzimny.wordpress.com)
• Top Internet Trends 2010: A Guide To The Best Predictions From The Web – Part 2 (masternewmedia.org)
• “Positioning: How To Test, Validate, And Bring Your Idea To Market” Is a Smart Book (smallbiztrends.com)
• back to basics on the phone front (almostalwaysthinking.com)
• Special Report: The YouDesign Movement (nytimes.com)
• Trending “Functionall” (mpdailyfix.com)

The nature of economic value follows a natural progression from commodities to goods to services and then to experiences.  Each step along the way adds value.  Think of coffee.  The coffee bean is a commodity to be sure.  It is widely traded on the futures market and is a classic example of economic elasticity.  When it is roasted and packaged it now becomes a good that is distributed throughout various retail channels.  When it is brewed it now becomes a service that is available at cafe’s, restaurants, etc.  When it is served in a high-end restaurant or espresso bar, where the ordering, creation, and consumption of the cup embodies a sense of ambiance or sense of theater, it now becomes a distinctive experience.  It is interesting to note that the price one is willing to pay increases as the good or service moves along this evolutionary path.

1. Engage consumers in a personal way.  How?  Well, it’s always best to ask.  Asking customers what they want sounds almost too easy but it’s surprising how many businesses forget about this critical step.
2. Watch customers.  Observe your customers and note their frustrations as well as their enjoyment.  Are there any unmet needs you notice? Anything you could do to enhance the experience?
3. Think about the difference between opening a Dell computer (not too exciting) and opening a new Apple computer (exciting).  Think about the coffee shop that double seals your bag of freshly ground coffee because they knew you were traveling and didn’t want the coffee to get stale.
4. From a technical services point of view, think of how you can make a typical service call an experience or think of something that the client always asks for and then just add that into your routine.
5. Does your client often stop at a specific coffee shop before a meeting?  Next time, have the coffee shop mention that their drink is free – compliments of you.  They will remember this gesture – for a very long time.

There are many types of experiences that can engage an individual and the challenge of the business is to create experiences compelling enough to make a lasting impression.  When you do this, you create loyalty and loyal customers are one of your best forms of sustainable competitive advantage.  They are priceless.

So the next time you hear about something being a commodity – think about how you can make it invaluable by creating an experience around it.  It’s value will increase greatly and you win by creating loyal customers.

About the Author: Shane Ketterman is an IT Professional and MBA grad.  He owns Gorilla-Force.com and is a Certified Professional Coach focusing on the IT industry.  He is passionate about social media, marketing, and seeing others succeed.  His website is http://www.fiveforcesgroup.com

This month, we’ll delve more deeply into how to write persuasive text that helps to convert prospects into buyers. We’ll focus on the differences between writing about features of your products and/or services and the benefits of those products and/or services – and demonstrate how compelling benefit statements draw in prospects.

Features of Products and Services

Product example: Let’s say that you’re selling access to a web app that allows companies to get quick snapshots of their current cash flow positions.

The features of your product might include tools that allow for fast easy entry of data and for the creation of reports that organize your information in helpful ways.

Service example: Maybe you own a professional organizer business. An important feature of your service package may include a follow up consultation with your clients to reinforce new organizational habits in them.

What’s next?

Take a step back to think about why someone might be interested in your product (cash flow web app) or service (professional organization).

• If your company markets the web app, prospects might like the fact that getting a cash flow report is now faster and easier.
• If you’re the professional organizer, your prospects might feel that they’ll get more work done and manage their time more efficiently if they can master organizational strategies.

Benefits of Products and Services

Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter: how purchasing your product or service can benefit your prospects!

Product example: When someone purchases access to your cash flow web app, he or she will definitely save time; but he or she will also have nearly immediate access to valuable data about the business’s cash position. This means that your prospects will be able to use the time saved – and the incredible information gathered – to make quality decisions that can help grow their businesses.

Which headline would get your attention more?

Features with minor benefit: With the ABC cash flow web app’s new and improved tools, you can finish your reports more quickly!

or:

Benefits focused: With the ABC cash flow web app, you’ll have vital information right at your fingertips, allowing you to make the best decisions for the growth of your business.

Service example: Let’s now look at the professional organization consultation. With your seminar feature, your prospects can discover organizational techniques, which will certainly make for a neater office – but, more importantly, these techniques can free up time, which could be used to pursue personal and business goals and dreams.

Again, which headline would grab your attention?

Features: Learn organization techniques with Sandra’s seminars – and receive a follow-up consultation!

or:

Benefits: Free up your time to pursue the dreams of a lifetime with Sandra’s organization services and her personalized one-on-one consultations.

Something to Think About

Take a look at your own website. Are you sharing the features of your products and/or services – or the ways in which prospects can truly benefit from choosing your company? If you’re spending too much time on the features, how can you edit the text to bring the incredible benefits of your products and/or services to the forefront?

Next month, we’ll share part 3 of our successful copywriting series – giving you more information to help attract targeted traffic (sales leads!) to your website.

This month’s opportunities:

Knowledge is power – this month, you’ll be filling any gaps in your understanding of SEO copywriting.

1. Read through the Search Marketing Terms Glossary
2. A few quick reads about blogging:
   1. Discover how to create an editorial calendar for your site’s blog.
   2. See how corporate blogs really do influence buying decisions.
3. Read about how to create effective landing page copy on your site.
4. Discover what questions your prospects are asking – and then answer them on your site.
5. Bonus: read back issues of the newsletter here: http://www.thesearchguru.com/email-archive.asp to learn more.
6. Burning question or comment? Email me at Results@TheSearchGuru.com.

About the Author: Leslie Carruthers is President of The Search Guru, a best practices full services Search Marketing firm creating breakthrough results for their clients since 2004. Leslie can be reached at 440-306-2418 orResults@TheSearchGuru.com.

About the Webinar: Ryma’s April 7th webinar will be presented at noon ET by Esther Rmah and Kathryn Korostoff. Regardless of whether your planning your first market research questionnaire or your 10,000th, this webinar is for you if you ever see yourself considering a customer survey again.

The 10 steps for a stress-free customer survey process will contain bits of information that is a result of decades of practice. Esther and Kathryn will be discussing a simple process to write a successful survey, and basic tips when using an online survey tool to ensure data reliability.

About the Presenters: Kathryn Korostoff is a market research professional with a special interest in how organizations acquire, manage, and apply market research. Over the past 20 years, she has personally directed more than 600 primary market research projects and published over 100 bylined articles in trade magazines. Currently, Kathryn spends her time assisting companies as they create market research departments, develop market research strategies, or otherwise optimize their use of market research. Prior to Research Rockstar, Kathryn completed the transition of Sage Research–an agency that she founded and led for 13 years– to its new parent company.

She is the author of “How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies“,

Esther LaVielle is currently an Account Manager at QuestionPro and Survey Analytics, which was started in 2002 in Seattle and is now one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. Prior to her adventure at QuestionPro she spent 3 years as a Qualitative Project Manager at the Gilmore Research Group.