Most of our website usability testing continues through the last step of the shopping cart but we usually don’t actually buy the item. However in our last test, I decided to get my wife a present and had the item shipped to my office so I could surprise her.

I was pleasantly surprised when the present arrived the next day as I only requested regular delivery. However, when I opened the box my marketing instincts told me something was wrong. There was no promotional materials in the box—no catalog, no up selling, or cross selling.

Another lesson learned—usability testing should include actually ordering and receiving the item. I passed on the information to the company owner and of course she said, “You’re right—we will start including appropriate materials right away”. My wife, by the way, was very happy to get a new outfit.

Do you think I can write the expense off my taxes under usability testing?

Tags: Internet Marketing

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Usability Testing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.