The value of usability testing is to gain a better understanding of how your product works beyond the view of the in house design and development team. Let’s compare the value of testing to the practical application of farming; Farmer A. grows the freshest, steroid free, organically grown produce in all of Indiana, Farmer B. growths for the masses, growing with the latest nutrients and vitamins available on the market, in turn growing bigger, brighter colored, less than perfect flavor produce. I have a store that draws people from all walks of life, sharing in one commonality which is good produce, and value in a neighborhood location. That being said, in a 50% split, my customers want organic foods and the other half doesn’t care, they just want a good deal. So, the survey tells me I need to stock the shelves from both Farmer A. and Farmer B. of which, Farmer B is beginning to sell organic foods as well, which he is offering to give deep discounts on the general foods, while increasing price associated with costs of growing produce in an organic fashion. However, the case, Farmer A. and B. realize the natural shift would be to produce the others produce as well as capitalizing on there niche markets.
Moving forward, how does this compare to usability testing? As a owner/supplier I would want to know how to capitalize on my markets, which in my mind I would want to test out produce, see what sells. Which is exactly what usability testing does for market owners. Usability testing is a practice developed out of software development and web development, which has been implored throughout the world or product design and product research. Again, if I’m a shop owner, in order to reduce overhead costs and capitalize on my supply chain, the value of testing markets is worth it’s weight in gold. To sum up the purpose of this message is this; testing will allow companies and product designers/developers to understand there buyers, what works, where should products be placed, how are products sold, and where they should be place throughout the store (store or esolution, the value is how the information and goods are displayed, take color for an example, a red, ripe apple next to a brownish-red apple may not sell…)
