Customer Spotlight: Woolik.com and DIY User Testing

Woolik.com develops cool tools for browsers that personalize and improve the user experience. The first tool available helps saves time while searching by providing logos of familiar sites and brands within the Google search results. Ido Sever — Woolik’s co-founder, CEO and product manager — has been incorporating TryMyUI as part of Woolik’s R&D cycle. Woolik just released a beta version of its Web 2.0 site, so we asked Ido to share some tips and insights from that pre-launch experience.

Remote usability testing versus moderated user testing

“We had several user tests before using TryMyUI, but organizing them was always a hassle. It was hard to combine user tests within our R&D cycle. TryMyUI enabled me to get relevant user experience tests of designated segments within hours – this was VERY convenient. We had some relatively complicated prerequisites for some of our tests, and the guys at TryMyUI support team were incredibly useful, so we kept coming back.”

Tips on Setting Up User Tests in TryMyUI

“If you want to see how a user thinks, it is always better to ask a question rather than providing an answer. Let’s say you have integrated a feedback system [on your website] and would like to see if users can easily use it. If you request the user to simply provide feedback you might receive many results which won’t help you. On the other hand, if you ask – ‘how would you provide feedback for our site?’ you will probably see the user going through the same thinking process he would go through in a real situation.”

“If possible, start building a new test based on an existing test [you already created] in TryMyUI. This is a great time saver.”

How to Involve R&D Teams in User Testing

“A key challenge is turning a test into real features with the blessing and enthusiasm of the R&D team. Therefore, we usually show 1-2 tests (selected out of 5) every product cycle to our R&D team. We then have a brainstorming session about the things we should change and fix. We usually choose the top 1-2 features and toss them in the R&D coming iteration. This is a great effective way to have your R&D team involved.”