In this section you will find a collection of articles all about us and what we've been doing lately, including a selection of clippings from the local press. We always like to keep our customers informed about what we're up to.
Our Research News & Views
Thomson – Our Eye Tracking Review
September 5th, 2011
Our team conducted an eye tracking review of the Thomson website for the September edition of Internet Retailing Magazine. The full article can be read here: Thomson Website Eye Tracking Article.
We invited users to participate in booking a holiday on the Thomson website. They were asked to have a destination and booking party in mind and add on any specific requirements they would need. Eye tracking technology was used to observe how the users would navigate through the site during the holiday booking process.
Once on the Thomson homepage one user was immediately attracted by the ‘Late deals’ option. This took them to a landing page showing over 33,000 holiday deals which the user found overwhelming. The results were already arranged in lowest price order but this was not obvious to the user. Clicking on the column heading rearranged the date order of the results, but again we saw the user looking around the page because she had failed to realise that anything hand changed due to the listings looking so similar. Read the rest of this entry »
Mr Porter – Our Eye Tracking Review
July 4th, 2011
Our team conducted an eye tracking review of the Mr Porter website for the July edition of Internet Retailing Magazine. The full article can be read here: Mr Porter Website Eye Tracking Article.
We invited users to participate in sessions to explore the Mr Porter website. Users were either asked to purchase a replacement item of clothing or to buy a gift for someone. By using eye tracking, we were able to observe users’ natural behaviour as they interacted with the website.
Upon entering the website, users were drawn to the large promotion image that took up three quarters of the screen. However, due to the home page offering editorials over products, the users immediately resorted to using the main navigation to either select the department they were after, or the ‘What’s new’ if they were just browsing.
Users responded favourably to the layout of the products when browsing. After accessing a department landing page, they were drawn to the large images and were content to scroll down a long list of results. Read the rest of this entry »
Neuroscience and the Online Purchase
May 31st, 2011
In an article from Internet Retailing Magazine, SimpleUsability explains why it pays to get emotional about your online brand.
When we talk about emotional engagement, we don’t mean ordering an ‘I heart [insert your brand logo here]‘ t-shirt and giving the CEO a bear hug, we’re referring to the scientific study of emotions and how they have the starring role in the purchase decisions made by your customers.
Have you ever asked yourself how your users feel while they are using your product or your website?
It makes intuitive sense that if your users have a positive emotional experience on your site they’re more likely to convert from browsers into buyers. Do you know exactly what on you site is converting using emotional equity, and what is failing?
We are irrational beings, and nowhere more so than when we are online and (believe it or not) when we are parting with cash. In fact neuroscientists argue that emotions drive between 90-99% of all decisions we ever make.We have evolved a highly sophisticated subconscious brain that effortlessly deals with the millions of inputs we perceive every second before delivering it to the attention of our conscious brains, via ‘gut’ emotions.Yet the most widely used methods in usability testing often involve asking a user’s conscious brain why it did something. The truth is it simply doesn’t know. Read the rest of this entry »
Waitrose – Our Eye Tracking Review
May 23rd, 2011
Our team conducted an eye tracking review of Waitrose for the May edition of Internet Retailing Magazine. The full article can be read here: Waitrose Website Eye Tracking Article.
We invited users to participate in sessions to explore the new Waitrose.com website. These were people who shopped online and had different levels of experience regarding using grocery websites. By using eye tracking technology we were able to observe users shopping naturally for basic items that they would regularly need.
Users struggled to find the most basic of items. The simplified initial drop down menu for ‘Groceries’ was limited.In order to find bread, users had to learn to click on ‘Cupboard’>’Food’>’Bakery’ and then choose an additional category such as ‘Sliced bread’.
This was felt to be a long route to individual items. It was not obvious how these sections were ordered within the navigation area displayed at the top of the page,with some users commenting that they expected to see the most common sections first. Read the rest of this entry »
B&Q diy.com – Our Eye Tracking Review
March 2nd, 2011
Our team conducted an eye tracking review of DIY.com for the March edition of Internet Retailing Magazine. The full article can be read here: B&Q Website Eye Tracking Article.
Participants were taken to the B&Q home page and asked to find products that they could buy from B&Q that would reduce heating bills. Most users scanned over the various menus at the top of the page and then hovered over the black buttons and worked their way through the mega-dropdowns. Users were initially frustrated with the complexity of the menus and the way they changed if their mouse clipped a corner when going to click.Participants were unable to predict where a product would be within the menus as the structure seemed random to them.
Where would you expect to find ‘loft insulation’? Later on, some users were further annoyed with the huge mega-dropdown obscuring page content, if they moved their mouse to the top. Read the rest of this entry »
M&S Xmas Multi-channel – Our iPhone Eye Tracking Review
February 19th, 2011
Our team conducted an eye tracking review of M&S multi-channel activity over the 2010 Christmas season for the January edition of Internet Retailing Magazine. The abbreviated article can be read here: M&S Mobile Website Eye Tracking Article
We ran a range of tasks relevant to Christmas, either browsing for a last minute present or choosing an outfit for the festive season. The cross channel experience allows users to be more demanding about the vehicle that they use to shop, and the expectations that they bring with them to that experience. This is a huge challenge for companies when providing functionality across multiple routes, in this case website, mobile website, TV and in store. Read the rest of this entry »
Monitoring Brainwaves to Understand Advertising
February 6th, 2011
With advertising spots costing three million dollars in the famous superbowl commercial breaks, ABC News run a great piece about how EEG in neuromarketing works.
If you look closely, you’ll note that the research participants in this video have to have special sensors glued to their head with many wires connected to a computer. Our brainwave monitor, shown on the right, is wireless, quick to set-up and considerably less invasive. Read the rest of this entry »
AGENCY GUIDE: How to Implement Eye Tracking & Usability
January 31st, 2011
Within our world of behavioural research we see a split regarding where our clients come from; either from companies approaching us directly, or referred by design agencies. Increasingly eye tracking is being sought out by agencies that have a need to add user research and also diversify their product services to clients. Companies are looking to create the best experience for the end user within their sector, and for this to happen a user centred design approach needs to be adopted with user research supporting the process.
Benefits of eye tracking to agencies
The benefit of eye tracking is that it enables a type of research where you can access the reasons why people do what they do. It allows research to take place that is very natural and not stressful to the person taking part. This means more truthful findings that can be trusted by the team. Read the rest of this entry »
Post Conversion : Conversion Rate Optimisation
January 16th, 2011
It’s not over until the fat lady sings.
So, you’ve done it, you’ve gotten your visitor right the way through your site, along your carefully crafted conversion funnel and they’ve taken the bait. Congratulations! You can relax now, can’t you? Well you could but this is a golden opportunity to squeeze even more value out of the transaction by highlighting your other products and services.
People are very often open to suggestion at this point in the conversion stream. Why? Well they’ve made it through a process, they had to follow various commands and tasks set out in front of them to achieve a goal, and they’ve succeeded. There is always something of a subtle sigh of relief when you’ve achieved something, a contented space where you are open to new opportunities. Read the rest of this entry »
