January 23, 2009

Who needs a full redesign? Winning with usability testing and progressive improvement.

Here are three interesting case studies on how companies are making small, progressive improvements in their site based upon usability testing.

• Hidden Secrets of the Amazon Shopping Cart.
  How much do you know about Amazon.com’s “Buy it now” button? Less than you think. This case study analyzes the primary call to action on the site–and how it has evolved over time. Amazon is a huge proponent of continuous improvement, constantly fiddling with and optimizing their site for maximum payoff.
• The $300 Million Dollar button.
  Redesigns don’t need to be expensive or huge. Sometimes, its the simple changes that pay dividends. Jared Spool recounts how tweaking the interaction logic on an online shopping cart resulted in $300 Million in additional revenues. The question, of course, is which button you change–and here, user testing provided that insight.
• The Freedom of Fast Iterations: How Netflix Designs a Winning Web site.
  How do you know if users will like a feature? Put it in front of them and test it. For changes, Netflix tries to balance internal speculation with statistical evidence of what works. Failing fast, learning and responding is key to their success.