If something as innocent as baker’s doughy product has the potential for confusion, misinterpretation, class associations and heated argument (yes disputes are rife – raise the issue with your colleagues and wait for the fallback) then imagine the potential for chaos and bewilderment when communicating more complex propositions across national and international markets…. …this is where good customer research with a reach beyond the confines of London can help

Bunnyfoot has been performing customer research and customer usability testing for the last 10 years. We noticed very early on that there were distinct UK regional differences (over and above other demographic influencers) in people’s responses to the same website – and these differences have profound consequences on the websites’ ability to communicate, persuade and convert. Knowing and acting upon the geographical differences (cultural, social, language, attitudinal etc.) dramatically increases the effectiveness of the end result. This is one of the reasons why we set up 5 offices with usability labs running the length of the UK and why we encourage our clients to look beyond the myopia of London when researching with their customers (it works better if you do – simple as that).

But you don’t have to be locked to physical labs, getting out there in the field and observing what real people do in their own environments is a valuable thing to be doing that can reveal key insights. One problem with this is that it can be expensive. One way of getting there without so much cost is to perform ‘remote usability testing’. This typically relies on screen-sharing over the internet, and with recent advances in broadband penetration it is now possible to run usability tests and observe people in their own homes or places of work (with consent!!) from practically anywhere.

Beyond the UK

When your product or service reaches beyond national boundaries then geographical and cultural differences become even more pronounced. HSBC clearly know this and you will know doubt have seen some of their adverts revealing the different cultural, geographical and socio-economic meanings associated with things like colour, gestures, symbols and language.

It goes beyond this too – we have recently been working extensively across Europe, the Middle East and Asia (and a little bit in Africa) we have uncovered challenges associated with extending online communications across these regions. This includes:

• the need for flexible or even completely different interfaces to cope with different languages (e.g. German = long words and phrases, Arabic and Chinese = right to left)
• the fact that in some regions the preferred or only way people engage online is via mobile (Africa and Japan in particular)
• display advertising and contextual advertising is far more effective than search engine marketing in some regions (e.g. Middle East) because of not just language differences but also cultural differences
• ‘western style’ minimalist aesthetic design doesn’t work well in China – and again this is cultural and not just because of the character sets used

We, as an agency, need to take our own advice on board to adopt local knowledge to get the best results. Bunnyfoot employs consultants from across cultures and have recently opened an office in Hong Kong to get closer to international differences. When we test abroad we use a network of quality agencies, it just brings that edge of local knowledge that makes the testing run much smoother.

Tom aged two and a half plays teletubbies - video from 2004 - see if you can see his choices before he makes them - simple demonstration of the power of eye tracking.

This is my son 5 years ago - and my favourite demo ever of eyetracking - I use it all the time and must have show it hundreds of times now - time to release it to the wider world to view. Read the rest of this entry »

We developed ‘mass user testing’ in response to the real world needs of commercial clients and to combat the deficiencies inherent in the most widely used traditional usability testing methods (we have actually been doing this for about 4 years but formalised it last year).

The key to mass user testing is using large numbers of people rapidly and cost effectively – this is achieved through recruiting people ‘off street’ with the lure of some cash (or other incentive - we are quite creative in this regard) for about 15 minutes of their time. Read the rest of this entry »

The BBC news item below shows a report on the UK’s first Internet enabled car - produced and invented by Bunnyfoot in 1999. The car was intended as a demonstration of the essential importance of usability and accessibility … our message got somehow lost in translation in the newspapers and TV shows that ran the story, but it taught us a lot about different communication methods and to always look to the future.

Since then (is it really 10 years ago?) we have produced hundreds of video demonstrations showing usability testing, eyetracking and accessibility in action, our customer experience presentations at seminars and conferences etc, and many will be appearing here in the next few months - but this BBC one was one of our first … and is still a firm favourite.

What is perhaps surprising is that this type of technology and other ‘alternative interfaces’ haven’t really come on that far in the last 10 years- it seemed then (in 1999) that things like sophisticated voice interfaces for all sorts of devices and uses were bubbling just under the surface. In 2009 though you are likely to be annoyed at best, but most probably bemused, by the majority of telephone interfaces (has anyone tried Egg’s?), never mind anything more ambitious. It seems like it should be simple but this type of interface requires just as much research and careful design (perhaps more) than seemingly more complex visual interfaces. I’ll return to discuss this in more detail in a future post.

The point of the Bunnymobile video?

It was meant to demonstrate that usability and accessibility are vital for the interfaces of the future:

• the car used software that blind people use to translate web sites into voice = accessibility
• and needed to be simple enough so distraction didn’t cause you to crash (amongst other things) = usability

It seems we were right, and they still are important … lots more challenging and interesting work to do though.

After many years of fudging responses to the common question “when are the new global accessibility guidelines coming out?” - I can finally give the the answer - it is today (11th December 2008) see http://www.w3.org/2008/12/wcag20-pressrelease.html and http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php for more info.

The new standard is called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (or WCAG 2.0), it replaces WCAG 1.0 - the previously recognised global standard which had been in place since 1997 (that’s eons in ‘Internet time’)

What does the new accessibility standard mean for you?

Read the rest of this entry »

I am often asked how the eyetrackers work (second only to why the name Bunnyfoot?) - so here it is - in essence it is really simple - a digital camera videos your pupils (the holes that let light into your eye) and a computer works out where you are looking based on the video images.

Well there is a little bit more to it than that (not much though):

The infrared diodes shine light on the person in front of the eyetracker (it’s 14 times less strong than that emitted from a TV remote - so doesn’t burn their eyes out).

Read the rest of this entry »

How do you measure the effectiveness of your in-game ad investment?
Do you need to know accurate performance and brand engagement metrics?

It is not just about brand awareness or brand recall anymore, the new era of digital innovation provides us with an array of rich media to communicate with the increasingly cynical consumer. Games offer a huge untapped market with a broader profile than typically assumed. 59% of the UK population (26.5million) are gamers and 45% of those are women! Playing games is not just a nerdy boy thing anymore. Read the rest of this entry »

You may be asked what accessibility level your site conforms to, or you may have to specify the level you want in tender documents*. This article provides an easy way to think about the accessibility levels of the most internationally recognised accessibility standard - it will more than likely be the one you will use too (or if not your standard will probably be derived from it).

* Tip: you should go for a minimum of double-A compliance, find out what this means below Read the rest of this entry »

Article written by former Bunnyfoot Director Stewart Pleace
- appeared in New Media Age November 2006.

There are a whole host of agencies out there who now seem to offer an all-encompassing package of services, from graphic design through to customer research, usability and accessibility. It’s quite a challenge to sift through them all and get a proper understanding of what they offer, and whether or not the fact that they offer an all-in-one package is of benefit to the business. Read the rest of this entry »