Digital Research

A great user experience is the single best predictor of repeat website or application usage. To ensure you deliver you need to understand who your various target users are, the models underlying their online decision-making and goals, and why and how they use (or don’t use) your digital assets.

For a fraction of the cost of an offline lab usability test, we offer a unique combination of qual research and usability testing (e-thnography) which enables your whole web team to remotely observe the natural behaviour of users at home, and capture / explore their authentic experience of your website, application, or online media.

CASE STUDY: E-thnographic remote usability testing

Business Objective: A major car manufacturer wished to test the usability of a new search function for 2nd hand cars they’d added to their website. They required results within 2 weeks.

Our Solution: was 6 one-to-one sessions with used drivers of the manufacturer’s cars who’d found their car on the internet. We used our unique proprietary tool, E-thnographer, which enables observation, recording, and interviewing of people as they surf at home.

The online environment facilitated open discussion of a sensitive subject; the output was deemed more trustworthy than anything generated by parallel face-to-face studies.  

Each participant was asked to repeat the process of buying their current car using the website and was left uninterrupted to complete the task whilst our e-thnographers and the client team watched from remote locations. Events of interest were marked and discussed with the participant following the task whilst it was still fresh in their mind, with reference to an online recording of their journey.

The client insight team received headlines of each session with an overview of the models, goals, and behaviours of the participant and specific recommendations on usability issues highlighted by their journey.