I read this post at PinPoint Performance about usability issues that happen when good software goes buggy, and chuckled. Workarounds bad? Bugs bad? No kidding, Sherlock.

Releasing bug free software?

Uh, yeah, sure.

But I like to live in the real world too.

Today, we’re living in a “beta is acceptable” world. Requirements change. Wireframes aren’t updated. Changes aren’t communicated. Emails aren’t sent. Bugs are issued.

As much as I want to release products that are bug free, user friendly, and have every feature in the world working exactly as planned, I also like working realistic hours and shipping product on a timeline short of developing the space shuttle.

The point: most web applications aren’t life and death situations.

For this, there is an acceptable tolerance level. Users are willing to put up with a little discomfort if it means a fairly stable, better product; managing a realistic process means the difference between a good application with a few warts, and one that is completely broken with users that are leaving in droves.

As long as it doesn’t format their hard drive, they should be okay will a few application crashes.

Here’s a few things I’ve done to help mitigate issues in design and development:

• Do hallway usability testing early on. Get some of your wireframes, show them to people, and ask them, “What do you expect this to do?” instead of telling them.
• Site down with the developers and ask them to show you the system. It takes 30 minutes, and it means the world, because then you can clarify what you really meant with the spirit of the wireframes, and not the letter.
• Do usability testing late in the process. Two weeks before you release, grab more people, walk them through several scenarios, and test for pass/fail. Figure out what can be fixed before the release with minor application changes or added help text, figure out what’s broken beyond fubar so you pull those features, and figure out what to have customer support tell the end users. If there’s a message there, the users will love you for it.
• Schedule a second release after the first one. That’s why it’s called soft launch. For a second round of bug fixing, your users will appeciate going through a preview. If you do a search of all the marketing pushes occuring on hard release dates, it would be a good bet most of them failed because the applications failed to live up to expectations.
• Talk to your users. Say you’re sorry. Say you’ll make it better. Listen and learn.

One of the things I find entertaining in the land of web design where houses can be of any size, there’s this constant need to redesign, redesign, and redesign again (read the always popular “If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers” for a perspective). I tell clients that a lot of small changes have a more positive impact on usability than a single massive redesign that can take months, because users are used to it and have learned how to use the current system within its constraints.

The reason there’s usually a redesign is the CEO usually comes down from the hallowed halls, and says, “we have to make it grey instead of yellow!” And grey it is (read: cnet.com).

Facebook is launching their new design this week to upteen million users (100 million or so, not counting my friend’s cat), and there’s going to be an uproar, and some grumbling, and then people will get used to the new site and stop complaining. Last time I checked, no one is actually paying for Facebook, so they can’t ask for their money back.

Looking at the numbers as reported by Mashable, it looks like adoption is not too bad — I’d be worried if there was a massive change back to the old platform, and that’s just not happening. In fact, I’d even go so far to suggest that Mashable might be spinning it a bit their way in a negative light because they don’t like the redesign. The petitions are at about 800,000 users, which means that there are probably about eight million very unhappy users, but that’s what, five percent of the audience?

Every site redesign I’ve participated in, I’ve seen the same trend. Sites almost never lose users because of a redesign, but it does slow site growth because when you do a redesign, there’s always a lot of bug fixing. MySpace has been going through a rolling redesign of their site, and other than some grumbling I heard from the teenset, there’s no petition there. In fact, that and the adoption of the platform has been very, very positive.

Or maybe the users there just don’t care.

I actually like the new site and some of the features (like uploading a profile photo) require tribal knowledge of driving through Boston’s streets to find the right screen, but overall I think it’s a move in a positive direction, especially since many of the newest features are occupying a space that both LinkedIn and eVite missed.

Facebook is becoming the defacto networking platform for professional groups. You can personalize your page quite a bit more, but still keep the Facebook look. And seriously, running two designs like they’ve been doing is a serious pain in the ass; last time I checked, one of the advantages of the web was one code base, yo.

Facebook has grown immensely over the years, and the application platform has created whole new opportunities for developers to abuse it, so gaining a bit more flexibility with the new design I think is a good thing.

Just try it, you’ll like it.

One of the joys of the Interwebs is that we can measure everything, from page views to visitors to purchases. It’s not as exact as some of the “experts” say it is (what really is a visitor, anyways, and are cookies really that reliable?), measuring the impact of social media and consequently attaching dollars to it has been a tricky proposition.

How do you measure the impact of a blinking, ugly MySpace page with 38 ads, 23,143 friends, and photos of themselves using a cell phone and a mirror? Is advertising effective there?

Webwalker, a blog in Canada (that explains it!) has come up with a first cut metrics list for social media. They linked off to this white paper about social media, which is a great read.

1. Generate awareness.
2. Drive Trial.
3. Product Launch.
4. Establish Need/Want
5. Product/Service Comparison.
6. Positive Association.
7. Form/Change Opinion.
8. Influence the Influencers.
9. Drive Action/Traffic.
10. Establish/Regain Trust.  

It’s a bit rough, I don’t totally agree with some of the classifications, and maybe this be condensed a bit, but it’s a start in the right direction. Comments?

For the special person who doesn’t have enough t-shirts.

The problem of a dip in revenue is not uncommon especially in a slow economy. However, when a company blames  its lackluster performance  on software problems, that’s not something you hear about too often. The company in question is J.Crew.  According to the Wall Street Journal, J.Crew’s income for the quarter was down 12% from the year-ago quarter to $18.1 million due to a “software upgrade.”

Apparently, J.Crew customers have been pulling their hair out with botched orders and returns. Some customers were charged astronomical amounts for shipping; others had to deal with lost orders. Attempts to track order status received no feedback. Sounds like a change of e-commerce system.

So, what’s the cost of User Experience? In this case, about 2.1 million dollars.

If you are a service provider, no matter what, get the phone number somewhere on the site

A friend of mine, Bob Benaderet, runs a small but growing chiropractor business. He doesn’t have a big office (it’s about 700 square feet), but because of his previous experience as a marketing account manager, he understands that the internet is the most cost effective way for him to grow his business.

I helped him out by designing a very simple yet very effective site, and through the use of free tools, we’re seeing about a decent lead acquisition rate, which is excellent for a small business website. The site is designed specifically to reflect that he is a small business that gives a personal touch, but also sophisticated enough so he appears to be respectable and professional.

The amount of time and money spent on the site didn’t break his bank, and for what you can hire a professional writer to work with a designer for, any small business owner would see the return on investment fairly quickly.

The core ideas we recognized:

• Long URL’s are fine as long as you can spell it. BobTheChiropractor doesn’t role off the tounge, but it brands him exactly as he wants to be seen. You can say it over the phone or radio, and know exactly how to spell it, and what the site is.
• No one is using the yellow pages anymorel they are searching on the web. For the cost of a yellow pages advertisement ($150 a month, and you can’t change it all the time), your money would be better spent on internet advertising.
• Target your advertising carefully. Use keywords that are very specific (i.e. Long Beach Chiropractor or Long Beach back pain, which Bob uses).
• Put the contact information prominent, and in multiple places. The main reason users (including myself) are returning to the site is so they can get the address and phone number, more often than calling 411, so they can schedule an appointment.
• It’s a journey, not a destination. Change and tweak the site often, which is the beauty of the web.

Looking at the site, we might increase the visibility of the phone number even more; he may get a uptick of calls, some of them less qualified, but it should pay off.

Ian’s SharePoint blog has a great article about the details of creating a survey (how not to upset your customers) that relates to SharePoint, but is more guidance from a marketing and user experience perspective.

Seth Godin has a fine, fine article on this, but I’m going to go one step further:

Whatever you do to reach your target audience for consulting, it should be something fun, interesting, and have a personal touch. It’s not just about handing out a business card, it’s more about personal branding, making them notice you, and it doesn’t have to be overly expensive, but it should represent what you are trying to get across.

For example, the bright green on this site isn’t particularly attractive — a few people have brought up the point that they hate it — but people remember it, just like they remember the Google home page, or the eBay logo. Sometimes, branding is about generating conversation. Just today, I received the cards for the site, and they are also bright green, matching in the most obnoxious way. They might not like my card, but they’ll remember my card.

Truly creative and innovative creative directors don’t just send a resume, they send a package of who they are, and what they can do for a company. Anyone can send a resume, right? I’ve heard to people sending reels that were hilarious. They may have missed the point, but they get noticed.

What are you doing to brand yourself?

BizTechTalk is covering this. It’s getting better — really.