Content testing

[Dcrux]

A List Apart ran an article Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason). Quite a few web designers consider site purpose as a basic requirement. As conventional wisdom has it, the user is supposed to get some idea of the site purpose in 5-seconds.

5-Second Tests: Measuring Your Site's Content Pages decided to ask users just that. Setting up a content test like those for usability, the design team received comparable information...

When prompted, users told us they knew they could donate money to the Red Cross. What they didn't learn was that they could also donate stock, clothes, and airline miles. Even though this information was readily available on the content page, no user realized there were other options. We learned the content page was not doing its job communicating all of the relevant information. To succeed, the team needed to highlight the different vehicles for donation better.

Despite this article, only one group is good at regularly testing content: Copywriters. Using A/B split run testing, copywriters test headlines, offer, pricing and other factors rigorously. In contrast, many content creators go by gut feel or asking for casual opinions from people the article isn't meant for.

With the advent of perl and php, content creators can do a lot better. Like the test above, code is not necessary. What is required is a new appreciation for content as communication.

Content doesn't just take up space in the layout. The better content is for someone. In design, creating a persona comes in handy. What better way for content creators to bring focus to their work?

You may find, for example, "site users" are pretty much content with whatever to put before them. For a site selling refridgerated store shelving, personas with real human wants might need energy consumption figures -- something the company handn't thought of.

Personas aren't, as Jeffrey Veen puts it, "the designer's imaginary friends." Peronas are only useful to the degree they put design assumptions to the test. You may find pictures of people using the product convert readers to customers better than product pictures alone.

Content is not going to improve unless it is tested. Until then, content will simply be that thing which fills the content hole in a layout -- rather than the reason for the layout.

Never Get Involved in a Land War in Asia (or Build a Website for No Reason)

5-Second Tests: Measuring Your Site's Content Pages

Creating Personas and Writing For Personas