a single source, nothing corroborates it

Watch a stranger try to use your site

What blocks conversion is never what the team assumes, and after more than fifty of these sessions the guess has not once been right. Recruit people who match the target profile but have never seen the site, since existing customers only tell you about the visitors who already got through. Walk your own funnel in character first, as an impatient newcomer, logging every question.

The method

1. 01

   Get people who match your target profile onto a 30-minute call, put the site in front of them and let them speak freely, because what blocks conversion is never what the team assumes.

2. 02

   Do not fund a redesign or a documentation rewrite to fix conversion before you have heard the actual objections from a few target-profile visitors.

3. 03

   Interview people who have never seen your site, not just your signed-up users, because feedback from customers only tells you about the visitors who already made it through signup.

4. 04

   Walk your own funnel in character as a clueless, impatient first-time visitor with a text editor open, logging every question and moment of confusion, and try the tasks you want visitors to complete.

What it returned

• 50

  After more than 50 such calls he has never seen the team guess right; two calls for one client surfaced two or three specific, easily fixed barriers to signup, none of which was the site's design, documentation search or lack of live chat that the team would have named.

• He says the better version of this exercise is handing it to someone unfamiliar with the site, as with proofreading.

Sources

• A Reminder to Talk to Your AudienceGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · 2016-02-25
• How to Find Quick Wins in A/B TestingGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · How to Find the Quick Wins · 2014-12-08
• Usability Testing is Easier Than You ThinkGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · The Challenge: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Survivorship Bias · 2014-05-07