TESTING & CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

NOTE: This the seventh segment of a 9-part series on how to create a successful small business website. If you’re planning to create a new small business website or enhance an existing website, this series will help you improve your chances for success. Step 7 involves testing your final product.

Testing is an important phase for technology projects. The testing phase ensures that everything is working “as expected” and as identified in your project requirements. The technical team responsible for developing (coding) your website will test their code and interfaces for glitches and other issues. However, you should also perform some testing of your own. Be sure to carve out enough time to review the work completely. Revisit your requirements document to ensure that all requirements were met.

Since the visitor experience is the most important, you should also enlist a small group of people to review the site. Ideally you would include a few current & past customers. During Step 1 (Do Your Homework), it was recommended that you “survey your current and past customers regarding the features that they feel are most important to include on your future website or similar websites in your industry”. If you performed this step, you should enlist the same group to review the final product. Be sure to provide your test group with a brief document describing the site, as well as descriptions of any features and enhancements. This will give them some perspective regarding your intended final product. You will want to ask questions regarding:

1. Their overall experience using the site (layout, look & feel, functionality).
2. If they experienced any technical issues or glitches while accessing the site.
3. Their feedback on each new feature/enhancement.
4. Their recommendations for future enhancements.
5. If they feel that the new site or new site enhancement is an improvement and if it increases their ability to do business with you.

Compile your feedback and the feedback of your test group and submit it to your website team/developer. For this phase of your project, you will want your technical team to focus on feedback received on user experience (question #1) and technical glitches experienced while testing (question #2). Issues related to questions #4 – 5 are for your records. You should use this information to plan the next phase of your project. If your test group requests future enhancements, don’t make the mistake in trying to implement the enhancements at this time unless you’re willing to utilize additional resources and time to implement the new features. If you decide that new features identified during your testing phase are important and should be implemented before you “go live”, meet with your website team to develop a new budget and timeline for implementing the new items (See Preventing Website Project Headaches & Frustrations).

ANNOUNCEMENT: Subscribers will receive a FREE eBook containing extended versions of Steps 1 – 9, as well as accompanying worksheets for managing your project. If you would like to receive the FREE ebook, join/fan the Websmith Group Facebook Page or subscribe to our eNewsletter.

One Response to “Creating a Successful Small Business Website (Part 7 of 9)”

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5. Matthew C. Kriner says:

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