

User testing at startups - brettcvz
http://blog.filepicker.io/post/41797894722/user-testing-at-startups

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csmeder
I recommended not calling "Usability Testing" "User Testing". You wouldn't
call "wine tasting" "Human tasting".

In particular you don't want to put the participant in a situation where they
feel worried they are being tested on their ability or intelligence. You want
them to know you are studying or testing the workflow and usability of the
app.

TLDR; The terms "Usability Testing" or "Usability Study" tend to get better
results than the term "User Testing".

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ananddass
Fair point Chris. User testing has been changed to usability testing
throughout the article. Referenced your comment on HN

Unfortunately, I couldn’t change the title as it would break the url which has
been reblogged and distributed.

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nwzpaperman
Every site has an adoption curve for the UX unless it is copying something
else. Build something as intuitive as possible that serves a big enough market
and you will be a success.

I doubt most "users" or customers will know how to build a better mousetrap
than the builder.

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nwzpaperman
Everything takes time, too.

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ananddass
That is precisely the issue-where are our resources best spent?

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nwzpaperman
I think a lot of times people go into a launch with hopes that are really
expectations. If expectations are too high it's natural to be disappointed
when growth is a trickle. You want to compound users like you would an
investment account.

I would service the piss out of every early user whether they explicitly ask
for help or not. If you have something to serve those early people and they
are happy they will tell others over time and will become the initial customer
support contact for the referrals. Support demand won't necessarily be linear
growth with user growth.

My preference is to bootstrap the core technology development as long as you
can because you learn what you actually need as you go. Not what you think you
need. Being very high hands-on with all early users will teach you how to
build a passive customer service system or how to iterate your technology to
fix common bottlenecks.

Once the core technology is in place and you've discovered a marketing niche
that you can exploit at-scale, then, you consider taking money and investing
it in user acquisition.

At the end of the day, it's all a speculation and you need to win some bets
because you will lose plenty along the way. ;)

