

Ask YC: Feedback on usabilityfeedback.com - nonrecursive
http://www.usabilityfeedback.com
Hi YCers,
I've finished putting together a home page for a service I'm starting at http://www.usabilityfeedback.com , and would really appreciate any feedback on it :) Also, if you're interested in the service, please email me and mention YC and I will take 1/3 off the price.<p>For a couple years now I've been doing usability reviews for people just for fun. Then two and a half weeks ago I was laid off because the startup I was working for is nearly out of funding. I had had the idea for usabilityfeedback.com for awhile and decided to run with it in a way that would be quick to implement, enjoyable, and that could start generating cash immediately.<p>So far the response has been very positive, with other web developers I know recommending it to their clients. I'm really hoping it will do well enough that I'll be able to do it full time and have time left over to improve and add more services. Or at least stay off the streets.<p>Thanks!
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catone
I think you need to put more effort into selling yourself as a usability
expert. I'm not going to pay $450 to have just some guy look at my web site.
But if you can justify to me why you're an expert whose opinion I need to
hear, then you'll have better luck selling to me.

~~~
nonrecursive
One idea I've had for accomplishing this is to do free or reduced-cost reviews
for a few (prominent) sites, then post their testimonials along with their
reviews.

~~~
nickb
And your credentials are? If you expect people to fork over $450 for 20 min of
your time, you better be:

1) an expert in usability and have few papers written on it

2) have many years of actual usability studies and design

3) have designed interfaces yourself and have examples of UIs you've designed.

Just getting testimonials for 'reduced pricing' won't cut it. What you need is
a resume/cv. All these big usability experts sell themselves first and their
work second. You need to sell people on why they should trust you.

This startup is basically just selling of your services. Here's some ideas.
Start by writing whitepapers & studies of other sites. Do them for free. Just
pick any known site and say what you'd do differently. Do this for a lot of
them. Make a blog and do a study every day. Make a wiki with usability
practices. Start recording videos of random users using some site and
criticize them.

In short, work on your credibility since that's what you're selling.

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks for the input. I should point out that it's not 20 minutes of my time.
I spend around 15 minutes recording the video, then go through the site and
reflect on some of the issues I initially encountered, and explore the site in
greater depth (I realize that this isn't mentioned on my site). Then I
organize my thoughts and findings in pages that are meant to be easily
referenceable. After that, I talk to the client for 20 minutes as well.

The fact is, I am not a big usability expert. I have given a couple talks on
the subject and written a few blog articles on the subject (one of which A
List Apart was interested in publishing). I've also done a number of usability
tests for companies that I have worked for. Therefore, my thinking is that a
more feasible approach in the short term is to show that I actually produce
good results. Establishing that I'm an expert is something that will take
time. Thankfully, I enjoy usability and will enjoy establishing expert status.
In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for otherwise convincing people
that they should go with me, I would appreciate it.

It's interesting to me that nobody really cares about the "usefulness
guarantee".

~~~
nsrivast
Maybe you should put it above the fold, or at least before you name your
price.

But hey, I'm no usability expert either.

~~~
nonrecursive
Yeah, the order of elements is something I'll have to play with.

------
nonrecursive
Hi YCers, I've finished putting together a home page for a service I'm
starting at <http://www.usabilityfeedback.com> , and would really appreciate
any feedback on it. (Incidentally, if you're interested in the service, please
email me and mention YC and I will take 33% off the price.)

For a couple years now I've been doing usability reviews for people just for
fun. Then two and a half weeks ago I was laid off because the startup I was
working for is nearly out of funding. I had had the idea for
usabilityfeedback.com for awhile and decided to run with it in a way that
would be quick to implement, enjoyable, and that could start generating cash
immediately.

So far the response has been very positive, with other web developers I know
recommending it to their clients. I'm really hoping it will do well enough
that I'll be able to do it full time and have time left over to improve and
add more services. Or at least stay off the streets.

Thanks!

~~~
mstefff
interesting but people seem to be using great communities like HN for free,
and high quality, advice. and not to mention, coming from more than one
person.

~~~
nonrecursive
Yeah, that is one of my worries. The response I've gotten from other
developers / web dev shops has been enthusiastic, though, so I'm still hoping
there's room for me in the market. Just doing one review each business day
would be enough for me to cover expenses and begin adding services and
reviewers.

I'm not sure if just doing a video and giving detailed, easy-to-reference
documents is enough to set me apart, but for now it's a place to start. I also
think that being a small shop and giving more personalized service could set
me apart, but I haven't emphasized that on my site.

If that doesn't work out I've considered trying to start a usability feedback
community. In fact I had one for awhile at <http://www.hallwaytesting.com>
(now a defunct blog), but it seemed like most people were interested in just
getting feedback and not giving any, or just in advertising their sites. So
I'm not sure how to make a community like that work.

~~~
scribblewiki
I also like the idea; but, again things like Hacker News or even if you wanted
the video sites like usertesting.com you could get 21 users for the same
price.

~~~
nonrecursive
One thing I'm wondering is if I should mention usertesting.com and explain how
my service is different from theirs. For example, you could indeed get 21
users for the same price, but they you would have to watch something like 210
minutes of video and read 21 feedback forms, a lot of it covering the same
ground. As opposed to ~15 minutes of video and a summary document which
clearly points out problem areas and gives possible solutions.

Part of me really thinks Usability Feedback could do well if I just market it
well. I'm just not sure what I should do differently. A/B testing would
probably help.

~~~
pedalpete
If I were you I wouldn't mention competitors and how you differ, as you are
then 1) promoting competitors and 2) branding yourself vs. the competition,
rather than just defining yourself.

Having said that. my quesion was specifically, how many people are going to be
reviewing the site for $450?

Different people take a different view of websites/apps, so having a small
group of users is a huge benefit, vs. being reviewed by just one person. I
wouldn't want to watch 210 minutes of video, but for $450 would expect the
video (or whatever else you supply) would be shortened to the most important
feedback, and maybe have the full video available if a client wants to watch
it.

I would have said that I might have been a potential client, but with only one
person reviewing the site, I don't see the value being inline with the cost.

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks for your feedback. Having a video highlighting the most important
feedback is definitely ideal. In fact, it would be great to have relevant
video clips on the summary pages as well.

For $450, how many different reviewers would you want? Right now I can easily
get up to 3 people to do a review. Alternatively, how much _would_ you pay for
a review by a single person? If you're interested, I'd like to work out
something that you'd be happy with.

Some people have expressed surprise at the price because they thought it was
inexpensive, which was actually surprising to me. Thanks for giving me a
better sense of how I should price the service.

If you want we can continue this conversation over email:
daniel@usabilityfeedback.com

------
bigbang
Depends on your background. I mean if Im paying you 450$, I would do little
bit of research on your background or your own UI work. 450$ is not much, iff
I would expect quality feedback. Inorder for me to be convinced that I would
get quality feedback, unfortunately known names or past work play a big role.

------
ivank
I get better value watching over many people's shoulders (for free or cheap -
maybe not always cash) and listening to users.

My only suggestion: if you're not exploring the set of all target users (just
the 'git' guy), why not list what kind of applications you're most fit to
test? I would hope to know you're not interested in SVN functionality before
forking over $450. Exploring Assembla's SVN functionality could have revealed
deeper flaws in their Trac integration. At one point, I was asked to re-enter
my username and password in an ugly HTTP authentication dialog.

Offtopic, but for anyone interested in a serious look at UX, I recommend Indi
Young's 'Mental Models'

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks for the feedback. It looks like, on the site, I should clarify what
actually goes on when you request feedback. For example, with the Assembla
site, if they requested that I review their SVN functionality, that's what I
would do. We would have a pre-review conversation going over tasks to perform.

Also, did the "usefulness guarantee" not catch your eye? I mention there that
you get your money back if the review isn't useful.

(That's funny that you mention "Mental Models" - I just bought that two days
ago.)

~~~
ivank
It caught my eye. I couldn't remember it after watching the video. Thanks for
clarifying your workflow.

------
mtw
great idea

i saw the sample study about assembla.com. smart comments. however, what i'd
really need, as a web app developer, is more substantial advices on how to
significantly improve the usability of my web app. maybe you need to post
online a usability framework. or maybe a usability redesign of assembla.com.

(i understand you already did a lot of work, just throwing my 2 cents here. if
you can do the things above, i'd pay... and even pay much more than the list
$450. It's just that I have the impression that I only got 2 pages of comments
for $450)

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks - what did you think of the HTML summary pages? Also, what do you have
in mind by usability framework? My friend and I have been considering creating
a kind of usability encyclopedia.

------
lincolnq
The video squeals with a high-pitched noise in the background which makes it
very hard to watch. Also, some more editing might be worth it: cut out those
uhm's and ah's, get a decent mike and make it sound nice and professional. I
like the click and typing effects, although I cannot read the text of the site
you're clicking on in that video at all.

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks. I hadn't noticed the high pitched noise until late last night. It is
pretty unfortunate and it looks like I'll have to redo the whole thing.

------
LKM
Frankly, I think the idea is fundamentally broken. Having a "usability expert"
click through a site won't give much more insight than reading a bunch of
Nielsen's top 10 usability mistakes and then looking for them in your site.

If you want a truly usable site, you actually have to do real usability tests
with a bunch of real users.

------
arthurk
Great idea, great site but $450 is too much.

~~~
nonrecursive
Thanks for the feedback. How much do you think the service is worth?

~~~
bprater
Don't listen to anyone who talks about price. Price is immaterial. Provide
amazing value and you can pick your price.

~~~
zmimon
I agree, and I'd link that to why nobody is paying attention to the
"usefulness guarantee". You really need to think about who you are selling to.
For a corporate client the time and expense and the risk of dealing with you
will equal or exceed the $450. Think about the project manager that is going
to have to order your service: $450 is not a lot but they are going to have to
explain it to others and it's going to look embarrassing if you turn out to be
just some random dude on the internet who takes their money and then sends
them a bunch of 'duh' statements about their web site. They have a very CYA
mentality, which like it or not you have to deal with.

To get started perhaps you could think about a 'first taste is free' model
where you do a review of part of their site (say, 1 page) with no obligation
and then based on that they can go to their manager and justify the expense.

~~~
nonrecursive
Thank you, that's very helpful.

