Usability Testing Experts is a Good Long-Term Investment Part – 1

It is a platitude to say it, but usability tests are conducted to obtain feedback from new (i.e. unbiased) users of an interface design, so the most natural conclusion to draw is that all usability test participants are website greenhorns.  Of course this is not true.  While it is extremely common to have novice usability testers, testing users that are deemed experts also has its advantages.  Experts can sometimes be forgotten in the mad rush to get fresh, new user experience feedback, but experience shows: don’t forget about them because they are more important to the sustainability of your interface design than you might think—especially for interface designs that are already in existence.

Expert Users are Longtime Users

So what is the main benefit of obtaining user experience feedback from experts?  The fact is that at one point, everyone was an amateur— even the experts. Amateur users grow into expert users, just as your interface design matures over time.  That is why expert users play such a vital role in usability testing new developments for extant interface designs. Experts are longtime site users, users who have shown commitment to the evolution of your website, users who have buttressed your interface design’s success by sticking with it over the long haul. If you are running an eCommerce site you want to know what makes it most usable to your most loyal customers—the expert users. You want to keep their business as returning customer often make up a considerable portion of business for an e-commerce website. So increasing your interface design’s usability for expert users will make your site sustainable because you will be appeasing a core group of users who keep your website relevant and your business running.