When my staff or I are reporting findings from website usability testing there is always the challenge of knowing the right ‘tone’ of the document.
In the last month we’ve heard two interesting comments on projects for two different Agencies:
Agency 1 - “Can you be more BRUTAL?”
Agency 2 - “Can you make it all a bit more POSITIVE sounding?”
Both agencies had different needs:
Agency 1 was pitching to a new account and wanted to show the client that things weren’t right with the current site and it required more work.
Agency 2 built the site and wanted to look good so that the client could see all the opportunities to improve the site.
As usability consultants, I believe we need to objectively and accurately report what happened. However, it can be done in a number of ways to meet the particular agency’s expectations. For example:
| Negative spin | Positive spin |
No spin |
| Issues with your site | Your current practice | Findings |
| Interactive tools are hidden | Interactive tools are secondary to other information | Interactive tools are hard to find |
| Participants did not understand the navigation links | Navigation links can be easily changed so that participants can understand them | Participants had very different perceptions of the words in the navigation |
Understanding the impact of your writing style is critical to your project’s success. It can completely change how the report is received. Some practitioners would say, ‘just report what you saw with no spin’; however, there is an opportunity to write the report in such a way as to achieve the best outcomes.
A good way to identify the ‘tone’ required is to find out what the agency is doing with the report and then check that they like your language at least twice during the reporting process. As follows:
1) Conduct the test
2) Find out what the Agency is going to use the report for and plan it with them
4) Debrief the Agency at draft stage, and see if the language is right for their needs
5) Make amendments to the tone of the report if necessary.