Anybody, As Long As It’s Not You
Question: Who should give you feedback on your early-stage product mockups/demo?
a) Your investors
b) Your most loyal, early-adopter existing customers
c) A demographically-balanced segment of people who have no familiarity with your product
d) Anybody, as long as it’s not you
OK, sure, there’s probably an “ideal” audience to show your product to. But it probably doesn’t matter.
Earlier this week, I emailed a friend with a URL to ask for his feedback. To be honest, he was far from my “ideal” user testing subject: an expert user, tech- and product-management-savvy, an existing user of previous versions of the product, super-familiar with our company and what we’re trying to do. The kind of person who’d probably agree with me on what websites rock and what apps are lousy.
How useful could his feedback possibly be?
(I think you know where this is going.)
He was kind enough to send me a Screentoaster video of him navigating through the flows and “thinking out loud” — and from the first glance he started pointing out problems we hadn’t noticed. Wording that was confusing. A call-to-action button below the fold. An interactive panel that we’d thought was awesome – that wasn’t nearly clear enough. And on and on and on…
Even an “expert” noticed these problems – because he wasn’t me.
Even as someone who’s done tons of critiqueing UIs and workflows, I just hadn’t succeeding in stepping back and seeing our product concept through the eyes of a customer.
So — don’t wait until you have a full product, don’t wait until you’ve done another round of design, don’t wait until you’ve revised your copy. Get someone to take a look at whatever you have NOW. Doesn’t matter who – as long as it’s not you.
PS – hey readers, if you’ve got a few moments and can record a Screentoaster video of yourself walking through these flows, email me. I’ll be happy to return the favor for you and your product!
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