It’s important to focus on what people do, not what they say: an example

We recently did usability testing for an organisation about which people have divided opinions – largely depending on their politics. For a few people (with initial negative impressions about the organisation), even after completing tasks with ease and efficiency they went on to slate the site and everything about it.

Interestingly we often see the opposite too – after clearly struggling and failing simple tasks, brand advocates will often compliment a site and its design, and even say they found it easy to use.

We all know the power and importance of brand and proposition – but ‘opinion’ should not cloud research to improve key aspects such as usability.

See also:

• Make sure you do good audience research: observe don’t ask