White Pages® News

Behind the scenes of User Testing

October 11, 2010

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Ever wondered how and why White Pages® Online and Mobile are designed the way they are? Come behind the scenes with White Pages® to find out how we get them up and running to maintain a high level of effectiveness through user testing, one of the hidden treasures of product development.

 At White Pages®, we like to embrace new technology. Not only do we have a website that we improve on a regular basis, but we have also successfully launched White Pages® Mobile, a White Pages® iPhone application and an Android application.

 In developing these and other new products, we undertake extensive user testing so that we can ensure the products we create for you are user-friendly and efficient. 

 User testing, as the name suggests, is where we invite people like you to come into our testing lab where they are asked to perform a series of tasks.  Whilst a “lab” suggests white coats and Bunsen burners, it is actually a comfortable room decked out with a table, chairs and one of our friendly User Experience design team.

 The User Experience designer guides the participant through a number of structured tasks.  These tasks help us to identify things to improve as well as confirm what works well. During the user testing phase, we show the participant ideas and designs to gauge the effectiveness of things like site functionality, visual appeal, accessibility, usefulness and usability.  Ever wondered why we have two search boxes in whitepages.com.au business and government tabs? It’s because this was discovered to be the best way to help people find what they were searching for.  And the predictive text that pops up when you are typing a name? Again, a technique to support how people can complete their search.

 When we launched our White Pages® website on a mobile platform, we spent the better part of a year perfecting it. We gathered a group of people who use White Pages® to test the mobile prototype we had developed. In addition to putting all features and functionality from whitepages.com.au on the prototype, we also asked our users during the testing what else they would like to see included. We even hit the streets and asked every day users what they thought of the product. That’s how ideas like adding numbers from White Pages® to your phone contact list, integration of maps and directions and creating a Favourites List in the White Pages® iPhone App have become part of the final product.

 User testing is a vital ingredient in delivering efficient and usable White Pages® products.  So next time you spot changes on the website or across our mobile Apps, rest assured that we’ve been chatting with people like you to get things right.