At the start of 2009 the official PRWD blog launched, which obviously didn’t impact too much on me writing content here during that year, but it most certainly has during 2010.

Thankfully I’m able to confirm that I have been keeping busy, and having taken a look at the PRWD blog there are a wide number of projects, news stories, tips and best practice articles that its worth sharing on here.

Case Study – Hyde Group Intranet Evaluation and User Testing

During January 2010 we caried out an extensive evaluation of the intranet for the Hyde Group, who are one of the largest housing associations in the UK, owning or managing over 43,000 homes to over 120,000 customers.
The project involved extensive user testing with staff, an expert usability evaluation and many days of usability consultancy.

Article – 5 Tips When Conducting User Research

Whether its referred to as user research, customer research, field studies, qualititive research or one of the other terms used, finding out the wants and needs of people who use websites, intranets and software is a crucial part of designing usable solutions which deliver return-on-investment.
I wrote this tips article to share some of my experiences and methods when I look to maximise the benefits of conducting user research.

News – Usability Evaluation and Benchmarking App

In April 2010 we provided a screenshot to our usability evaluation and benchmarking app, which I use as part of my e-commerce usability and best practice training course.

Case Study – Isabella Oliver Advanced Google Analytics Training

In early 2010 we provided in-house Google Analytics training for fashion retailer Isabella Oliver, and I was delighted as usual with the feedback the delegates provided after the training.

Case Study – E-commerce User Testing with Isabella Oliver

In February 2010 we carried out user testing down in London for fashion retailer Isabella Oliver. This was a great user testing project and we thoroughly enjoyed working with the Isabella Oliver team.

News – I Featured In Drapers Magazine

In May 2010 I was delighted to be asked to feature in Drapers magazine, providing some tips and advice on e-commerce conversion optimisation.

Client Project – Speedo E-commerce Usability Evaluation and Interaction Designs

During the Summer I was absolutely delighted to be working with Speedo again, following a project at the start of the year. I was asked by Speedo to provided a comprehensive usability (heuristic) evaluation of the e-commerce shopping experience, followed by me designing new interaction designs for key pages within their shopping process – namely product page, shopping basket and checkout process.
Following this work we published a press release about my work which included a fantastic testimonial from the Head of E-commerce at Speedo.

Book Review – REWORK by 37Signals

Yeh yeh I know this isn’t what I usually write about, but having been recommended the book by Dan Donald, once I’d read through it for the first time I genuinely felt compelled to write a review. And yes its a fantastic read if you work for yourself or manage a small team!

News – Lewis Marshall Joined PRWD

In July 2010 I was absolutely delighted that Lewis Marshall joined me at PRWD. As it turned out Lewis was with me until the end of 2010 when PRWD finished providing technical capabilities to design and build user-centered design solutions. All that I have to say about Lewis is that he is a remarkable person who has an extremely special career ahead of him, and I’m just happy that I have benefitted from working with him over the 7 months he was in my business. We are also very good friends and will continue to see each other going forward.
Oh and if you know someone that is looking for an exceptional Ruby on Rails developer, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Lewis…

Best Practice Advice – Don’t Force New Customers To Register To Checkout

As one of the guest expert commentators for Econsultancy, I published an article on their blog discussing handling 1st time customers within checkout, in particular when retailers force 1st time shoppers to register in order to checkout.

One of our clients Speedo handle this very well, by only asking 1st time shoppers if they would like to create a password and set-up their account on the order confirmation page.

The full article on Econsultancy entitled Reduce Checkout Abandonments and Increase Registrations has proved pretty popular, with a big number of comments and lots of advice and recommendations put forward, by both myself and some of the people commenting.

What Does PRWD Stand For?

We get asked many times what does PRWD stand for, and I wrote an article on the PRWD blog explaining just this. PRWD is An Acronym for ‘PRoductivity Without Difficulty’ – read more about the rationale behind this, as well as lots of case studies demonstrating what we’re about.

News – User Testing Lab Launch at MMU in Manchester

Having being the first company to use Manchester Metropolitan Universities User Testing Lab facility for commercial purposes in 2010 (we carried out a user testing project for a well known highstreet retailer of homewares) we were absolutely delighted to be asked to help launch the lab.

News – Usability Testing in Manchester

Following on from the user testing lab launch I wrote an article explaining more about PRWD’s user testing services. It also included links to a couple of case studies, e-commerce user testing for Isabella Oliver and intranet user testing for the Hyde Group.

Press Release – PRWD Help Launch Manchester’s First User Testing Lab

Following on from the lab launch we were delighted to send out a press release explaining about the facilities and our partnership with MMU. MMU are one of the organisations that are featured on our website, which also includes Econsultancy, Smart Insights, Manchester Digital and the Usability Professionals Association.

Best Practice Advice – Increasing New Customer Conversion Rates (for Smart Insights)

This year I was very privileged to have been invited by Dr Dave Chaffey to start providing expert commentary pieces for his online portal Smart Insights. My first post was looking at the variety of ways retailers handle new customer checkout, as well as providing a range of best practice tips to retailers looking at reducing checkout process abandonments.

Merry Christmas from Me and PRWD!

And finally, our last monthly newsletter of the year was dedicated to wishing our subscribers a merry Christmas, although I decided to mix up the formula a bit by not including a single Christmas image. Instead I opted to include a variety of images which demonstrate some of the key client challenges we tackle as well as images which I use in usability and conversion optimisation event presentations.

Finally may I wish anyone that has managed to read through all this post a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Online Fashion 100, in the words of Leon Bailey-Green, is:

a collection of inspirational, interesting and influential people in the online fashion industry

Just some of the names and brands that are on the list include:

• MIRIAM LAHAGE of Koodos.com
• NATALIE MASSENET of Net-A-Porter and theOutnet.com
• ANDREW CURRAN & SARAH CURRAN of My-Wardrobe.com
• DAN WAGNER of Venda and OSOYOU.com
• NICK ROBERTSON & HASH LADHA of ASOS
• ROB JONES of Harvey Nichols
• DAVID WALMSLEY of John Lewis
• RICHARD BRASHER of Tesco
• NANCY CRUICKSHANK of http://www.videojug.com/ and TMG
• JULIA REYNOLDS of Figleaves.com

Download a pdf of the complete Online Fashion 100 rundown

It’s safe to say that the event should have a real buzz about it and I’m looking forward to meeting up with some of the Online Fashion 100 select plus other movers and shakers in the fashion retail business.

How much focus do the retailers place on a good user experience?

Following my recent usability and benchmarking article on Econsultancy I’ve published another article looking at some of the pureplay and high street fashion retailers when it comes to key areas of the online customer experience and usability best practice.

Pureplay fashion brands that feature include ASOS, my-wardrobe, Net-a-porter, Koodos and The Outnet.

High street fashion brands that feature include Harvey Nichols, Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Next and New Look.

Take a look at the article and feel free to get in touch if you would like more information.

Usability Testing and Usability Evaluations for Retailers

The new page also features links to our e-commerce research services, usability testing and usability evaluations, which can be invaluable for existing retailers who are looking to develop the business case to replatform.