"Watch What I Do, Not What I Say" Holds True for Web Surfing and Other Pursuits, Says Web Usability Psychologist Susan Weinschenk

According to psychologist Susan Weinschenk, who studies users' responses to Web sites, going by what people say about their experiences on the Web can mislead an organization into making its Web site worse rather than better. Observing how users interact with a site provides a more valid picture of how well the site works.

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"Watch What I Do, Not What I Say" Holds True for Web Surfing and Other Pursuits, Says Web Usability Psychologist Susan Weinschenk

Edgar, WI - Did you like a particular Web site? Was shopping there difficult or a breeze? According to psychologist Susan Weinschenk, who studies users' responses to Web sites, going by what people say about their experiences on the Web can mislead an organization into making its Web site worse rather than better. Observing how users interact with a site provides a more valid picture of how well the site works.

"When we compare videos of what people said and did while at a site with what they say afterwards, there are sometimes striking contradictions," says Weinschenk, who heads the Weinschenk Consulting Group (www.weinschenk.com) and was named as one of the top 100 women in computing by Open Computing Magazine. "Sometimes they'll say they didn't like the site, but at the time they were using it, they said they liked it. Or they'll call a site easy to use when during their visit they were obviously struggling and frustrated. Overall, self-reporting is unreliable about 25 percent of the time."

Once, for instance, the video captured a participant expressing surprise when he learned after answering pages of questions at an insurance Web site that he would get the quote in the mail. Yet 30 minutes later, he said he didn't expect the quote right away. Another time, a man buying fragrance on the Web said while shopping that he liked the site's use of purple. An hour later, he said that he got tired of all the pink at the site while he was shopping. "Not only did he forget that he liked the color, he forgot what color it was," says Weinschenk.

Why the discrepancies? Weinschenk points to poor memory as only a minor factor. "More often this occurs because it's difficult for most of us to report our own mental processes. When asked to do so, we may say something that just comes into our head but isn't accurate. In addition, people often try to please an interviewer, without realizing it."

By understanding the limits of self-reporting, organizations can avoid redesigning sites according to what people say they want, which doesn't reflect their actual reactions, Weinschenk says, noting that the point applies equally to what people say about products and services off the Internet. Her company offers free guidelines for assessing the usability of a Web site at www.weinschenk.com/knowledge/online_checklist.asp