Eurekster
Achieved enhanced product clarity and improved development efficiencies
Eurekster is a leading search technology and service provider that empowers communities to own and refine site-based web search through its Swicki product. The patented Swicki technology enhances the web search experience by combining host and consumer customisation with user collaboration. Through Swicki, publishers can now harness their brand and audience to become vertical search destinations. These vertical, site-specific searches retain and attract like minded community members. Eurekster has won numerous awards in the Web 2.0 arena and is listed as one of CNN’s NextNet 25 companies.
Business Challenges
A year ago, Eurekster took a major step forward with their first foray into product development and built a self-serve interface around their core technology.
The developers were experiencing difficulty getting into the mind sets of the end user and lacked a real understanding of how end users would interact with their product.
- Key questions unanswered
- Product direction issue
- Lacked end-user centricity
Solution
Faced with these challenges, Tac decided to call in a referee and brought in the end user through LeftClick.
One of the invaluable and slightly unexpected findings for Eurekster that came from the user testing was that the result wasn’t one big ‘aha’ moment but a series of subtle but important things. Eurekster valued the ability to allow a developer to sit and watch users interact and then compare their observations with expert input about how people typically behave.
The main value of the solution came in a well-written report which highlighted what was working, what was ambiguous and what wasn’t working
- Customer Research and end-user testing
- Detailed qualitative study involving Eurester development team
Results
Several of the issues raised from the end user experience seemed quite simple but in terms of the system some of the changes were quite large.
Eurester are re-building how searches are handled in particular their tracking cues. However, the usability testing eliminated the question of whether or not the changes needed to be done.
“it was very clear, there was no need to cite evidence, or anecdotes, or anything, that consistency and that unity was a direct result of the usability tests and the report” Says Tac.
- Key questions answered
- Clarity of product direction
- Improved attitude towards end user
- Enhanced unity across disciplines