[IxDA Discuss] The death of web usability testing as we know it?

[Steven Pautz]

While I believe this kind of approach can certainly be valuable,
particularly when dovetailed with other techniques, I wonder if its use
might shift some teams' or stakeholders' perspectives more towards
short-term factors.

If all of the metrics are session-based (as they seem to be), the results of
this kind of analysis would likely favor a design that best suits
"immediate" customers -- customers who perform some desired behavior *now*,
rather than in a future visit -- potentially at the expense of designs
which, hypothetically, might provide a better balance between short-term and
long-term concerns.

While this would probably be good for many businesses and contexts, it's
also fair game for the "it depends" card -- much like the balance between
hype-oriented writing versus "just the facts" writing.

Are there any passive, (semi-)automated tools or techniques out there that
"get at" more long-term factors like brand loyalty, community health, etc?
Is such a thing even possible to automate, or can it only be performed by a
strategically-minded person/team?

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Steven Pautz
spautz at gmail.com
http://stevenpautz.com/