[Sigia-l] site redesigns: transfer users, reactions to change

[Samantha Bailey]

Hi,

We've recently released a site redesign that was extensively tested, so we
went into it with a good understanding of what worked and what didn't. Those
of us on the design side were prepared for the idea that some users would
dislike the change just because it was a change, even if the site was
working better, and our call centers were prepared for extra call volume the
week after the launch.

I'm not sure that we prepared our business partners as well as we might
have, however, as a number of people were very thrown by the level of
customer complaints and confusion around the site having changed. It
retrospectively made us realize that we had experienced this phenomenon and
had anecdotal information but didn't really know of any studies or research
that might help us help our business partners be more realistically prepared
for large-scale change. To that end, I'd like to ask the list if you have
experience in this arena:

1) What do you do to prepare your clients or business partners for negative
reactions to changes that you've tested and are confident are largely
positive improvements to a site?

2) Any recommendations for measuring customer satisfaction around a
change--clearly if you measure it immediately before and immediately after,
you are going to get different data points than 3 months down the line after
people are more acclimated to the new site.

3) Anyone know of any articles or research on this topic?

I will summarize all responses I get and send to the list.

Thanks!

Samantha


Samantha Bailey
samantha at baileysorts.com | http://baileysorts.com

"Do you know what that trick is? Magicians would call it the redirection.
A theologian would note that it parallels a theme found in all religions:
the paradox of turning away from the goal to achieve the goal."
-Karl Fast


----- Original Message -----
From: <samantha.bailey at wachovia.com>
To: <samantha at baileysorts.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: Transfer users, change, etc.


>
> ---------------------- Forwarded by Samantha Bailey/ECommerce/USR/FTU on
> 11/20/2002 04:49 PM ---------------------------
>
>
> Clifford Anderson
> 11/20/2002 02:30 PM
>
> To:    Samantha Bailey/ECommerce/USR/FTU at WACHOVIA
> cc:    Caroline Beacham/Consumer/USR/FTU at WACHOVIA
>
> Subject:    Re: Transfer users, change, etc.
>
> All I've gotten from UTEST so far on transfer users, etc.  Caroline: did
> you try this on CHI-WEB?  Samantha: did you try this on SIGIA?
>
> ---------------------- Forwarded by Clifford Anderson/ECommerce/USR/FTU on
> 11/20/2002 02:29 PM ---------------------------
>
>
> "Larry Marine" <lmarine at intuitivedesign.com> on 11/20/2002 01:52:39 PM
>
> To:    Clifford Anderson/ECommerce/USR/FTU at WACHOVIA, <UTEST-L at CLEMSON.EDU>
> cc:
>
> Subject:    Re: Transfer users, change, etc.
>
>
> There is a quatrain I've used over the years that seems to apply here, but
> I
> don't remember the research it was based on:
> If it looks the same, it should behave the same;
> If it looks differently, it should behave differently;
> If it behaves the same, it should look the same;
> If it behaves differently, it should look differently.
>
> The suggests that if you have something that will behave differently, it
> should look differently enough so that users won't expect or attempt to
use
> their familiar usage habit (borrowed from the old design) on the new one.
> We
> humans learn through generalization of repeated stimulus. If we see a
> stimulus, and have come to expect a predictable response to our action,
> then
> we are surprised at an unexpected (habituated) response. However, if we
see
> that something has changed, then we are alerted and are less surprised at
> the new behavior.
>
> So, to answer your question, our experience has been that user transfer
has
> been much more successful if the users notice that something is different
> in
> a new release. Keep in mind that if we have to reuse a previous task
> approach from an older version, we tend to approach the new design from
the
> previous approach, first.
>
> Of course, I've left a lot out, implied some assumptions, and made a few
> leaps here...
> Larry Marine
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cliff Anderson" <clifford.anderson at WACHOVIA.COM>
> To: <UTEST-L at CLEMSON.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 8:10 AM
> Subject: Transfer users, change, etc.
>
>
> > Whatever you do, there will always be unhappy transfer users.  They may
> be
> > switching from a green-screen, mainframe application to a web app, but
> > there will still be some people who's cheese has been moved, and they're
> > not too happy about it.  Does anybody out there have anything that would
> > address some of these issues?  What I'm looking for are some studies (or
> > just persuasive articles) that talk about typical transfer user
> behaviour,
> > general resistance to change (as it applies to, say, site redesign), how
> > initial reaction translates to long-term satisfaction, etc.  I've got
> tons
> > of anecdotes, but they may not cut it.  Please copy me as well as UTEST
> > with your replies.  Thanks a bunch,
> >
> > Cliff Anderson | Usability Engineer | Wachovia Corp.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>