[Sigia-l] usability analyst or specialist --where to start

[andrew at friendlymanual.com]

Quoting Malahat Hosseini <mhosseini at sfu.ca>:

> Hi Andrew,
>
> can you be more specific? which type of companies you targeted. what did you
> say, and why they accepted? I have been approaching design companies here
> and there but they don't seem to need it. On the other hand I am afraid that
> any company will scare away if I say I will do a usability test for you , I
> know fair enough about it, but hey this is my first time.
>
> thanks!
> malahat

Hi Malahat,

brief background: I commute every week from a small village (1000 people) a
couple of hours drive from Canberra and Sydney in Se Australia. A lot of local
buisinesses rely on either rural industries or tourism. A friend runs the local
business association. I mentioned to her that there were a lot of tourists that
travelled through the place and something could be done on both a business and
community level to ensure that more tourists came, and spent more money within
the village on their way through.

The pitch: I had to convince some of the other business association people that
this was a case for a BA and marketing study, that I was qualified to perform
it, and that I was doing this for free because I wanted to help them grow to
employ more people in the village.

The project: I spent a long week, including two weekends, studying vehicle and
foot traffic through the village, purchasing patterns in various stores, and
talking to tourists, non-business locals, and business owners/workers. I then
wrote up my conclusions and recommendations. The main conclusion I drew was
surprisingly that the village presented a visual tunnel - visitors drove
through it because there was nothing that gave them an excuse to stop. Market
differentiation and better signage was suggested as the fix.

The result: I would not directly attribute it to my efforts, certainly not
alone, but there are now nearly twice as many main street shopfront small
businesses in the village, and those that were there previously have grown.

How I would do this in your situation: Go to the people who can profit directly
from your free service - the businesses, business bodies, manufacturers and so
on. You have done the theoretical work, and so you will have a dozen ROI "war
stories" from the industry to sell usability as a good idea. Mix and match
these to come up with an industry/size/cultural specific way that you can help.
Once people work out that you are genuinely interested in helping out, and that
you sound like you know what you are talking about (but in language that they
can understand), you will have no problems at all. Get testimonials from them
if they like what you do.

Good luck with it :)

Best regards, Andrew

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