1. Userzoom (Sunnyvale, CA) provided the technology. They offer UX pros the ability to run online, task-based studies with geographically dispersed participants.
2. KeyLime Interactive (Miami, FL) moderated the sessions. They specialize in online web-based usability testing as well as traditional lab-based testing.

A little background about the study before diving into the results. Each Hotel site tested (Hilton, Marriot, Intercontinental, Starwood, Hyatt) were randomly assigned 50 different users to perform 2 tasks seperatly. Tasks took roughly 10 min in length to complete. Users were selected regardless of their prior affiliation with any hotel rewards program or familiarity with the site.

Tasks:

1. Finding a room on a beach at a particular time of year, particular distance from a landmark, within a set budget of $250.
2. Finding a hotel that provided parking to it’s guests

The web sites were evaluated on several metrics based on the tasks which users attempted to cary out (Overall success, Ease of use, Ease of Navigation, Clear where to start, Satisfaction with Time) and then are given an overall score (KLI score) by the moderating agency (Keylime interactive)

Data gathered from open questioning and Task 1 Results overview:

• Marriot, Hilton had largest groups of rewards program participants – and considered ‘most popular’ by users as well
• Hilton ranks best from a search perspective
• Hyatt ranks worst from a search perspective
• Marriot and Hilton brands scored well on ease of use and accessibility
• Hilton & Marriot score highest on success rate, Ease of Use, and Satisfaction. Hyatt scored lowest
• User satisfaction related directly to the time it takes to complete tasks

Data gathered from open questioning and Task 2 Results overview:

• Marriot scored highest on search, but most users had a hard time figuring out where to start clicking
• Hyatt & Starwood rank consistently low in all categories of evaluation within the task result

The KLI results from the 2 tasks were the aggregated for an overall KLI score

Executive takeaways

• All brands had varying strengths and weaknesses
• All brands have room for improvement
• All brands had a ‘negative’ score of with regards to the brand meeting end-users expectations (Hilton however was the ‘best’)
• No single brand or site should be picked on as being ‘bad’ in strict black and white terms. These results were simply the outcome of 2 tasks performed online. But it starts to paint a picture of the overall User Experience the various brands provide

Threadless was started in 2000 with the prize money from a t-shirt design contest and has grown into an online retailer with a huge cult following. They’ve managed a social media following on par with major retailers without major advertising dollars. One way they’ve managed a fiercely loyal fan base was by promoting themselves as a major hub for fan interaction. At the onset of their launch they advertised a massive promotion that got people to create their own t-shirts. That initial investment paid off and they instantly became a place to buy and create fan made merchandise.

The general rule I follow with consumer based social media advertising is that the most you can expect to get is roughly a third of your core audience on your fan sites. (i.e. If you sell 150,000 TVs, you can’t really expect more than 50,000 Twitter fans.) Threadless (twitter.com/THREADLESS) has roughly 700,000 loyal customers according to their latest numbers, but they have 1.5 million Twitter followers. They’ve conquered Twitter by making sure it is the place to find out about all their latest promotions, contests, and sales. Looking at their Twitter page, it’s clear they haven’t forgotten what put them on the map. They build their Twitter around their followers and make sure to answer all questions and return comments. Even though they have 1.5 million followers ,it feels like you’re part of something small and intimate.

As I’ve said before, great companies use social media at all levels. If Threadless had seen their Twitter blow up and said, “That’s enough” they wouldn’t be so successful. They went on to develop a comprehensive Facebook page (www.facebook.com/threadless) that complements their Twitter ads nicely. They do Facebook-exclusive contests and promotions and constantly change the look of their page based on what new brands the company is promoting. They also use Facebook to showcase photos of products and events they sponsor to show that they are the hip place to be. Threadless has the kind of advertising campaigns that Ed Hardy and other small press clothing retailers can learn from.

If Threadless proved anything it’s that if your going to start an independent retailer online the launch is a major part of the advertising campaign. Runka Green Products (twitter.com/recycledstuff) took this lesson to heart by launching a massive campaign centered on an Earth Day online store opening. Even though they’ve only been around a few weeks now they have managed to steadily build a loyal group of over 700 Twitter followers. That’s very good for a company less than 3 months old. (Once helped launch a product line via Facebook and we were ecstatic when we got 35 fans our first 2 weeks) Runka took advantage of the huge audience that is online and into green products by creating a Facebook Application. (an inexpensive way to get people talking about your products. )

Runka also realized the value of constant updates to your Facebook and Twitter feed especially at the start up period. Just like writing letters if you don’t write them, people don’t write back. If you don’t tweet or post you won’t get any followers. Sure you might feel silly for a few weeks sending a message to 10 people but in the end those 10 people will build you a following. Any company from Runka the Threadless had 10 or 15 followers at one point but those followers soon turned to hundreds and for some, they have hit millions.

apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/runka_green_products?_fb_fromhash=82444f3773bc8a8e6434ac611b474df8&ref=mf

www.marketwatch.com/story/nt-media-launches-social-media-channels-on-twitter-and-facebook-2010-06-10?reflink=MW_news_stmp

www.allfacebook.com/2010/06/facebook-myths-rumors/

Reduce File Sizes

1. See optimizing images for reducing image sizes.
2. Minify CSS and JS files. Use Google’s Closure Compiler for JS and ICEY for CSS.
3. Minify HTML files with HTML Tidy.
4. Reduce file size with using relative links including //subdomain.example.com instead of http://subdomain.example.com

Configure Apache and .htaccess

1. Disable ETags
2. Add future expires headers
3. Enable GZip Compression
4. Since 15% of users don’t have gzip due to proxies you can override that with gzip detection. See page 130 of “Even Faster Websites” for detailed description on solving this problem.

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