'Help' or 'ideas'?

One little word on a button may not sound like much. But testing my e-commerce prototype revealed that words need testing as much as the visual design and interaction.

I had produced in Axure what I thought was a pretty decent clickable prototype of a hardware e-commerce site to test on potential customers.

My neighbour from across the street agreed to be a usability test participant. His task was to seek advice via the website on what to buy to build a bike rack. He was exactly the right person for the job - a cyclist and a regular hardware store visitor. I thought my user testing would be a breeze.

In real life and online, how do shoppers ask for help, if they ask at all?

Help me out here

I'd spent ages making a chat icon to click on if help was needed. And the user task was specifically to seek advice. I had fussed over the colour and design of the chat icon for ages - pinned to browser or static, transparent or opaque, labelled 'help' or 'chat' or '?' or nothing. I also had a 'Need help?' button and menu item so there were several ways for users to get expert advice.

But my neighbour had other ideas. "Men don't need help" he said very definitely. I must have looked surprised. So he explained.

"I might be looking for ideas, but I'd never ask for help".

Oh. OK then.

The button got duly changed to 'Need ideas or help?'. Further testing might have revealed a better choice of wording but time didn't allow. Likewise, testing interest in how-to videos which would have allowed users to get advice without actually asking for it.

This sticks in my mind as one of those moments that proves the value of testing on real users. You never know what you'll find out.