If you have an underperforming website, the cash and the resources it is best to do what is called in the business a "usability test".

We do a lot in the company I currently work for by paying targeted groups of people to come in, sit at a computer and use a site we are building. For example, it is a site for journalists; we track where they go to on the site and what they read. Then they fill out a survey.

In more detailed usability tests, we track their eyeballs with a special contraption so we can see what 'hotspots' they look at on a particular page. If most eyeballs miss a key part of the page, then we change how it is displayed or move the section to a more prominent place. This is probably the best way to get the best value out of your website.

If you have an underperforming website, but do not have the cash or the resources to do time consuming usability tests, then the next option is to do what is called a ''website intercept survey". These are those horrible pop-ups you often encounter at websites asking you to help them out by completing a survey so they can figure out how to make their sites better. I hate them. I have never filled one out. Hold on, I have filled at least one out and only because I was enticed to do so with the offer of the possibility of winning a free trip to a tropical paradise. I didn't win the trip.

I was surprised to learn that actually intercept surveys do work. People are actually helpful enough to not click close button and fill out the survey, but only under certain conditions. According to Forrester Research what works are compelling invitations; simple, relevant questions; streamlined experiences; and usable interfaces.

Forrester's research shows that a site intercept surveys should generally take fewer than five minutes to complete (and you should let users know the time) and should include no more than 10 questions.

Compelling invitations and simple, relevant questions are probably the key to attracting people like me, who feel that they need to get something back in devoting time to helping a commercial site get it right, so they can make money from people like me.

For me, a compelling invitation is a chance to win something, or get some service from the company for a reduction. Others may have a much lower threshold, and may even want to help out. Interestingly, the survey of 3M, British Airways, Fannie May, HP, Merck, Intuit, among others does not talk about the use of prizes or incentives.

It's probably best to do both kind of surveys, one with actual people in a controlled environment, and one online, at the actual site. In the end, you do need some real feedback on if your site is working to your best advantage.

Back to usability. If you want some idea of how to conduct a usability test then visit Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox site (http://www.useit.com/alertbox), which is the basis for everyone who claims they know something about testing web sites, including myself.

He claims, and this is disputed by some of my colleagues, that you only need five people to do a usability test, thus making such a test less costly than is thought. His graph of tests he conducted with another researcher shows that you need to test with at least 15 users to discover all the usability problems in the design.

"So why do I recommend testing with a much smaller number of users?" he asks. "The main reason is that it is better to distribute your budget for user testing across many small tests instead of blowing everything on a single, elaborate study. Let us say that you do have the funding to recruit 15 representative customers and have them test your design. Great. Spend this budget on three tests with five users each!"

Nielsen makes a lot of his testing and thoughts available on the site, including some very good examples of eye tracking studies. Now that we are communicating on multiple platforms, Nielsen also has some articles on such devices as the iPad and Kindle.

Have you or your company done a usability test or conducted an intercept survey? If so, let me know how it helped or didn't and what you advice you would give others in Bermuda on how to go about conducting one.

Send any comments to elamin.ahmed@gmail.com