Someday Syndrome: Case Study

USER TESTS

Three separate user tests were conducted: User #1 is in her early 40s with an interest in self-development books, television programs, and websites; she “doesn’t think” she reads blogs, though she’s a daily web user who considers herself very Internet-savvy. User #2 is in her late 20s, is web-competent and reads blogs sometimes, a fitness and self-improvement junkie who says she’s “currently in a rut” just as your Ideal Customer might be (her “rut” was a lucky coincidence, I don’t ask “rut” questions of my testers!). User #3 is what I call fairly web-intolerant, an impatient user excellent for judging a site’s ability to provide instant gratification, a well-off business owner in his late thirties.

Each was instructed to imagine they were in the market for your service and had the money available to make the purchase, then to behave as naturally as possible, clicking and reading at their own pace and in whatever order made sense to them in order to reach a decision. They were not told what the site offered, which helps to determine how long it is before they know what they can purchase from you.

They were to narrate what they were doing and thinking, and why, throughout their tests of the site.

Overall impressions of the site were good. Users commented “clean,” “easy-to-read,” “peaceful,” and “eye-catching.” Everyone had a general understanding of Alex’s abilities in under a minute.*

User#1 focused in on the task at first, reading but not patiently; she was the most frustrated with the gentle language of the site. “I don’t like how sure he is that I’m not happy,” she said, but she was eventually very compelled to read on. She felt that she needed more convincing that Someday Syndrome “is prepared to help me.” Though she has used both free and paid resources in the area of self-development, she remained skeptical of SS. “I’m trying to find the point,” was a comment she made repeatedly.

No matter their initial attitude, every tester was eventually quite sucked in to the blog. Your content is compelling. Users are always told that their goal is to determine what they can purchase or do and how to do it, and that we can even go home when they feel they’ve learned enough to make a purchase/ contact/ take the next step… yet no one wanted to stop reading. I loved watching people getting into the reading, but it effectively slowed the sales process to a crawl.

The followup question after such a lot of very focused reading was, “Did getting hooked on the articles help you make a decision about what Alex offers?” Everyone said yes. However, two of the three said even for an issue of this importance, they wouldn’t spend this long (approximately a half an hour) making a decision.

User #2 was drawn in instantly and wholeheartedly by your verbal imagery, attempting to determine a logical sequence for coming to a purchasing decision. She found your coaching link, which is the link you’d most want a new visitor who’s ready to buy to click on, in under 30 seconds. It was the text link, “I can help you…,” not the top navigation, which drew her eye. “This is actually where I am right now kind of,” she said when clicking through. She might even have found that link too quickly! Intermediate steps such as clickable links in the What Is Someday Syndrome? section might have primed her to be more ready for the sales page, or perhaps including those links within the initial text on the sales page, as well.

[This user] caught on as if you’d prepped her in advance. I rarely have a test where a user is so thoroughly impressed with a site’s concept. “I’d actually be interested if I had the money,” “I can see why the Gold package is worth so much, that’s an intense workout,” and “If you can’t figure yourself out with this guy’s personal attention you’re totally resistant,” were among her many words of praise…. During the test she also said “He had me from the beginning.” That is a key comment. When you are narrowing down your Ideal Customer, keep #2 in mind. Narrowing doesn’t always have to be by field, age, or income. In the case of Someday Syndrome, could your focus be on what triggers a person to realize they are, as she put it, “in a rut”?

User #3 super-skimmed the site, expecting that headers and bold copy would tell him all he’d need to know. He was easily drawn to links and as a result, he saw the most pages of the three.

#3 was looking for “more facts, less feelings.” “A lot of people are embarrassed to think they might need help with this stuff. If he wants me to buy he’s got to come down out of the clouds and talk to me.”

“He’s good at explaining the packages,” he said on visiting the coaching page. Later, in looking through your archives, he said, “the titles are eye-catching.” This is the irony: your words are wonderfully written, and they do interest readers. As yet, they don’t drive business as much as they need to. His comment about reading your content explains it well: “By the time I was searching for this guy, even not knowing him, I’d already have my mind 2/3 made up. He can’t take a half an hour to get me the other 1/3 of the way.”

Though every user liked the idea of “sorting out my issues and how to cope with them to help me reach my goals,” as User #3 said, reactions to purchasing from you were mixed. All commented, in one way or another, that the writing on business and blog pages seems too understated, and is not talking to their issues directly enough, to convince them to go for it. For those who didn’t come into the site ready for your message, the writing is not yet selling your offerings well enough. In other words, if something in the users was not pre-triggered, the trigger wasn’t found at the site. This meshes with my own evaluation, confirming unclear and understated copy as the key difficulty in closing more sales for you.

There were many, many positive reactions throughout the three user tests. (More so than is usual!) You’ve got lyrical voice, and a great foundation to build your future sales on.

*Critical point: Though your abilities, or your general field, were very quickly and easily understood, at the end of the tests, only one user had seen both your eBook and your coaching services. One user missed that you’ve written a book and thought it was “jump in or go home,” while another had seen the eBook and completely missed that you offer coaching. In following up with the two users who’d partially failed to understand what you offer, each said “the wording’s got to be clearer” to get them to click through, and one said “if he wants me to buy, why is he hiding it? Get in my face, at least a little.” Ironically this user had scanned right over your calls to action at the end of blog posts, many times, but never saw them.