Is the intended audience for my website clear?

When a visitor lands on your website their primary goal is to find out if what you’re offering is for them as quickly as possible. Analytics from your site can tell you how many visitors bounce and how fast, but not why. A simple test with Poll the People can be used to learn about first impressions and if the intended audience is clear.

A quick preference test asking users about their first impression might seem like a short amount of time to understand your website, but people are very receptive to visuals and design. According to research conducted by Google, you only have a few seconds to attract users, it takes very little time for visitors to form an opinion of your site.

Asking questions like ‘What website is clearly for designers?’, ‘Which website is easier to understand?’, or ‘What website has a clear intended audience?’ are great starting points to understand if users can understand what you do and who can use your products or services. Don’t be afraid of asking more specific questions, but keep in mind these should be quick, first impression tests for participants to give opinions on your designs.

Website preference tests are most effective when you focus on just one key point, difference between designs, or question. Then use that feedback to change designs and ensure that the point of the website is clear or as a starting point for deeper research.

When it comes to analyzing test results, go through both the quantitative and qualitative data, the quantitative data will show you what design showed the intended audience the best, but the written responses will tell you why. When looking at the qualitative data you will be able to categorize them into groups that understood or misunderstood the intended audience. You’ll understand how effective the website is by reading through these responses and give you a insights into how to design better for future website changes.

In this example test, its clear that one website was clearly for designers and in the other it was harder to understand who it was for. This is the result you can expect from a website preference test with Poll the People. The feedback is useful for identifying themes, issues, or roadblocks that visitors encounter when landing on your site.

Don’t rely on the numbers exclusively, it’s important to read through every response so you don’t miss valuable insights.