Marketing advice from our Chief Canine Officers

Dear Chief Canine Officers:

I feel like I’m exposing myself to a lot of risk. I don’t think we have the time or budget to test, but I need to know how users will respond to our new work. Any ideas?

Sincerely,
Untested

Dear Untested:

We’re big believers in testing. That said, we do have a few pet peeves, like focus groups only serving M&M’s. Hello, not everyone can have chocolate.

In addition, we believe some marketers wrongly assume that user testing has to be conducted on a large scale. It doesn’t always. We don’t need to examine an entire 40-pound bag of Kibbles ’n Bits to know that there will be kibbles inside and there will be bits. (We just do it because it’s fun.)

Similarly, when it comes to usability, you can get a pretty accurate read on user reactions from quick testing of a very small sample size. We’ve made this informal testing a part of our regular web development process and even given it a name – Snap UT or Snap User Testing. It’s great because too much information simply causes inertia, and that’s already a big problem for us – just ask the couch.

For more on how you can test more efficiently and cost-effectively, we encourage you to talk to our human colleagues.

Chow (or Ciao),
Reilly and Henri, CCOs