First run: nobody reached the goal
In the first run all 27 personas stopped at the sign-up form, because the test then ended a walk at the first form it held back. The score was 33. The site was not the problem: the task asked for four more things after sign-up, and no persona got to them. We changed the test: a form held back now counts as sent, and the persona goes on with the rest of the task.
Second run: what the personas really met
Two hours later the same panel with the same task scored 41, and 8 of 27 personas reached the goal. Their notes pointed at real gaps:
- There was no article to read. Most personas spent their remaining steps looking for a blog.
- The contact page gave an email address and the refund rule but no street address, and several wary personas would not trust a company without one.
- There were no customer reviews.
- Prices were in US dollars only; a Ukrainian bargain hunter wanted the total in hryvnias.
What the test got wrong
Some notes were about the test, not the site, so we fixed the test. A “Continue with Google” button led to a stop page, and two personas took it for an error. Personas tried to click headings that were not links. One misread the button “Create an account” and reported a typo that was not there. And our page reader dropped the end of a paragraph after its first link, so personas missed the reply time promised on the contact page. All of this was fixed the same day.
What changed on the site
These guides are the answer to the missing article. The refund rule and the reply time were already on the contact page. A street address and customer reviews were still missing at the time of writing.
What we took from it
- Read the outcomes before the notes: 27 “stopped at a form” said more about the test than any single note.
- Check strange notes against the steps and screenshots: a typo the page does not have comes from the model, not the site.
- Keep the panel close to your customers: shop personas on a business tool report shop problems.
- Ask for what you want judged. A five-part task is a fair first look, but each part gets only a few steps.
