Sodablue Increases Usability of Online Printing Service

Challenge
Mimeo, an online printing company, needed objective and professional feedback prior to launching a new version of its online printing software. Mimeo was under a tight time frame and required accurate and actionable feedback that would maximize the usability of its new software upgrade. Their goal was to streamline the printing process for new users, without confusing long-time customers who regularly use Mimeo's feature rich application

Results
Mary Deaton, Sodablue's usability associate, led the testing team and harnessed her usability expertise to provide actionable insight from the start of the project. After first conducting an in-depth review of Mimeo's new software, Mary provided a report of concerns and recommendations based on industry standards and her experience. This report allowed Mimeo to begin to address usability issues prior to testing, and helped isolate the critical issues for testing. Sodablue then developed a test plan geared toward assessing these critical issues. After recruiting and narrowing a large candidate field down to six users that represented Mimeo's target-user group, Sodablue conducted a half-dozen usability tests at the University of Washington's state-of-the-art usability lab.

Based on observations in the usability lab, Sodablue identified key areas where users where experiencing significant problems. Sodablue then created an easy-to-read, but comprehensive report detailing these problems and listing actions Mimeo could take to reduce or eliminate user confusion. The report also contained numerous other recommendations related to individual functions, features, pages, and content.

Mimeo utilized Sodablue's findings to prioritize enhancements to its online print software and was able to build a more powerful and user-friendly version of its online printer software.

About Mimeo
Mimeo.com enables business professionals to print, bind, and deliver documents on demand via the Internet without leaving their desks. Documents submitted online by 10:00 pm ET can be delivered the next morning. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Mimeo.com created the world's first online digital printing and distribution SuperHub. This Document SuperHub is located in Memphis, TN. Mimeo.com automates the cumbersome process of printing, binding, and delivering business documents. The company's services result in lower organizational costs, faster turnaround, and higher-quality documents for its clients. Online tracking and delivery notifications are provided for all orders. Clients across all industries range from Fortune 100 Companies to small companies, including CitiGroup, Pfizer, jetBlue, TD Waterhouse, The Timberland Company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Perot Systems.

About Sodablue Partners
Sodablue Partners is a Web-optimization consulting firm that helps companies fully leverage the Internet to meet their business goals. We drive revenue, achieve cost savings and promote a better customer experience through the application of data analytics, usability studies, site-merchandising strategies, multi-channel e-commerce integration and effective project management. The principals at Sodablue Partners have a proven track record of charting successful online strategies at a wide range of companies including Amazon.com and Microsoft.

About Mary Deaton
Mary began her career in usability 16 years ago, while working with Microsoft's usability department to increase the effectiveness of software user-interfaces. She went on to receive a Master of Science from the University of Washington where she focused on user-centered design and human-computer interaction. Mary now specializes in conducting research during the early phases of design or redesign and defining user requirements in order to craft prototypes and design iterations.

Mary has lectured widely on usability and her articles are published in many journals. She is the author of a column on user-centered design for CNET Builder.com.

Mary's has conducted usability work for a broad set of industries including real estate, education, software and telecommunications. Her clients include Microsoft, Amazon.com, Acadio, Mortgage Equities, Inc., and the University of Washington.