Target Usability Lab

When we were at the Target usability lab, Pam, who headed the lab, wanted Fred, our classmate, to examine a list of gifts (from the website) for potential purchase for the soon-to-be-married couple. Fred resisted saying the following:

“No pricing? I’m already trying to differentiate pricing. Wow! Is it like jewelry-store pricing? If there’s no price, is it an I-don’t-want-to-know kind of thing?”

Pam replied, “If you’re stuck and can’t move on, I might say something like- I don’t know the answer to that. How do you want the pricing thing to work?”

Instead of ignoring Fred’s concern about the lack of utility in seeing prices, Pam explained how she would investigate the issue further. Conversely, Pam could have redirected Fred to a question regarding the usability of a specific area of the page. Instead, she took time to see what value she could find in Fred’s observation regarding the perceived lack of utility in price posting.