We just finished a report that compares Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, with Google.

Our goal for this study was to gather users’ general impressions of the Google and Bing search engines, including overall functionality, presentation of content, and overall fit with user expectations and needs. We also wanted to see how much attention users paid to advertising space on the two sites.

To read the full report, check out the PDF Google vs. Bing

We’re excited to publish a new Catalyst Group report we finished that takes a look at three major financial services websites: chase.com, capitalone.com, and discovercard.com.

Our goal for this study was to gain some understanding of what company makes it easiest (and most difficult) for users to complete the crucial task of “applying for a new credit card”. The study was structured to gather and compare eye tracking data during task completion relating to several metrics.

To read the full report as a PDF, check out Extra Credit: An Eye Tracking study of Credit Card Websites.

We’re very excited to publish the report from a study we just completed that compared two common layouts for “friends list” on social / business networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Our goal for this study was to deploy our Eye Tracking service in an extremely focused manner – directed at a particular step in the core workflow of a site. We decided to look at friends lists because of the layout variations that exist and also because these pages represent a very important aspect of the core value of these sites – i.e. the ability to scan a list of people for a recognizable name or relevant title.

The results were pretty clear and the study represents a good example of how Eye Tracking can help to make concrete design decisions that can have significant business benefit.

You can download the report here.

This is a whole-hearted, though somewhat belated shout out to our good friends at AARP. We were SO thrilled to have been a part of the organization’s efforts to encourage volunteerism among its membership. We hope that our design (both User Interface and Visual Design) for Create the Good will strike the right balance of seriousness of purpose and enthusiasm for “doing good.”

Our posts about Fresh Direct customer service (the first one positive, and the second one negative), continue to draw significant traffic and comments to CoFactors. Not necessarily all that relevant to our business, but at this point it feels almost like a public service; we’ve become an inadvertent customer service “hub” for Fresh Direct. Hey, if people want to share their views here, that’s cool with us. Full Article »