In yet another example of positive benefits of testing and user feedback, Office Depot is poised to roll-out a newly redesigned website based on months of testing and feedback, Internet Retailer reports.  Using an A/B model of testing, Office Depot has created a new design that customers say is much more intuitive and gets them to the product much faster.

Office Depot has apparently been collecting data on its existing website for over a year and that information was put to use in the creation of the new design.  Promotions receive a more prominent location in the revamped look as well as some of Office Depot's lesser known service.  The company also plans to use the new website as a focal point for it's international efforts, which include over 40 websites.

I'm going to wait for a minute.  Because I know you know what I'm going to say and I want you to say it along with me:  test, test, and test again!

I've been telling you about the importance of testing since the day this blog launched.  I really can't stress it enough.  But I'm going to continue to show you examples of what other companies are doing because I know a lot of the people who read this blog probably aren't the ones in control of the purse strings.  You should be printing or bookmarking all of these examples to present to that purse-string-controller when you tell them why your company needs to do the same thing.

The presentation is simple:  print out the relevant articles from these posts… call a meeting… turn to your supervisor and say something along the lines of "hey… I think we need to run some tests"… put the articles and case studies in front of him or her… snap your fingers and wink… and leave the room.

Well maybe you shouldn't snap and wink… but you should definitely call that meeting and seriously consider starting a testing program.