Promotion of usability services in Russia?

Question

Marketing

Our company is engaged in the design of web application interfaces. Those who have already tried to sell such services should be familiar: most customers believe that in order to create a web project (for example, some regular CMS), you need to find a designer and a development team. The designer will quickly draw a beautiful interface with purple buttons, the programmers will write the code, and he, the customer, will become a millionaire. In reality, he is likely to be very disappointed: the product did not work, sales are not going on, users complain about the inconvenient interface, there is no money left for redesign.
This story repeats itself endlessly, and only a select few customers seriously consider investing in usability.
So how can you contribute to the progress in this area in Russia? How to convey the ideology of prototyping and user research to entrepreneurs? Where to look for these "chosen" customers who have already understood all this?

Answer 1

Probably the way www.usabilitylab.ru did it . That is, they took an active part in conferences on web marketing, web technologies, and so on. We released usability webinars and actively discussed our work. I blogged on Habré www.habrahabr.ru/company/usabilitylab
I don’t remember exactly, but in one of the webinars they said “The market was not ready, no one needed usability or no one understood why it was needed. As a result, before selling a product (service), we had to grow our customers.”
Now the truth is they are not noticeable on Habré. Looks like after the savings bank they went uphill and they don’t care about us mortals. :)
PS The question, in terms of the form of filing, is more like “I'm promoting”, to be honest, and not like “what to do”.

Answer 2

Because usability is all wild nonsense. It is enough just to look at the portfolio of our "specialists" to be convinced of their complete incompetence. Reading a few books and starting to figure out prototypes is not enough to be considered a specialist.
The only advantage of this pseudoscience is testing on real users.

Answer 3

You can try *in an unobtrusive form* to write to potential customers, pointing out the existing problems. You can get along with the designers (to become noticeable at a time when there is money for a redesign).

Answer 4

1. Saddle up a cool interface
2. Present it. Yes, even here
3. Profit
, I would love to read about the kitchen for making a really good interface

Answer 5

I would gladly give the site to be torn apart by usability specialists. It's research. Where can I look for specialists? On what basis should I make a decision? where is the price list, examples of work, statistics?

Answer 6

Maybe call the service not usability testing, but "audit of efficiency in order to increase the profit from the product", implying that the service will not only pay off, but also bring extra money? And guarantee it. Otherwise, there really is no use for a super-usable but not profitable interface. Look at 1C, MS Office - this horror is impossible to use for non-specialists, but sales are going on.
Also, by the way. We open usabilitylab, we read the first thing we see:

шаем задачи бизнеса
Мы повышаем качество жизни тех, кто использует информационные технологии (компьютеры, мобильные телефоны, бытовую и промышленную технику, управляемую микропроцессорами), за счет улучшения пользовательских интерфейсов, графических и голосовых.

Наши клиенты — как крупные, так и небольшие компании — от нефтяных корпораций до сайтов знакомств: банки, мобильные операторы, платежные системы, социальные сети и многие другие.

Качество нашей работы подтверждается их отзывами и тем имиджем, который мы сформировали и которым дорожим.

As a businessman, what do I care about improving the quality of life for users? I have another goal - to make a profit. This is what the ux-spec should sell - "increase in profits", and not the dubious Americanism of "usability"