Dear sulfericacid,
Many people are warning you that randomly switching the
layout and look-and-feel of your site is likely to harm
your site's usability. However, only you are in a position
to make that call. Maybe you know something that we don't.
Maybe your site is all about art and exploration, or maybe
your users come to your site for an "experience" and not
to find information, do their jobs, or purchase a product.
In any case, it's your call to make.
What's particularly interesting about your situation is
that it provides a perfect opportunity for all of us to
learn something. Is the common wisdom – that swapping UIs
frequently is "bad" – applicable to your site?
Let's find out!
Let's design a simple experiment to measure the effect of
random UI swapping on your users:
- Partition your users into two equally sized groups: the
experimental group (those who will be subjected to random UI swapping
every time they log in) and the control group (those who won't). To
eliminate bias among the UIs, each user in the control group should be
randomly assigned one of the two new UIs, which then becomes that
user's UI for the duration of the study.
- Whenever users log in, determine which group they are in and
select their UIs accordingly.
- After a month or so, analyze your logs, site feedback, etc. to
determine if there is a significant difference in behavior between the
experimental and control groups. (For example, if common wisdom is
correct, we would expect that site usage among experimental-group
users to drop off w.r.t. control-group users.)
Sounds like fun, don't you think? When it comes to your site, care to prove the
experts wrong? (Or right?)
Cheers,
Tom
Update: clarified wording.
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