How often do you listen to your power users?
Obviously, one of the goals of every site is to build a recurring user base - people who use the site day-in and day-out. This can be true for online auction sites, online department stores, online travel sites, etc. Though a lot of emphasis is placed on making the site attractive and usable for a first time user, and rightly so, there is also a need to maintain satisfaction with the “power” users. Having usability sessions, or even focus group sessions, with true power users of a product can be an eye-opening experience.
In one of our studies, the majority of users had logged into a particular site more than 400 times within the year. These power users came into testing armed with pages of notes on how they thought the site could improve. Some of these users knew the “ins and outs” of the site better than the development staff themselves! And, these users were eager to share their thoughts because they understood site improvements would increase their productivity and satisfaction with the site. We recommend doing research with these loyal users prior to making any major overhauls or minor tweaks to any main navigation or paradigms of your product, as these users will articulate how changes will affect their usage.
Though we would never recommend focusing only on the power users, there is definite merit in hearing their thoughts - and be aware they will share thoughts!