Is the user always right?

Those of us who hold dear the notion that the user of our Web sites is king are perplexed when that user does something that doesn’t make sense. Here’s a great example: We just completed some user testing in preparation for a site redesign, and there were a number of content sections that relate directly to the patient experience. Things like “what it’s like to be a patient at Hospital X,” or “driving directions” or “parking information.”  So where did all but one user put that content?  In a grouping that could best be described as “about us". In with the news releases, information about the hospital’s “culture” and all kinds of typical stuff that sites have, but which usually is meaningless to most patients. So what to do? It’s like anything else. We have to apply our best judgment. I worked with an insane executive (who hasn’t?) who used to stop rank-and-file employees in the hallway and scare the you-know-what out of them by asking, “What business are you in?” After a little stammering and sweating, they would answer with something like, “I’m in the accounting business,” or, “I’m in sales.” To which the insane executive would respond, “No, you are in the judgment business. We could get anybody to do accounting.  We hired you because we trust your judgment. Now go use it.” Maybe he wasn’t so insane, after all. So we recommended to our client that they put those “patient centered” content elements in a Patients & Visitors section. My guess is our test subjects didn’t even think of a category like that, and if they are looking for directions, visiting hours, etc., they’ll find them in a Patients & Visitors section. But we’ll add a link from the “about us” section, just in case I’m wrong!