A basic intro to usability testing and how to plan one
What is a usability test?
Usability testing refers to the evaluation of a product or service by testing it with representative users. It usually involves watching people as they try to complete the tasks given by the test moderator.
Usability studies are adequate to acquire qualitative or quantitative behavioral data and answer cognitive processes or the best approach.
Why?
We cannot predict exactly how people will respond to an interface without first testing it. Usability tests allow design and development teams to identify the most significant problems.
The sooner problems are identified and corrected, the less cost there will be, the better the experience, and the less impact it will have on the correction time.
Usability tests can also be used to validate and defend a hypothesis or assumption.
Planning- What you will need
- Define Objectives
- Determine the study format and orientation
- Determine the number of participants
- Recruit the right participants
- Write objective-oriented tasks of what you want to know.
- Do a first pilot test.
- Decide which metrics and success criteria.
- Write the plan
- Motivate other people on the team to observe
- Don’t forget to set objectives for the study.
Determine what you want to learn, identify the questions, concerns, and the reason for the research.
Example: Will it be easy for users to search for what they are looking for?
Don’t commit to too many goals in one study.
Determine the study format
Tests can be carried out in the laboratory or the field. Besides choosing the location, you will need to set a time for each participant and have an organized schedule.
Moderated or unmoderated
Moderate tests tend to provide more valuable insights and opportunities to answer questions or ask additional questions. They are also a better source of comments, of an open nature, by the participants.
Personally or Remote
Generally, studies should be carried out in person, whenever possible. However, when this possibility does not exist, you can opt for remote tests.
Determine the number of users
Traditional qualitative tests recommend 5 participants.
If the test involves more than one different group of users (groups with additional needs or goals), you should recruit 2 to 5 participants per group.
Recruit the right participants
The best insights are derived from getting feedback through real users. So it is preferable to recruit the most representative users that we can.
Identify people who identify with our personas and your demographic data.
Write tasks according to test objectives
In a usability test, people are asked to complete a series of activities while using an interface, product, or service. These activities or tasks are usually written within scenarios and meet the objectives of the study.
Writing contextual and realistic tasks is essential to conduct a valid usability test.
Tasks can be Exploratory or Specific.
Exploratory tasks
These tasks are there to learn how people discover or explore information. Therefore, they are not suitable for quantitative testing.
Example: You are interested in booking a vacation for your family. See if you can find what meets your needs.
Specific tasks
These tasks have a greater focus and usually lead to a correct answer or to the end of a flow. They are used in both quantitative and qualitative tests.
Example: Find the hours of operation of the municipal library.
Decide to collect metrics
Time is taken to complete the task, degree of satisfaction, success rate or error, and recommendations are some of the most common metrics to be used in usability tests.
Do a first pilot test
Pilot testing helps and fine-tunes the details of some tasks or your script. They can also help you know if you’re going to test with the right audience.
These pilot tests can be even more critical when it comes to unmoderated remote tests.
Lets test!
We are ready to start testing and validating our path. 😎
And don’t forget to bring a member of your team or the client himself if that’s the case. There is nothing more valuable than seeing real users using our product. It’s the easiest way to convince someone that the right changes have to be made!
