Usability testing discussion guide for UX designers and user researchers

A Usability Testing Discussion Guide in the form of list of questions for UX Designers and Researchers in the stage of usability testing for product discovery. This guide should be trimmed according to need of the particular stage of testing required at the point in time. Please note that this is an exhaustive list of questions and should be used a reference guide while a User Researcher or a UX Designer is navigating the interview. Do NOT try to use all the questions in every interview as it would neither be feasible nor prudent for a standard 45 mins usability testing session and might overwhelm the participant.

The research goals for the usability testing interviews should to be set beforehand for best actionable output. Also participant information should be collected in the provided format prior to the study. This framework for testing clearly marks the following three steps in the testing process and the list of questions have also been sorted accordingly.

1. Pre Study
2. Study
3. Post Study

Participant Information

• Name: <Mr. J Smith>
• Designation: <CEO and Founder>
• Company: <Sun Duck>
• Location: <Panama Islands>
• Age: <50>
• Persona Type: <based on your product>

Research Goals

• Understand the usability of existing product features.
• Understand the processes and emotions while using the product or a competitor product.
• Understanding the tasks, features, and user flows that derive the most value.
• Understand user needs and frustrations related to tasks user perform on the product.
• Understand the which products and functionalities users currently use and a priority order for desirability of existing product features.
• Validate your solution’s unique value proposition.
• Identify common user behaviours and experiences while using the product.
• Identify User Pain Points. The most potential issues on a digital product design could be the following.

1. Navigation Issues in the product.
2. Copy writing and brand voice issues.
3. A misalignment between the users mental model and existing user flows.
4. Pin Point experiences that keep the user from completing their goal in using the existing product.

Pre Study Questions (15 mins)

Q1: Demographics

• Can you please tell me briefly about yourself? Your occupation?

Q2: Existing Approaches towards the product

• Can you please tell me about your day at work? And where does the < product > fit in?
• How often do you use the < product >? How much time do you use this for in a day? Frequency in a week?
• When was the last time you engaged with our product?
• What features do you use the most?
• Please describe your experience with these features on our product. Ease of Use.
• How satisfied are you with the existing product on a scale of 1 to 5?
• How many functionalities are useful/valuable to you? Could you rate these in the order of preference?

Q3: Responsive Analysis

• What all devices do you use the <product> on? Web? Mobile? Tab?

Q4: Competitor Benchmarking

• Have you used any other product like our <product> before? or do you know about them?
• Can you name some competitors of this product?
• How was your experience with other products? Compared to our product suite.

Study Questions (20 mins)

Q1 Observing User Behaviour

• What are you thinking as you view <specific page or feature>?
• If you were looking for <information>, where would you expect to find it?
• How was the experience of using the <product> to complete this task?
• What are your thoughts on the language used on this page?
• How easy or difficult was it to navigate?
• What’s your opinion on the way features and information are laid out?
• How long did it take the user to complete this task?

Q2 User Motivations and behaviours

• What do you think about this design? is the layout easy to use? Cluttered?
• Did you notice that there was an alternative way to do <X>? Why did you go with that option?
• Which of these two approaches/options do you find best? Why?
• How did this compare to <similar feature journey for competitor>?
• Do you think there is an easier way to accomplish [process] than what you just did?
• Why did you navigate to <Page A> instead of <Page B>?
• What motivated you to click <a specific interaction>?
• What prevents you from completing a task?
• I noticed you did <this> instead of <that>. Can you tell me why?
• I noticed you chose to do <action>. Why is that?
• Can you give me a few examples of real situations when [something] frustrated you while using the product?
• Is the interface easy to use?
• How did you find navigating to <X> page?
• What do you think <feature> is trying to communicate to you?
• You seemed to hesitate on the last step. What was going through your mind?
• Was there something missing from flow you had the user go through?
• Was there anything you wanted to find, but couldn’t?
• Is there anything here that confuses you?
• Walk me through every step you take to complete <task>.
• What additional tools do you need to complete <task>?
• What are the most annoying steps in <process to complete the task>?
• What are your favourite parts about <task>?
• How did you feel when learning how to do <task>?
• Have you ever failed to complete <task>?
• What would happen if you couldn’t complete <task>?

Post study Questions (10 mins)

Q1: End to End User Experience

• How would you describe your overall experience with the product?
• What did you like the most about using this product?
• What did you like the least?
• What, if anything, surprised you about the experience? Confuses you?
• Is there anything that could be differently done in your opinion? Would you change X?
• What features would make you more likely to use this product more?

Q2: Over all user impression

• On a scale from 1 to 5 (1=not at all likely, 5=very likely), how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?

Q3: Is there anything you would like to add?

This blog has been written with the intent of spreading free knowledge to help young UX Professionals in their day to day work. Please let me know if you have any inputs or more questions to be added in the comments section below and I will update the list with due credits.

Thanks for reading. Cheers!