The What, Why & How of Usability Testing
Before delving deep into the ‘usability testing’, you need to understand exactly what the meaning of ‘Usability’ is. In simple terms, we can define usability as the level of ease that enables users to get to their goals. Otherwise, it can be stated that usability is the ease of access and use of an object effectively.
Usability is not only about product design but is a crucial part of apps, websites, and of overall user interfaces. You can take the example of different products such as an e-commerce website or an app, then it becomes clear how vital it is to assess interfaces’ usability.
In a nutshell, usability testing is the process of product evaluation that involves the potential users in it to survey. It is a popular UX research methodology. When it comes to a website or app, the UX designers and developers perform a few selected software testing. However, talking about usability testing, it seems impossible for the same designers to see all of its failings themselves as it undergoes different stages.
This is where the role of usability testing methods comes into play.
Although the users have their ideas concerning user friendliness, the truth is that we can’t define it easily. UX designers are accustomed to usability testing. Dissimilar to art, websites have to be as simple as much as possible to be used by website visitors. Therefore, businesses adopt general usability testing to make small developments to their web page over time.
In other words, Usability Testing for UX design is an effort to assess the usability of a product. And, the most effective and common way of evaluating it is by involving users to test your product and observing their behavior as they do so.
For instance, if you are designing an eCommerce website, then the most effective way of testing it is by having a user experience the platform while you observe them. If the users feels comfortable through your interface and winds up achieving their goal, then everything is fine.
Technically, the usability testing process gets involved to evaluate the crucial aspects, including the overall website structure, the precision of contents, and the navigation flow. The observer and technical department with Usability Testing will recreate real-world set-ups where the user will be using your product. This testing process is completely based on the end customer. It shows whether they are comfortable with the website’s interface and how easy it is to navigate and explore. Then, as an action item, the designing team will further go in deep to minimize these issues.
There are different ways of usability testing methods available that are used by the evaluators such as remote or in-person, moderated or unmoderated, Guerilla testing, lab testing, card sorting, tree testing, and comparative research, etc.
Why usability testing is crucial?
These days, websites and apps are an integral part of any business strategy. And, people use a range of devices to visit websites that makes usability more important. The goal is to allow a smooth user experience and decrease the friction in user behavior. This is where usability testing helps designers understand different variables that can be included in designing a modern user interface as per the requirement.
Top reasons why you should conduct usability testing?
Retain visitors
One in three Internet users will leave a website or not download your app. However, websites should be able to retain visitors and influence them to purchase your products. If your visitors do not get a better experience, they won’t bother coming back. Moreover, there are many competitors to attract them.
The paucity of a good interface, better-constructed task flows, and much more technical issues are the main reasons for not attracting visitors. And these issues can be effectively identified and resolved by usability testing methods and accurate monitoring.
Know which parts of your website fail
Usability testing can help you find out the exact reasons or parts of your website that are letting you down. With e-commerce websites, visitors abandon their shopping carts and checkouts. Different issues might be there. However, testing usability can reduce the dropout rate.
For example, Amazon, makes it super easy for visitors to add, edit, stop, and continue their shopping. Moreover, it makes the whole check out and payment process simple.
Understand your customers properly
What exactly your users want, how they think, and use your website are the few fundamental things you need to understand and without it, you can never provide a good service or product. Usability testing will give you a better understanding of your visitors. Moreover, you can think as the customer thinks.
On the flip side, if users’ experience will be hassle-free, they will most likely stick around and use it the next time and purchase your products. The more your app or website is usable, the more retention and customer satisfaction you will get effectively. In a nutshell, usability is directly connected to profit. When you use Usability testing, you can thrive as a business.
Key benefits of the testing of usability
- Identifying issues in the designing part of the product or service
- Finding solutions to resolve
- Knowing about the user’s behavior and preferences
How does usability testing work?
There is a process of conducting usability testing, as given below-
Set your goals
Before conducting the testing of usability, you need to set your goals and make sure why you are doing it. Make sure which specific methodology you intend to follow. It will dictate the way you proceed and the results you end up with.
Recruiting participants
To perform this test and test your products, hiring the real users is the most vital step and they should not be part of your UX design or development process. Make sure your focus is on quality more than quantity while recruiting. Additionally, whom and how you recruit depends on your testing goals and budget.
Designing Tasks
When the real users are using your product or service, observe them, and ask them to finish specific tasks. Make sure you have designed actual task scenarios for the participants and it will help you achieve the best results.
Running the session
When running the session, the moderators ought to follow a set protocol with each partaker to ensure uniformity. Whether it is your website or app, you should try to visually record your sessions. Ask them to carry out the task scenarios while taking detailed notes. However, there should be some space for personalization for a better experience.
Analyze and fix
Now, to the most crucial aspect of the testing methodology is analyzing the data. Here, you need to collate and conclude the findings precisely. I
The usability testing methods may vary with different companies and products. Looking for the best UX designing team for your products and services? You can visit www.divami.com
Originally published at https://www.divami.com on December 10, 2020.
