Conducting remote usability testing with Slack
Other screen sharing software is available… but I like Slack.
How do you test a solution to a problem when the people you’re trying to solve it for aren’t in the same city… or even country? What started as playing around with Slack’s new screen share functionality, has allowed our design team to successfully conduct remote user testing — without the price tag 💸
The Problem 🤔
At ResDiary we have over 7600 restaurants using our software to manage their reservations in 57 countries around the world. As a UX/UI Designer, staying in touch with such a distributed userbase can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. Sadly, I don’t have the luxury of jet-setting around with my prototypes, but I still want to make sure our users are having the best possible experience with our product. I had to find a new way to keep in touch.
There are some great tools designed for remote usability testing out there, like UserTesting and Lookback. However, when it comes to testing prototypes, many of these options either didn’t allow you to provide your own test participants, or record audio from both microphones. It seemed that none had quite the right functionality, or they cost a significant amount of money. So what was the best way for me to conduct remote testing with everyone from cafés in Croydon to restaurants in Rome?
The Solution 🚀
As luck would have it, just when I was faced with this unfortunate gap in the market, all-round communications hero Slack announced that they would be introducing screen sharing to their call functionality.
This got me thinking, all I really needed was the ability to record one of these calls and capture the audio from both microphones.
After a little trial and error… Success 🎉
“Why didn’t you just use Skype?” 🙋
This will work in pretty much the same way using Skype if you choose to. In fact it is maybe a more recognisable name for your participants. In my experience I find the quality of calls from Slack to be higher. Both video and audio are crystal clear. This means I can hit record and not have to worry about anything being missed.
DIY 🛠
To do this yourself you need a few things.
- A Slack team on a Standard Pricing plan (Free doesn’t allow screen share). We already use Slack daily at ResDiary, so all we did was add a free single channel guest. You should invite your guest and have them install the desktop app in preparation.
- A prototype to test. I use InVision for this purpose, which has the added bonus of being able to revoke shared links once the test has concluded.
- Screen recording software. I use a Mac, so Quicktime was the obvious choice.
- Loopback by Rogue Amoeba. (I’m not sure of a Windows/Linux alternative. Please add to the comments.)
- Headphones (I used my Apple ones as they have an inbuilt mic). The one downside to this method is that if you don’t use headphones then the recorded video will have feedback.
That’s all you really need. Below are a couple of gifs to help illustrate the settings.
Loopback Settings
To record audio from 2 sources using Loopback is as simple as adding them and unchecking “Mute audio sources.”
Quicktime Settings
In Quicktime you need to change the microphone settings for a screen recording to “Loopback Audio.”
Start a call on Slack, ask your test subject to share their screen and then using Quicktime you want to record the portion of your screen containing the chat window.
Conclusion ✅
It might be a bit clunky in comparison to some of the available alternatives, but what it does allow for is the freedom to record what you need with who you want. I can’t wait to see how this will help us at ResDiary to involve our users from allover the world.
I’d love to hear about how you make this work for you, or how you conduct your remote testing.
