What is user testing?

User testing is a user research methodology used to gather insights on the user experience (UX) of a website, app or prototype. Real users or customers to match target audiences are recruited to complete tasks and provide feedback on their experience. It is an important technique for improving user experience, customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Why use user testing?

User testing is a valuable source of qualitative data on your digital experience.

Other tools such as web analytics data, click tracking and scroll maps tell you what is happening on your website. User testing is one of the tools that can help you understand why that behaviour is occurring.

For example, perhaps your web analytics data has highlighted a low add to cart conversion rate. It is very difficult to understand from web analytics alone why that is the case. User research methodologies such as user testing allow you to gather qualitative data from real users or customers as they feedback their thoughts on the experience. What did they like and dislike and what may be causing friction and be a barrier to conversion. You can start to understand more about the users or customers needs, behaviour and motivation by observing them completing tasks on the site as they speak their thought process out loud. Is there any other information they would require before making a purchasing decision, is the add to cart journey not clear or maybe there are elements of the site that don’t drive enough trust for a customer to convert.

A user testing study provides real human insight that is simply not available via other web analytics tools. Using this insight you can address the insight you have discovered to improve your user experience and conversion rate.

Methods of user testing

There are some different methods of user testing that can be utilised, depending on the type of research required, the available budget, resource and timescales.

Remote unmoderated

Remote unmoderated usability testing is a research methodology where a user is recruited into a usability testing study to complete tasks in their own home using their own device. In this type of study the user is set tasks to complete whilst their screen and spoken feedback are recorded. The researcher running the study is not present whilst the study is taking place and gets a recording back to review once the user has completed the study.

The benefit of this research methodology is that it creates a very natural environment for the user to complete the tasks. They are in a realistic setting and as the researcher is not present there is less bias due to the Hawthorne Effect which is where individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. The downside to this research methodology is that a researcher doesn’t have the opportunity to jump in and probe the user to detail more about an interesting behaviour they may have shown or to ask them further questions. There is only one opportunity to gather insights through the tasks and questions that you set the user ahead of the study.

Remote moderated

The remote moderated usability research set up is similar to the above — the user completes the tasks in their own home using their own device. However, in a moderated study the researcher is connected remotely to the session — through an interface like Sykpe or similar. This means that the researcher can jump in and ask the user further questions based on their behaviour and has more opportunity to gather additional insight from the user.

The considerations to take into account with this user research methodology are that is can be more costly and time intensive to set up. The researcher has to be available at the time the user is completing the study and also has to have a thorough understanding of how to effectively run a moderated study so the highest quality insights can be extracted and bias is not introduced.

Moderated lab based

In a moderated lab based usability research study a user is recruited to physically attend a user research lab with a team of researchers. In this type of study the user is typically in a room with one researcher who leads the study whilst the rest of the team can observe the user from behind a two-way mirror with an audio connection. These sessions are recorded so the team can refer back to what was captured and analyse the study.

Being physically present with the user in this type of research can allow for a deeper level of insight gathering — the researcher has the opportunity to ask further questions based on interesting observations and potentially get a better understanding of the users needs.

Moderated lab based sessions do typically require a greater level of organisation and logistics management, as well as a bigger research budget and more resource from the team involved.

What experiences are suitable for testing with a usability study?

In short, any digital experience or platform that a user can access via a link can be tested in a user research study. Users can test a live website on mobile, tablet or desktop. They can also test apps, intranets and software. If an experience is still in design or under development then a prototype or design file can also be shown to the user for their feedback. Clickable prototypes made in a tool such as Axure are particularly useful for prototype testing.

How often should you run user testing studies?

Regular usability testing is a practice that organisations should deploy on a regular basis as part of the standard digital process. This ensures human insight is prioritised and the user experience and conversion rate can be monitored and improved based on the outcomes of each study.

Monthly or quarterly studies are excellent practice that can act as regular temperature checks to monitor digital performance and improvements over time. It is also recommended that all new digital experiences go through at least one round of user testing before being launched onto a live environment.

What a usability test delivers

Running a usability study means collation of a huge amount of data and insight. Thorough analysis of this data by usability specialists at User Fountain delivers back to you

• A user testing report containing all of the actionable insights from your study. This includes user quotes and video clips, quantitative data (average task completion time, task success rate, lostness score, and task usability score), summary of insights, recommendations and next steps and a priority map
• Presentation of the results by an expert moderator so you can fully understand the key outcomes of the study and ask us any questions
• Full length videos of each user testing sessions

Where we are based

User Fountain is a user research agency based in London, UK offering a complete range of UX research services.

We offer our services globally and have a client base spanning from San Francisco to Hong Kong. We work on an international scale across multiple nationalities and languages.

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