Mobile Usability Testing
The majority of business activities take place on mobile devices. 90% of the time people spend on their phones is spent on mobile apps, hence making mobile usability testing more important than ever. As apps become an integral part of our daily lives, this also means that despite the small screen size, users expect your mobile app to be completely intuitive. The same applies to websites accessed via a mobile device.
In this article, I’ll provide you with a testing checklist that will help you when conducting mobile app, and website usability testing.
What is mobile usability testing?
Mobile usability testing of a website is an essential step in ensuring your website is user-friendly and provides a positive experience for mobile users. Mobile usability testing evaluates how well users can interact with your website on various mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Why you should conduct a mobile usability test?
Usability testing helps you ensure that your application adds value to your business and meets end-user expectations. Ensuring your mobile app is user-friendly can help you improve customer satisfaction, reduce time spent on customer support, and increase sales and revenue.
Here is a list of reasons why it is important to conduct a mobile app usability test before officially releasing it for public download.
· See how users interact with the app and what confuses them
· Provide a delightful user experience
· Discover opportunities to enhance design
· Identify challenges in design
· Saving money on expensive development resources
· Find usability issues early
When should you do mobile usability testing?
The earlier that testing is done, the better. A usability test can quickly find and correct major usability problems that might be extremely difficult or costly to fix in a finished product. Once you already have a mobile-friendly prototype of your app, it’s time to start testing. Testing a mobile app prototype before starting development will save you a lot of time and money later.
- Early Design Phase
Absolutely, designing wireframes and prototypes in the early design phase is a best practice for conducting usability testing. Wireframes and prototypes are valuable tools for conducting usability testing early in the design process. They help identify and resolve usability issues, collect user feedback, and optimize the design and development workflow, ultimately leading to a more efficient and user-centered end product.
- During pre-development
You can test the final app design and interface for usability before starting the development process. Usability testing is an iterative process that should ideally continue throughout the entire development lifecycle. However, starting with usability testing before development can help you lay a solid foundation for a successful, user-friendly application.
- During development
Testing at this stage allows developers to ensure that the application is built according to the expected functionality and design. While early testing is essential, it is also important to continue testing throughout the development cycle, and identifying vulnerabilities early in the development process enables quick solutions and prevents problems from affecting later phases.
- During Beta Testing & Soft Launch
Involving real users during beta testing or a soft launch is an essential part of the usability improvement process. Their experiences and feedback make a crucial contribution to ensuring that the app is user-friendly, effective, and well-received by the target group. The feedback collected during this phase can be helpful in making last-minute adjustments before the app’s official release.
- Post-Launch Phase
Even after an app is released to the public, usability testing remains relevant as it helps identify problems, collect user feedback, and make improvements for a better user experience. However, this testing is an ongoing process to ensure your app remains relevant, competitive, and user-friendly. Regularly collecting feedback and making improvements based on user needs and expectations can contribute to the long-term success of the application and user satisfaction.
What can you test?
- Native mobile applications
You can perform mobile usability testing of a mobile application that already exists in the AppStore or Google Play. If there is a beta version available you can test it. This is a great way to evaluate user experience before a new major release or feature is released to the public.
- Prototypes
Mobile usability testing of prototypes is popular because it allows you to see how users perform common tasks on mobile screens while the screens are still in the design phase. This allows prototypes to be tested, which means usability problems can be discovered early in the design process.
- Websites
You can also test websites (or web apps) that display in a mobile browser. Although the current trend is for mobile screens to get bigger every year, screens remain small and websites need to adapt. Smartphone users behave differently than desktop users. This is why it is not a good idea to neglect usability testing of your website on a mobile device.
What should you check in a mobile test?
During mobile testing, it is important to check the app’s compatibility with different devices, test the interface and user experience, and ensure that the app’s functionality and performance are flawless. In addition, security and data protection should also be taken into account when testing mobile devices.
Here are some Mobile usability testing checklists.
- Navigation
1. Test that the navigation elements are clear and visible on the mobile screen. Users should easily find and recognize the navigation menu, buttons, or links.
2. Ensure that the navigation elements are easily accessible for mobile users.
3. Navigation labels should be concise, descriptive, and easy to understand. Make sure the wording is clear, and avoid jargon or ambiguous terms.
4. Check that interactive elements (e.g., buttons and links) are large enough to be tapped with fingers, and they should have adequate spacing between them to prevent accidental taps.
5. Ensure that the navigation structure and placement remain consistent throughout the mobile website.
6. Test the mobile website’s navigation on various mobile devices, such as iPhones, Android phones, and tablets, to ensure that it functions well across different platforms.
7. Verify that the navigation is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Provide clear alt text for images, consider keyboard navigation, and ensure compatibility with screen readers.
8. Navigation should not significantly affect the website’s loading time or overall performance. Test on slower connections and older devices to identify potential issues.
9. Test navigation across different mobile browsers to ensure it works consistently and without errors.
10. Mobile-specific gestures like swiping, pinching, or double-tapping can enhance navigation on mobile devices. Ensure that these gestures are intuitive and responsive.
11. Navigation should gracefully handle errors, such as broken links or missing pages, and provide clear error messages to guide users back on track.
- Clickable elements, buttons
This may seem obvious, but it should be clear to the user which elements are clickable and which are not. Verify that if something looks like a button it also acts like it.
- Main tasks
Focus on What is your app’s purpose, the main thing people use it for? What is its most important feature? That’s exactly what you need to be testing. Ex: usability test for an online banking app, want to find out how easy it is for the users to transfer money through it.
- Icons
Icons are an important part of mobile app UX design. Mobile apps often don’t have enough space to accommodate both the icon and the descriptive caption. Therefore, your app icons should be recognizable and clear enough to speak for themselves.
- The size of the buttons, the rule of thumb
Evaluate the size of clickable elements. They should be large enough to be tapped with fingers comfortably to prevent accidental taps. Follow platform guidelines for touch target size (e.g., Android Material Design guidelines, iOS Human Interface Guidelines,).
- Loading speed
Users expect mobile websites and apps to load quickly, and slow loading times can lead to frustration and abandonment. Assess the website’s loading speed on different devices and connections, ensuring it’s optimized for mobile. Measure and record key performance metrics, such as page load times, time to interactive (TTI), first, and other relevant speed indicators. Use performance testing tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, or GTmetrix.
- The Login Process
Testing the usability of the login process is extremely important because it allows you to identify any obstacles or errors that may arise. Because if a user has trouble logging into your app, there’s a 100% chance they won’t use it again.
- Form Submissions
Test the functionality of forms, such as registration or checkout. Check for input fields, error messages, and validation.
- Mobile-First Design
Confirm that the website follows mobile-first design principles. Ensure that the most critical content is readily accessible on smaller screens.
- Consistency
Test that the user experience remains consistent when switching between portrait and landscape orientations.
- Device Compatibility
Test the website on various devices with different screen sizes, resolutions, and operating systems. Check compatibility across Android and iOS platforms, these are two drastically platforms.
Conclusion
In summary, mobile-friendliness is a crucial aspect of website design and development and should not be underestimated. As more and more people access the internet via their mobile devices, it is critical for businesses and websites to prioritize mobile-friendly UX designs. Pay attention to factors like responsive design, touchscreen navigation, and fast loading times. Testing should start from the prototype stage, test apps before and after launch, then redesign and test them again. With the help of mobile usability testing, you can provide your mobile users with a seamless and pleasant experience.
