Why Usability Testing is important?
Conducting usability testing for user centric interfaces
Usability testing is an ideal way to make contact with users. It helps us to see if we have met the user expectations, as example if we have designed an element on a web or a mobile application we need to figure out or cross-check whether it works for the users. Using usability testing we can allow the users to experience it or play with it get the exact insight. It may sound similar to market research but the key difference is that usability testing is all about allowing the user to mingle with it without zero support or help from us.
Another important fact is that the application should need to match the final business outcome with real-world use and the key reason why usability testing is standing out is that usability testing reduces the risk of building the wrong thing. In simple terms, it finds problems and concerns when they are still cheap and easy to fix. So the key practical benefit of usability testing is that it helps us to get insight into how well users can use our design.
The key types of usability testing
- Formative testing using low-fidelity interfaces (Quick insights based)
- Summative testing using high-fidelity interfaces (Metrics based)
- Down the hallway testing is very informal where you simply get hold of a friend or your colleague down the hallway, sit with them, and have them use the design.
The difference between low-fi and high-fi testing
Low-fi testing is purely based on a paper prototype. It can be a clickable throw-away HTML. It’s easy to get feedback during low-fi testing mainly because it’s easy to do the corrections whereas in high-fi testing mainly on matured fully developed HTML’s and it’s hard to incorporate or make corrections in high-fi designs. The key thing in usability testing is that it’s a repetitive process where it’s good to do the testing as many times as you need to.
Usability Testing is an Iterative Process
To make usability testing work best, you should:
1) Plan
a. Define what you want to test. Ask yourself questions about your design/product. What aspect/s of it do you want to test? You can make a hypothesis from each answer. With a clear hypothesis, you’ll have the exact aspect you want to test.
b. Decide how to conduct your test e.g., remotely. Define the scope of what to test (e.g., navigation) and stick to it throughout the test. When you test aspects individually, you’ll eventually build a broader view of how well your design works overall.
2) Set user tasks
a. Prioritise the most important tasks to meet objectives (e.g., complete checkout), no more than 5 per participant. Allow a 60-minute timeframe.
b. Clearly define tasks with realistic goals.
c. Create scenarios where users can try to use the design naturally. That means you let them get to grips with it on their own rather than direct them with instructions.
3) Recruit testers
Know who your users are as a target group. Use screening questionnaires (e.g., Google Forms) to find suitable candidates. You can advertise and offer incentives. You can also find contacts through community groups, etc. If you test with only 5 users, you can still reveal 85% of core issues.
4) Facilitate/Moderate testing
Set up testing in a suitable environment. Observe and interview users. Notice issues. See if users fail to see things, go in the wrong direction or misinterpret rules. When you record usability sessions, you can more easily count the number of times users become confused.
Ask users to think aloud and tell you how they feel as they go through the test. From this, you can check whether your designer’s mental model is accurate: Does what you think users can do with your design match what these test users show?
To assess user behaviour we can use these metrics:
Quantitative — time users take on a task, success and failure rates, effort (how many clicks users take, instances of confusion, etc.)
Qualitative — users’ stress responses (facial reactions, body-language changes, squinting, etc.), subjective satisfaction (which they give through a post-test questionnaire) and perceived level of effort/difficulty
Overall, you should test not your design’s functionality, but users’ experience of it. Some users may be too polite to be entirely honest about problems. So, always examine all data carefully.
Conclusion
In my personal opinion, I believe that usability testing helps us to check in with user expectations and it’s a way to make sure or identify that as a designer I have not adhered to my ideas about the application. This helps us to get insight, accuracy, and focus on how the end-user will use it.
End of the day as designers our ultimate goal is to make sure that the user journey is enjoyable, interactive, and engaging therefore I strongly believe usability testing is vital in user centred designs.
