What is UX Testing and Why You Should Invest in it?
User Experience Testing or Usability Testing may seem a dispensable step of the UX design process to some, however, this shouldn’t be avoided just for the sake of saving some bucks and time. At times, clients ask their vendors to scratch off the UX testing from their design services, believing that it is of little or no consequence and would instead delay the work and incur additional costs.
Well, this is not true. Skipping UX testing can be a drastic move and may compel you to spend more money later on in the project to rectify the arising issues. So, ultimately, you will end up spending more than what you thought you would save.
User experience testing possesses great importance in a software design project. Without it, a design may appear incomplete or unsuccessful. Wondering what benefits it offers or why you should invest in UX testing? Let’s find out. But before we enter that segment, let’s have a quick overview of what UX testing is.
What is UX testing?
UX Testing or User Experience Testing (also referred to as Usability Testing) is a testing method to measure how easy it is for users to operate the software application or check how user-friendly it is. Through this, the design team looks to address a few important questions, such as-
1. Does the software let users instantly understand what it intends to do?
2. Can the users quickly figure out how to use the software?
3. Is the software able to effortlessly complete the desired task?
4. Is it flexible enough to handle every user action?
Besides, the team also checks whether the users can trust the software with task assistance and then works on resolving all the usability issues. UX testing is usually done during the initial design phase of the software development life cycle to get more visibility into users’ expectations.
Why is UX testing important?
Usability testing, when done at the right time in the right way and with the right set of people, minimizes the risk of developing the wrong product. The reason why it is recommended to perform user experience testing at an early stage, like during the paper prototyping phase, is because it helps UX designers to identify the problems and fix them when it’s an easy and economical deal. In the later stage of the design process, it might require more time, money, and resources.
There have been cases of many websites and applications that failed miserably in the market despite showing promising signs simply because they contained too many flaws and couldn’t meet the user expectations. This is why User Experience testing is important so that the product remains flawless and can be saved from future failure. Although a product failure can be due to many other reasons as well, if it is not good enough for the users to operate in the first place, there are very few chances of the product succeeding unless worked upon well.
Why should you invest in UX testing?
Since UX testing tends to eliminate various usability issues, it helps companies significantly improve their KPIs. Let’s dig deep to understand why it’s worth investing in UX testing.
1. Saves Extra Costs
UX testing provides you with early user feedback which allows you to fix bugs when they aren’t critical. Early fixes take less time and money to implement which otherwise might exceed your budget at the later stage. Fixing errors post-development can be 100x more expensive than during development. Errors need not necessarily be bugs, it could be a wrong assumption about user behavior, complicated navigation, inaccessible design, unnecessary features, etc. These expensive errors can only be avoided when you receive early feedback from your target users and then curate designs that are research-based and user-centered. This not only saves you from spending thousands of extra dollars but cuts down hundreds of engineering hours.
Additionally, when your software is bug-free, there is less burden on your customer support team as they have to deal with fewer queries regarding the software functionality. So, identify your customer problems and try to resolve them proactively.
2. Boosts Conversions and Revenue
Everyone wants to improve the conversion rate for their business, and needless to say, more conversions bring in more revenue. Companies invest heavily in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) techniques which seem a good approach but wouldn’t help much if the tactics are based on assumption rather than actual understanding of the users. To improve and scale up your conversions, it’s important that you perform some upfront user research. Doing so will provide you with real insights into user behavior, such as, where do users get stuck, which areas are causing them frustration, where do they have trouble understanding something, and more. Once you test those areas and have an idea of your users’ pain points, you can adjust the changes in your design accordingly. User-friendly software that fulfills users’ needs is very likely to convert them into regular customers.
3. Builds Customer Loyalty
Furthermore, user experience testing is of great help to improve customer retention and customer loyalty. This is because people who get a positive experience using your software are likely to stick to your business and may turn into brand advocates. A positive customer experience binds users to your product. When you work towards improving user experience, where we not only mean from the design perspective but the overall relationship, it helps minimize the churn rate and automatically increases customer loyalty.
In other words, rigorous usability testing helps ensure that the target users remain completely satisfied when using your software. And when they feel that the product is good enough to help them complete their tasks or achieve the desired outcome, they are motivated to keep using it, which paves the way for a large and loyal user base.
Usability Testing Methods
There are different types of usability testing methods. To pick a relevant one, one should have a clear understanding of the target audience, research objectives, and available resources.
1. Lab Usability Testing
This usability testing takes place inside a lab under the supervision of a moderator or an observer. The role of the moderator is to obtain feedback from the users. The test participants are provided with certain tasks. During the course, the moderator observes the behavior of users, and later when the testing session is over, asks them questions, and also replies to their feedback.
2. Remote Usability Testing
This type of UX testing doesn’t require the test participants and the moderator to be together in a physical location. As the name suggests, they are remotely located. Test subjects take the assigned task on a system. While they perform the task, their screen activity (mouse movement, clicks, scrolling), facial expressions, and voice are automatically recorded by the software. The moderator analyzes this data to understand how the users interact with different page elements.
3. Guerilla Testing
In this type of UX testing method, tests are done in a public place. Random test participants are chosen and asked to perform a quick usability test, often in exchange for a gift or some other incentives. It’s one of the most simple testing methods and helps acquire real-time user feedback about the prototype. The only drawback associated with this testing method is that the random participants may or may not represent the ideal target audience, and that’s why this won’t be a viable option for a product that’s made for a specific audience.
Other usability testing methods include contextual inquiry/interviews, phone interviews, and card sorting. There are a few others as well but these are the popular ones.
The Bottom Line
User Experience testing possesses great advantages for companies to uncover issues in the software, learn about user behavior and preferences, and discover new opportunities to enhance the product design, which eventually results in a great end-product and satisfied end-users. So, don’t hesitate to invest in UX testing, and if you have any related concerns, you can contact our team at info@dewsolutions.in or connect with us here.
Originally published at https://www.dewsolutions.in on March 9, 2021.
