Testing in the Wild

4 Tips for Conducting Guerrilla Usability Tests

Guerrilla usability testing is low-budget, informal, non-scientific research. More so, it is the art of “pouncing on lone people in cafes and public spaces, [then] quickly filming them whilst they use a website for a couple of minutes” (Martin Belam).

Here is the personal account of what I did and my learnings while conducting a guerrilla usability test:

1. Choose When and Where

People at a food court at noon are on their lunch break. People on their lunch breaks do not have time.

I set-up inside a food court with $5 Starbucks card incentives, (a minute walk from Starbucks) and began my recruiting. I was rejected time and time again.

Not ready to give up, I walked to Starbucks. Soon I learned that once a potential participant has entered the store, its too late; after they have left, they have somewhere they need to be. After relocating to a table right outside of Starbucks, I began asking potential participants before they entered. To my surprise, I successfully began recruiting participants and you can’t imagine how stoked that made me.

2. Script Your Recruiting

“Hey we’re giving away $5 Starbucks cards for 5 minutes of your time.”

I learned the hard way that no feeling is worse than summoning up the courage to approach a total stranger, and then not knowing what to say (Belam). Although initially I did not have a script, I came up with one on the spot and it worked. I avoided words such as survey, study and test, as well as niche terms including usability.

My next step was channelling my past, college salesman job. I spoke to the reward first and fast, mentioned the incentive was free, and then asked for their time. Once they decided that they wanted the gift card, I had them hooked.

3. Choose Your Participants

Ask people who are alone, walking slow and dressed casual.

As mentioned before, rejection happened more often than not. And anyone who tells you recruiting is easy is a liar. What helped me recruit participants was to be selective with those I asked. Although I did not succeed in recruiting everyone, I recruited enough participants to validate my design, and that is what matters.

4. Look for Trends & Iterate

If participants start to mention/do the same things over & over. Iterate on the design and see what works.

During our test I quickly noticed trends with my participants. The tasks in which one participant was unsuccessful, soon became an issue for others. Keeping my eyes peeled, I documented where these failure points occured, and most importantly why my participants could not complete those tasks. With this new user insight, it was time for me to iterate!

Thank you all for reading; please comment and share. I would love to hear any feedback and personal usability stories. Thank you @PaulZaino for co-leading this research opportunity.

Sources & Further Reading:

The Art of Guerrilla Usability Testing — David Peter Simon — Overview on process and technique on guerrilla usability

10 tips for ‘ambush guerilla user testing’ — Martin Belam — 10 tips learned from practicing guerrilla usability

How To Run Your Own Guerrilla Usability Testing — John Chan & Jonathan Kift — Slide Deck on running your own guerrilla usability tests