Guerrilla Usability Testing at a Startup

My UX partner and I conducted these guerrilla usability tests in downtown Ann Arbor, MI. We had never done these kinds of tests before, having been used to scheduled tests, so it was a little daunting. There are a couple of great articles on the web regarding tips and tricks on how to effectively do guerrilla usability testing that helped me out. However, the more tests we did, the more confident we became, and we had developed our own strategies, from approaching strangers to wrapping up the tests.

How to pick out potential users

Approach folks that are by themselves, and not in the middle of a conversation with someone else. If you can sneakily glance at their computers, see if they are on social media. If they are, they will likely have time to speak with you since Facebook isn’t quite as important as that paper they are supposed to be writing. Take a look at their body language, too. Do they look tired? Are they laying their hand on their head? The idea is that you don’t feel as though you are interrupting them doing something important.

Make sure you don’t discriminate, either. Out target audience is incredibly broad, so we made sure to get a representative set of users. However, being so close to campus meant we were running into more students than usual (regardless of age), so it’s best to note that as a constraint.

Approaching Potential Users

As current master’s students, we found it helpful to introduce ourselves as “master’s students interning at a startup” versus simply saying “we are interns.” I guess they are more trusting of you since the University of Michigan is a little bit more popular than our new startup that they’ve never heard of before.

When asking them to help you, try to stay away from saying the words “evaluate” or “test”. You don’t want users to immediately start thinking they are going to be tested on. Instead, we found it helpful to frame it by asking them they had time to answer a couple of questions about the app. Make it as casual and friendly as possible.

Also, don’t forget to smile. :)

Starting the Test (after they have said yes)

It might sound a lot, but have your “moderator script” memorized completely (if you are having trouble memorizing it, it might be because it is too long, which in that case, you should probably make it more concise). However, it is okay to have it printed out just in case. Otherwise, memorize to make your communication with the user more comfortable. If you have a note taker with you, they should have their laptop open already (during the “approach” stage).

If it is a mobile prototype you’re testing, make sure to put your smartphone on airplane mode. You don’t want the user to be interrupted by any message notifications.

You want to be cognitive of time, right? These are users that are volunteering their time for you, so don’t waste away 3 minutes with introductions and set-up. Be prepared. Turn those 3 minutes into 30 seconds. Alternatively, you can have your note taker setup everything while you give more info about the app and test to the user.

After the Test

If it is a 5 minute test, there’s no need for incentives. If it is a 15–20 minute test, you may need to buy a couple of $5 Starbucks Gift Cards for users taking out that much time to do the test. Of course, make it clear during the approach phase that you will be giving out these gift cards if they participate.

Also, don’t be afraid to give them your business card (more reason to have business cards in your wallet!). It gives them some more trust about what they just participated in and it gives them the ability to contact you if they were pretty starstruck by the prototype.

Wrap-Up

Be aware that this isn’t a comprehensive lists of things to know about when doing these guerrilla usability tests. A simple Google search will get you a lot of great resources on the topic, but it is only really until you get started on these tests do you start to figure what works and what doesn’t. I’m an introvert, so having these particular strategies helped me reduce the light anxiety I get from doing these types of “non-scheduled” tests. Not only that, but with all this experience doing tests, I can say confidently that I am a much more experienced UX researcher now than I ever was before.