In-Store Usability Testing

Usability Testing Practice, HCID 531 User Research Studio

Background

Continue evaluation of the gift registry in Crate & Barrel, we conducted in-store usability testing. Participants are two females between the ages of 29 and 35 who shop at Crate and Barrel, but neither of them had used the registry system before, and one of them was planning to create a registry for her birthday.

In-Store Usability Testing

We created a very thorough usability testing script, including participants info, preparations, and scenario-based task script, which was really helpful for us to conduct this out of lab usability testing.

Colin and I tested the first user, I was the moderator and Colin was the note-taker. First of all, we gave the participant a brief introduction of this study, reminded her to “think aloud”, and let her signed the consent form. Then, “Imagine you just moved into a new house and you want to create a gift registry for your housewarming party. I’d like you to go into the store and create a gift registry with eight items. ” the usability testing began…

Usability Testing User Tasks

Create a gift registry with eight items;

Change quantity of a item, delete a item, add a item;

Locate and review the registry, change quantities of certain items;

Share registry with friends.

The usability testing lasted a bit longer than estimated, but, overall, it went well, and we got valuable findings. We found usability issues that have not been uncovered in heuristics evaluation, while, some issues evaluated from heuristics evaluation did not impact participant’s perfomance.

Reflection

It was more difficult to conduct in-store usability testing than traditional in-lab usability testing. Participant has far more interactions with the environment, which made the usability testing less controllable. Also, it was much harder to do audio recording and note taking while walking around the store.

“Think Aloud” — whatever in your mind, say it! Sometimes, participant forgot to think aloud, at that time, I was a bit confused about whether should go for asking her what she was thinking and why she did something, or my action would interrupt her. from my own experience, it is better to let participant practice think aloud before the testing, and it is also fine to have interactions with the participant at certain points (like shop along or contextual inquiry). Just do not forget the main goal is to do usability testing!

Last but not the least, we should be trained and become good note-takers!