The why, how, and don't of usability testing
Learn about users' behavior and preferences through this process
As a PM, one of the ways you get to lose out on building a great product is not regarding the impact of usability testing.
In carrying out usability testing, you can make smarter decisions through eye-viewed facts, and data gotten directly from the test taker(s). Thus, gathering data helps you build and improve your product to solve users’ pain points. This process allows you to see the issues from different angles and what works.
Now, before carrying out usability testing, you need to have questions about what this process is to satisfy. For example:
1. Were they able to accomplish the given task?
A set of hypothetical words and an actionable statement would be made. For instance, “You bought candy at the store and it cost 12000 NGN, kindly make a transfer using your account”
2. How long did it take for them to accomplish a given task
3. Did they experience any difficulties in navigating?
4. Is the interface friendly, clear, and easy to use?
5. Do they understand the purpose of the app
What to avoid?
After highlighting the above, it’s important to take a mental note to avoid making the entire process seem like an exam and not letting the interviewee be as expressive as possible. Furthermore, to achieve a non-bias result and insight, avoid trying to influence the users' actions during the testing process. For example: advising them where to go, how to do what, and what’s next.
The discouraging process:
On carrying out my first usability test, I wish I was given a mental prep for the tedious part of it. Which was; the recruitment, preparation, set-up, analysis, and report for one short time-framed test.
Though, guess what? As short time framed as the test was, it did help me save resources (time and money) in the long run which was an altercation during mid and post-development
Wrapping up:
Your first usability testing might not be perfect- and it’s okay, but at the end of it all, you would be taking a lot of lessons from it. Then, one of them was to make one or two engineers involved in the review process.
What impact would that have had?
All teams (design, product, and engineering) would come to an agreeable decision quicker and the engineers would wow you with how observant they can pick up things you missed.
Finally, driving a feature change as a result of usability testing would improve the user’s interaction with that product.
Psst, did you enjoy this read? In my next post, I would be explaining the different steps in usability testing