A Definitive Guide on Successful Website Usability Testing

You may think you have a stunning business website, but are you sure that your users think so too? Making objective design decisions is a challenge, for it is the basic human tendency to place sentimental values in products they have created.

According to a survey conducted by Mckinsey & Company, less than 5% of businesses and their design leaders could take non-partial design decisions, while the rest gave way to emotional biases (smashingmagazine.com). Thus, this psychological trait can be blamed for hindering most businesses’ ability to view things from users’ perspective thereby compromising on user experience (UX) to a great extent. And as you know, a bad UX means a higher churn rate and a lower retention rate.

Wondering what could help you cut through all of these problems? It is website usability testing.

Let us understand the purpose of usability testing…..

So you want to know what usability testing is all about. Well, it helps you evaluate the human interactions with any type of digital products, like tools, processes, apps, and websites (website in this case) to understand their ease of use as well as shortcomings. Through this testing, you can study the actual behaviour of the users and not simply believe their opinions on your website to make strong design decisions.

In other words, this method tells you what works and what frustrates your users when they are trying to find information or perform a particular task on your website. Furthermore, the findings of this objective test can help you detect the UI issues from users’ lenses, provide design insights, and redesign your products to improve the UX.

Given the strong correlation between the UI and UX, you need to keep them in sync to drive maximum values for your business. And if you are still wondering whether usability testing is a real deal or not, be informed that McAfee, the US-based security software company saved over 90% in expenses by integrating usability testing in its user research methodology (intechnic.com). Intrigued much? We know you are.

So, when should you do usability testing?

According to the reliable website development company professionals, usability testing should be considered as a recurring activity. Whether you are creating a prototype or redesigning the existing interface, testing the ease-of-use throughout the product life cycle can help you meet user satisfaction by addressing the usability issues. With fresh eyes and no sentiments attached, testers can judge the aesthetics and functionalities of your website and pass honest comments on the same.

Now, you may think performing usability testing can drain your finances. Well, an awareness of its efficacy and cost-friendliness will change your perception. We have already discussed the benefits you can reap from usability testing. And a study by smallbizgenius.net reveals that almost 85% of UX issues can be identified by a test with a group of only 5 users. This highlights its cost-effectiveness. So, the crux of the matter is if you know the right techniques of doing it, usability testing will cause little trouble and offer you deeper insights.

Also, a bonus tip for you — Learn to accept criticism as much as you love to hear praises. It is going to make the designs better!

What type of usability testing method should you follow?

See, there is no perfect standard to follow when it comes to usability testing. No matter which method you opt for, you can always fine-tune it to meet your needs. If you are performing website usability testing for the first time, here are some popular usability methods you can choose from.

Remote Usability Testing — In this method, people from different countries and time zones can participate in the usability testing of your website. Nowadays, software tools are available that can record streams, click locations, and feedback from the remote uses. Considered to be superior to other methods, it lets you take more participants on board while allowing them to perform the test from their natural environment and not in a controlled laboratory.

Hallway Testing — Set up in a high traffic area, hallway testing is when you ask a passer-by to try your newly-designed product. To see how a layman uses and engages with your product, you can ask random people instead of expert testers or end-users to test your website. Emerging as an alternative to recruiting certified professionals, this method of testing is equally effective and can help businesses detect over 95% of usability issues (technopedia.com).

Paper Prototype Testing — To aid in clear visualisation, paper prototype testing allows you to evaluate the early design ideas even before anything has been coded by your experts of the web development services. This method records how the users might react or perform a task following hand-sketched instructions that are going to be used as prototypes of a design. Checked and reviewed by the expert testers, this method facilitates the implementation of interactive design for your website.

How to get a head start with website usability testing?

With the right kind of planning, you can take the uniqueness and effectiveness of your website to the next level. In this section, we tell you the crucial phases of conducting a usability study.

Decide what to check — Instead of trying to accommodate all the aspects, you should focus on particular research questions for a single usability testing session. Are you wondering if the users can navigate the product pages properly? Or do you want to see if the users can understand password-less login or registration easily? Are your users comfortable with the mobile-first UI design? Our piece of advice would be to stick to fewer areas if you want authentic findings from a single test.

Prepare a smart script — A detailed script is the lifeline of an effective usability testing plan. Not only should it contain research objectives and tasks for all participants, but the script must also comprise warm-up questions for interacting with users and wrap-up questions for recording their overall impression. The moderator is supposed to follow this script to maintain consistency, collaboration, and ensure proper execution of tasks throughout the test sessions.

Select your participants — You can comfortably choose participants who have not tried your website yet, but this rule of thumb might not work for a niche website targeting a narrow group of audience. In such a case, you will have to select participants that resemble your actual end-user base. And if you are performing paper prototype testing, hiring certified personnel becomes essential. Overall, you must understand various factors that are at play before creating a certain user persona in your mind.

Perform the actual study — When you are conducting the study, encourage your users to ‘think aloud’ while performing every task. In this ‘think aloud’ protocol, the users are asked to speak out what they are doing, thinking, and feeling about the website (usabilitybok.org). That way you can understand expectations and interactions of the users with your product. Even if they seek, do not help no matter how rude that sounds. After all, recording their hurdles is important to detect lacunae in your current website UI.

Collect data and record findings — Once the tests are completed, you must collect and analyse all the qualitative data. These data are a treasure trove that will let you discover usability problems, measure their gravity, and recommend necessary changes to the design team. Lastly but most importantly, whatever information you have derived from data, you must preserve them in the form of key points or main takeaways for the upcoming round of testing or next course of action.

Way Forward

If you really want your website to deliver superior user experience, testing its usability is the most basic and useful thing you can do. The usability testing exercise can help improve product quality, meet user expectations, and boost your website conversion rate by 200% (Forrester.com). Therefore, the key is to letting go of your biases and sharing objectives in common with your users. The sooner you start seeing users’ problems as your problems, the faster you can gain a competitive edge with revolutionary designs.