Unit – 7

What is usability testing?

Usability testing is a method of evaluating a product or website’s user experience. By testing the usability
of their product or website with a representative group of their users or customers, UX researchers can
determine if their actual users can easily and intuitively use their product or website.

UX researchers will usually conduct usability studies on each iteration of their product from its early
development to its release.

During a usability study, the moderator asks participants in their individual user session to complete a
series of tasks while the rest of the team observes and takes notes. By watching their actual users navigate
their product or website and listening to their praises and concerns about it, they can see when the
participants can quickly and successfully complete tasks and where they’re enjoying the user experience,
encountering problems, and experiencing confusion.

After conducting their study, they’ll analyze the results and report any interesting insights to the project
lead.

What is the purpose of usability testing?

Usability testing allows researchers to uncover any problems with their product's user experience, decide
how to fix these problems, and ultimately determine if the product is usable enough.

Identifying and fixing these early issues saves the company both time and money: Developers don’t have
to overhaul the code of a poorly designed product that’s already built, and the product team is more likely
to release it on schedule.

Benefits of Usability Testing

Usability testing has five major advantages over the other methods of examining a product's user
experience (such as questionnaires or surveys):

 Usability testing provides an unbiased, accurate, and direct examination of your product or
website’s user experience. By testing its usability on a sample of actual users who are detached
from the amount of emotional investment your team has put into creating and designing the
product or website, their feedback can resolve most of your team’s internal debates.
 Usability testing is convenient. To conduct your study, all you have to do is find a quiet room and
bring in portable recording equipment. If you don’t have recording equipment, someone on your
team can just take notes.
 Usability testing can tell you what your users do on your site or product and why they take these
actions.
 Usability testing lets you address your product’s or website’s issues before you spend a ton of
money creating something that ends up having a poor design.
 For your business, intuitive design boosts customer usage and their results, driving demand for
your product.
Types of usability testing

The kind of test you want to run will help you choose the right usability testing method. All product
research and testing broadly falls into three main categories:

1. Qualitative or quantitative
2. Moderated or unmoderated
3. Remote or in-person

1. Qualitative or quantitative

Any user research will fall into the category of qualitative or quantitative. You ideally want usability testing
to gather both kinds of data, to provide a rounded evaluation of the user experience.

Qualitative usability testing focuses on the ‘why’; understanding users' experiences, thoughts, and
feelings while using a product. For example, you could conduct a think-aloud study where users verbalize
their thoughts while using your product to complete usability tasks. Qualitative data can be gathered from
observation, interviews, and surveys.

Quantitative usability testing focuses on collecting and analyzing numerical data like success rates, task
completion times, error rates, and satisfaction ratings. It’s about identifying patterns, making predictions,
and generalizing findings.

2. Moderated or unmoderated

Moderated and unmoderated usability testing are two different approaches to usability. In moderated
usability testing, a moderator guides the users through the test (in-person or remotely). They answer any
questions participants may have, ask follow-up questions, and record observations during the test.

Unmoderated usability testing, as the name suggests, doesn’t involve a moderator. Users complete tasks
independently, typically using usability testing tools that record their actions and responses.

3. Remote or in-person

Research can be done remotely or in-person, depending on the type of product you're testing and your
research goals.

Remote usability testing can be moderated or unmoderated, and is done using online tools or software
that allows users to share their screens, record their activity, and provide feedback. It’s useful because
your team and test participants can be based in entirely different locations.

In-person usability testing, on the other hand, is conducted in a physical location, usually a usability lab or
other research facility. For that reason, it can be more expensive, time-consuming, and limiting in terms
of sample size and geographic reach. Many researchers opt for remote research, however in-person
testing may be necessary for products that require safety considerations, supervision during use, or
physical testing.

5 Key benefits of usability testing

Usability testing provides insights into user preferences, motivations, and goals. To help you get the
lowdown, we spoke to experts in the research and product space to get their perspectives on how to do
effective usability testing.
First up, here are some key benefits:

1. Reduce developmental costs

2. Tailor products to your users
3. Increase accessibility
4. Increase user satisfaction and brand reputation
5. Combat cognitive biases

How to analyze and report usability test results

1. Organize the usability issues you identified

You probably have multiple data points by now. The first step to understanding them is to organize the
issues you recorded during usability testing.

The most straightforward method is to write down every single issue along with a comprehensive
description of where in the design it happened, how it occurred, and the task the user was performing,
plus all the details that describe the problem.

2. Prioritize issues based on criticality and impact

Not all issues discovered during usability testing are equally important. You need to categorize the
problems based on the severity of the issues identified. Ranking your findings will make them more
actionable and help you classify the issues you need to handle according to their priority.

After this exercise, you will know which ones to prioritize based on criticality and your team’s resources.
For instance, a usability issue that makes it hard for users to find the call-to-action on the page might be
a more critical issue than a typo.

3. Discuss the findings with your team

The fundamental goal of usability testing is to build a product that your customers will be able to use.
That’s why involving different team members from the product team in the process of usability testing is
important. Every team member will benefit from understanding the issues users experience and help
make decisions to improve them.

Applying the Usability Test feedback in improving the design

Usability testing is a crucial process for improving the user experience and functionality of your product
or service. It involves observing how real users interact with your design, identifying any problems or
frustrations, and collecting feedback and suggestions. However, usability testing is not enough if you don't
apply the feedback effectively. Here are some of the best tips for making the most of your usability testing
results.

1. Prioritize the issues

Not all usability issues are equally important or urgent. Some may have a significant impact on user
satisfaction, retention, or conversion, while others may be minor or cosmetic. To prioritize the issues, you
can use a simple matrix that evaluates them based on their severity and frequency. Severity refers to how
much the issue affects the user's goal or task, and frequency refers to how often the issue occurs or affects
users. The higher the severity and frequency, the higher the priority.

2. Categorize the feedback

Feedback from usability testing can come in different forms, such as comments, ratings, questions, or
suggestions. To organize and analyze the feedback, you can categorize it into different types, such as
usability, functionality, content, or aesthetics. This can help you identify the main themes, patterns, or
gaps in your design, and focus on the areas that need improvement. You can also use tools like affinity
diagrams or card sorting to group the feedback into meaningful clusters.

3. Validate the solutions

Once you have prioritized and categorized the feedback, you can start generating and testing possible
solutions. However, you should not assume that your solutions will solve the usability issues or meet the
user expectations. You need to validate your solutions by conducting another round of usability testing,
preferably with a different or larger sample of users. This can help you verify if your solutions are effective,
efficient, and satisfying, or if they introduce new problems or trade-offs.

4. Communicate the results

Applying feedback from usability testing is not only a matter of fixing the issues or implementing the
suggestions. It is also a matter of communicating the results to your stakeholders, such as clients,
managers, or developers. You need to explain the rationale behind your design decisions, the evidence
that supports them, and the impact that they have on the user experience and the business goals. You
can use various methods to communicate the results, such as reports, presentations, or prototypes.

How to Effectively Communicate with Your Development Team

For developers, effective communication is arguably one of the most important variables contributing to
the success of a project. It’s essential to create a site or app that fulfills the requirements of its owners
while providing a positive user experience.

However, sometimes communication between developers and other team members is ambiguous. Both
parties interpret terms, ideas, and the complexity of implementation differently.

Great communication contributes to:

 Agility to keep up and evolve. Everyone on the team stays informed of project changes.
 Increased efficiency. Better collaboration means fewer redundancies and less time wasted. Pull
requests are completed with more clarity.
 Better overall morale. When communication is open and transparent, everyone feels more
involved.
1.Know your Requirements

How can you explain your requirements if you don’t know what they are? A good developer will
immediately begin to analyze your idea. They’ll ask questions. They’ll pose "what-if" scenarios. No one
will expect you to have all the answers, but you should be able to discuss the majority of problems. If you
can’t, you haven’t thought the project through. It’ll fail.

2. Be Clear

When you’re communicating what you need from a developer, make sure you mention why you need it.
Why will adding this feature add to users’ experience? First, this makes developers feel like they’re in on
the problem-solving. You’re on the same team, working towards solving a common problem. But also, it
gives developers time to suggest different ways of implementing a solution that could dramatically reduce
the difficulty of implementation, without sacrificing quality and explain issues.

3. Stay Ahead

Good programming teams will have a development plan — components and features will be implemented
in order. Understand that plan and prepare accordingly:

 know what decisions need to be made prior to implementation

 prepare dummy data or test cases
 organize the production of content, graphics, videos, or other media.

4. Avoid Scope Changes

Changing scope can destroy a project and put a deadline at risk. You may have seen a cool feature
elsewhere, but it doesn’t need to be implemented immediately.

By all means, have an informal discussion with your developer. State it’s something you’re considering for
a later version — don’t distract them from the agreed tasks or demand immediate attention.

5. Be Available

If a developer is coming to you asking questions that you feel the Developer should be answering,
understand that they are doing so because there is a business reason behind the question that they don’t
know the answer to.

UX Deliverables
Regardless of the environment, UX professionals need a set of deliverables to help facilitate
communication, document work and provide artifacts. Here are 10 of the most common UX deliverables.

1. Business Goals and Technical Specifications

This is a fundamental step. For a UX professional it all starts with an understanding of the product vision,
i.e. the reason for the product’s existence from a business perspective. Written in simple terms, the
statement should include the problem being addressed, the proposed solution, and a general description
of the target market. It should also describe the delivery platforms and touch lightly upon the technical
means by which the product will be delivered.

2. Competitive Analysis Report

For anyone starting to design a new product, it’s vital to make sure it’s a good market fit. Crucially, as part
of a UX strategy the product must also have a compelling competitive advantage and a UX that is superior
to others in the marketplace.

Competitive analysis means: “Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine
their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service.”

One of a UX designer’s initial tasks is to research what products or services the target customers are
currently using to solve the problem. A competitive analysis report is a UX research deliverable that
identifies the top five competitors and examines what it is they are doing right, as well as what they’re
doing wrong. This step will help set a design direction where clear goals are defined and the elements to
be focused on spelled out

3. Personas and UX Research Reports

UX designers need to make sure stakeholders understand the needs of the product’s customers. Creating
personas to encapsulate and communicate user behavior patterns and conducting user research are tried-
and-true ways to do it. Personas are representative of a product’s typical users—by incorporating their
goals, needs and interests, they help the team working on the project develop empathy towards the user

4. Sitemap and Information Architecture

A sitemap is a visually organized model of all the components and information contained in a digital
product. It represents the organization of an App or site’s content. Along with wireframes, they are one
of the most fundamental of UX deliverables and rarely skipped in a UX design process.

Sitemaps help lay out the information architecture—the art and science of organizing and labeling a
product’s components—to support navigation, findability and usability; they also help you define the
taxonomy and user interface.

5. Experience Maps, User Journeys and User Flows

An experience map is a visual representation that illustrates a user’s flow within a product or service—
their goals, needs, time spent, thoughts, feelings, reactions, anxieties, expectations—i.e. the overall
experience throughout their interaction with a product. It’s typically laid out on a linear timeline showing
touchpoints between the user and the product.

6. UX Wireframes

A staple of UX design methodology, wireframes are two-dimensional “blueprint” illustrations of a design

framework and interface elements, and show what goes where. Primarily a layout tool, they help define
the information architecture, the spacing of content, functionalities, the interaction design and intended
user behaviors

7. Interactive Prototypes

Another dominant deliverable during a user-centered design process, interactive prototypes breathe life
into a product. Rudimentary prototypes save a ton of time and money—they demonstrate how things will
work in an actual use case scenario, and allow for rapid design iteration and user testing. They also help a
designer communicate their design effectively at different stages of the UX design process
8. Visual Design

Visual design is the “final coat of paint” on the product. However, it’s not just that: visual design can
greatly affect the UX of a product, and therefore must be approached very carefully. Hopefully, a lot
of interaction design and usability heuristics were worked out during prior steps of the UX design process
so that the designers can focus on the visuals. It’s one last opportunity to take the product to the next
level

9. Styleguide and Specifications for Developers

The final step in the UX design workflow is to put together specifications and a styleguide for developers.
Styleguides are a must if a product’s design is to succeed in the long run.

A styleguide is for making sure designs are implemented consistently across branding, visual styles, colors,
fonts and typography. It’s also used for design patterns, language, rules (such as keyboard shortcuts and
data display rules), and specifying UI behaviors (such as error handling).

10. Usability Testing and Usage Analytics Reports

A UX designer’s job is never done. Even after a product’s release there are opportunities to gather
feedback, collect data on usage, refine, release and start the cycle all over again.

A usability test will tell you whether your target users can use your product. It helps identify the problems
people are having with a specific UI, and reveals difficult-to-complete tasks and confusing language.

Usability testing reports are typically delivered during the prototyping phase, but it’s not unusual to test
existing products with users to see where there may be room for improvement.