For any product, software, mobile application, or website, assessing the finished product from the end users’ viewpoint is critical to ensure it meets their different expectations, solving various needs, and features are functioning smoothly.
It is crucial to incorporate end users throughout the development stage to ensure the product is being developed according to the end users’ feedback and suggestions.
Usability Testing plays a pivotal role in any software or product development to determine its success or failure by involving end-users and asking the necessary questions for software enhancement. It entails asking end-users questions about their purpose for using the product, whether it meets the desired end goal, and what features they want to add or discard from the app.
In this blog, we will walk you through the advantages, best practices, and processes for Usability Testing.
Advantages of Usability Testing
Usability Testing provides Unmatched User Insight for early mover advantage. There are several advantages of Usability Testing. However, the following are the salient ones:
- Getting closer to the end-user experience for locating drawbacks and opportunities areas to make the required amendments beforehand during the Development Stage.
- Gaining early mover advantages and competitive edge over competitors by eliminating risks before final product deployment.
- Helps to improve product quality & user experience for enhanced consumer loyalty and retention and increased sales due to word-of-mouth.
- Get “real” and “authentic” feedback and suggestions from your target audience to foster the product to meet various end users’ expectations and requirements.
- Helps to develop and design an intuitive user interface, which is easy to navigate and well-constructed task (work) flows to deliver end users splendid performance and final product by giving them an enthralling experience.
Usability Testing Process
There are various ways to perform Usability Testing. However, we recommend the following process for the best results and desired outcomes:
Step 1: Goals Identification
The first and foremost step in Usability Testing is defining clear goals for testing. It helps formulate a well-defined objective, methodology, and procedure for the testing to ensure tests are conducted as planned.
For goal identification, you must answer questions, such as the purpose of performing these tests and the intended expectations from the tests. It helps to obtain planned results.
Step 2: Choosing and Enrolling Users
After identifying and defining goals, the next step is choosing the target audience (real end users) and enrolling them in Usability Testing. According to your Usability Testing plan, you must hire a required number of testers (users).
We recommend choosing the appropriate target users matching your professional testing profiles and demographics for accurate & authentic test results.
Selecting the right audience will help you derive precise & genuine feedback for product enhancement. It is highly suggested to have qualified leads over quantity for specific and clear-cut test outcomes.
Step 3: Defining and Assigning Specific Tasks
After hiring qualified & potential leads (users) for testing, you must define and assign them specific tasks they are required to do. It will help you accomplish your Usability Testing goals & objectives. And You will be able to gather actual and propitious data.
The tasks and test questions must be related to users performing dedicated errands like ordering from the app or using the product. And you must ask follow-up questions, such as whether the product could fulfill your purpose, which features met your requirements and which didn’t, and whether the navigation and interface were friendly or challenging.
The follow-up questions must be well-defined and definite to provide the answers you intended to get with the Usability Testing goal and gain maximum advantage from the test.
Step 4: Execution of Test, Analysis, and Reporting
After deriving intended responses and feedback from the potential leads, the next step is to execute test cases and scenarios prepared in Step 1. Please ensure the recruited users for testing use similar (identical) devices and operating systems they use in real life.
Also, if your application is exclusively made for iOS users, you must hire qualified users who use Apple Smartphones or Tablets daily. You can perform Usability Testing in the following ways:
Remote Location Testing
If the users and testers are involved in testing from a remote location, you must perform the test using survey forms or a screen-sharing app to collect & gather data for analysis and make a final report.
Physical Location Testing
Suppose the testers and users are present at a physical location (testing environment). In that case, you must perform the test by observing their real-time behavior and interaction with the product to analyze the findings for report generation.
In both methods, you must sort and manage the collected data in an organized manner after the execution of test cases and scenarios.
The gathered structured data is meticulously scrutinized to acquire accurate findings and precise conclusions to generate reports containing valuable recommendations and suggestions for app enhancement. The information is shared with developers and designers to take corrective action before final product deployment.
Best Practices for Usability Testing
To attain desired results and outcomes from Usability Testing, we recommend the following best practices:
- Please ensure to plan and execute Usability Testing (cases and scenarios) in the early design and development stages of your software, application, or product.
- Establish criteria for selecting qualified and potential candidates (users) for the testing by specifying target demographics & professional test profiles.
- Enumerating the questions for your target audience to derive accurate answers for analysis and report preparation. Also, you must outline specific tasks to assign to target users for performing Usability Testing.
- You can conduct Usability Testing on your competitor’s product before doing it on yours to ascertain the required criteria and standards for the qualified target audience.
- Please ensure to record the tester’s (target users) behavior precisely by assigning highly skilled observers to acquire accurate data for analysis and report generation.
- Analyze the collected data rigorously for the meticulous development of the product and gain a competitive edge over competitors. Share the report with the concerned people – developers, designers, and shareholders.
By following the practices mentioned above, you will attain outstanding results for your product development.
Conclusion
After reading the blog, you will have a firm comprehension of Usability Testing Advantages, Processes, and Best Practices. You will get the best outcomes by following the procedure and practices mentioned in the blog. However, for any questions, feel free to contact us.
At Calidad Infotech, we provide premier quality Usability Testing Services, both manual and automated. We serve all scales organizations, whether small, mid, or large. As a leading Usability Testing Service Provider in India, we provide cost-effective Usability Testing Solutions for websites and apps.
For a Consultation and a Quotation, contact us at +91-9909922871 or email at hello@calidadinfotech.com.