You’ve worked hard for months to create a new app, website, product, or feature only to find out that your users just don’t vibe with it? Well, the hard truth is you’ve not tested it enough before launching it into the market, or maybe not used the right medium for testing. Usability Testing is a process you can’t skip. It is the key to discovering how real users will experience your product even before you launch it into the market. An unbiased user to the product is an ideal user for testing.
Now let us understand the WHAT, WHY & WHEN you should apply usability testing.
<rich-h2>What Is Usability Testing?<rich-h2>
<rich-para>To put it simply, it is a technique to identify how user-friendly a product is.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Why Do We Do Usability Testing?<rich-h2>
<rich-para>To understand the user's experience with the product and identify any usability issues firsthand before launching the product into the market.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>When To Do Usability Testing?<rich-h2>
<rich-para>When your product starts to fail? Ah, we’re kidding! To avoid the former, it is essential to perform usability testing at all stages of a product development stage - right from forming a concept to testing the high-end prototype.<rich-para>
<rich-para>The goal of usability testing is to get a better understanding of how real customers will engage and experience your products, and how you can use those insights to improve the user experience.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>The Key Benefits Of Usability Testing:<rich-h2>
<rich-list-item>It will expose biases & help your team see things from the user’s perspective.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>It will give you a chance to figure shortcomings and help you design the product differently.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>If data shows users aren’t interacting with your product as expected, watching them in action will help you reveal the flow problems.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item last-item>It can help detect minor errors or glitches that might otherwise go unnoticed. Ultimately, enhancing the quality of your product.<rich-list-item last-item>
<rich-h2>Usability Testing Guideline: Things To Avoid<rich-h2>
<rich-list-item>Starting the testing phase late may cause higher investment & time wastage.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Opting for a narrow testing group may lead to incorrect conclusions.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Not specifying metrics & benchmarking will not help you understand your performance against the industry standard.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Over-testing may lead to being stuck in the designer’s dilemma for a long time.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item>Misinterpreting the data may cause failure of the product and its resources.<rich-list-item>
<rich-list-item last-item>A person who designs should not lead the testing process. He/she may landup directing the conversation based on their research theory or understanding.<rich-list-item last-item>
<rich-para>Usability Testing can be a complex, layered process. Like all amazing things take time, this shall too. Patience & dedication is the key to a better performing product.
Next step, HOW to go about user testing the right way. Learn it HERE<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Takeaway:<rich-h2>
<rich-para>Gather real, simple data! Data supported recommendations bring logic + help build a better product. After all, the objective is to delight the end user and client with the final product.<rich-para>
