9 Most Trending Usability Testing Methods

You have made an exceptional product that’s ready to roll and rule over the competition.
But, guess what? Your product or service can still get a beating despite the array of cool
features backing it. How’s that even possible? Recent statistics indicate that
approximately 76% of your customers would leave a product or service due to failure or
bad experiences. Simply put, if it isn’t easy to use, then it’s not worth having. What’s
worse is that once the customers are gone, they’re gone for good!

This is why usability testing is considered to be the holy grail of product testing.
Usability testing is the process of evaluating a product or service by putting it through
the paces with real-world consumers.

During the test, participants will often attempt to accomplish standard

activitiesnormally use the site while observers listen and take notes. The purpose is to
discover any usability issues, collect qualitative and quantitative data, and establish the
level of satisfaction with the product among the participants.

While most companies prefer to undertake user research before launching a new
product or service, UX usability testing approaches are more effective when performed
throughout the lifecycle of the product or service. Like the old adage goes, there’s always
room for improvement!

Benefits of usability testing

Usability testing allows design and development teams to see issues before they're
coded. The sooner the issues are recognized and resolved, the cheaper the remedies will
be in terms of both personnel time and potential schedule disruptionthe better for
customer retention and happiness. Here’s what usability testing seeks to achieve:

● Determine whether or not participants are capable of successfully completing

given activities.
● Monitor the time taken to execute a certain set of tasks.
● Assess the level of satisfaction of your website or product among participants.
● Ascertain what modifications must be made in order to improve user
performance and happiness.
● Finally, evaluate the results to see if they satisfy your usability goals.
Why is user-based testing important for successful UX tests?

While defining usability testing earlier, we talked about testing with real-world
customers. That’s because user-based testing is the only form that can provide definitive
results.

User-based testing is employed to evaluate a product or a specific UX element with real

users during the design process. Observers from your company will be watching
consumers interact with the product and follow-up improvements will be brainstormed
in light of their responses.

User testing enables you to put real-world ideas in front of users to assess how well they
interact with them. This strategy is commonly used to identify UX design instabilities to
enable resolution prior to its production.

Wondering why user-based testing is crucial to your business? Well, the method is the
most coveted mechanism because of four main key advantages:

Cost-efficient: User-based testing does not have to be expensive or take place in a lab
to be effective. You may also save time and money on development by identifying which
UX aspects are the most effective.

Accessibility: In-person and remote user-based testing is also possible. There are
various types of user-based testing as you'll see in the next section.

Flexibility: User-based testing can occur at any point during the user experience
design process. However, it's not necessary to conduct user testing until you have a UX
prototype.

Customer's point of view: User-based testing helps you to create UX elements from
the perspective of a specific consumer. Nothing beats direct feedback from a real user
when it comes to determining the best course of action.

Three basic principles of UX testing

Usability testing is an integral part of the product development process. Usability testing
involves evaluating a document, website, or software comprehensively in order to
ensure proper functioning and simplicity of use. Prototypes or recently completed
products, and goods that have been in use for some time are all subjected to this form of
testing at various points in their life cycle.
Usability testing entails seeing real people use a product. Unlike usability reviews, which
frequently involve experts, testing is carried out by the target user base who can supply
crucial information that experts cannot. Experts do not make the same mistakes that
real user’s do which makes their input ever so valuable.

Setting quantifiable goals and analyzing whether the product achieves them is the
essence of usability testing. The first step in usability testing is to figure out what the
user is intended to perform.

The top 9 methods of Usability testing

Usability testing can be a useful tool in the UX design process. This section will walk you
through the top 9 usability testing methodologies that you may use to test your UX
elements to get started:

Guerilla testing

This form of UX usability testing involves selecting test subjects at random from a public
location such as a coffee shop or shopping mall. Guerrilla testing involves giving them a
modest incentive in exchange for completing a fast usability test. It's a rapid technique
to gather a huge number of qualitative results in a short amount of time.

It takes 10 to 15 minutes if you take 6 to 12 participants for this test. Guerrilla testing
can be used to execute ‘ad-hoc' research by members of your design team. There's no
actual need to pay for participant recruitment or any of the accompanying fees.

If you can write the research sessions' material yourself, you'll have to invest money on
incentives for the participants.

Moderated testing

Moderated testing is a sort of usability testing in which a moderator watches and guides
participants as they complete tasks in person or remotely over the internet. A moderated
research session allows you to interact with your participants in real-time to better
understand their behavior and dig deeper into any pain spots or usability difficulties.

When employed early in the development or prototype phase of a product cycle, a

moderated test might be beneficial. When you don't have a finished product to offer
participants but want their feedback on your ideas so you may save money on future
designs and development, this is what you do.
To test a more complicated product where users might need directions, moderated
testing is the best possible method. This type of usability testing can go deeper into the
minds of your target audience and elicit more helpful information about their
expectations. The entire team can also view a live session while it is being done and
provide rapid input on the outcomes. With an average of 3-5 participants, it takes
roughly an hour or two.

Card sorting

Card sorting is a testing method that allows participants to demonstrate how they
envision your website's layout and navigation. A company may opt for an open card sort,
in which they begin by creating cards with themes.

Card sorting is a great way to prioritize material and functions. The method is
straightforward: simply write down concepts (content, characteristics) on cards and
allow test participants to sort them into groups and categories. A moderator would then
ask test participants to explain their reasoning as soon as they finish sorting the cards to
understand better.

This method can help you figure out if your layout or navigational structure corresponds
to how your users think. It enables you to comprehend how your clients might
categorize certain types of products or services. Would these categories then assist them
in swiftly locating what they're looking for?

With 30 or so cards and 15 participants, you will need approximately 20 minutes to

complete this test.

Lab usability testing

When you require in-depth information on how real users interact with your product
and what challenges they encounter, lab usability testing is the best option. It will assist
you in determining the reasons behind user behavior. Because this assessment is
moderated rather than unmoderated, you can collect more qualitative data.

A skilled moderator and a testing location are required for lab usability testing. A
moderator should always be available to assist test takers in understanding the goal of
the test and to keep them on course if they become disoriented. They should be able to
read people's body language. It's important to remember that what test participants say
isn't always what they think.
This form of testing necessitates the use of an after-testing interview. After the testing
session, the moderators contact the test participants and ask them a few key questions.
Lab testing, like moderated tests, is useful if your company wishes to collect feedback on
a product or service early in the development process. A lab test could also be used to
create suggestions for resolving client problems.

A/B testing

This approach of UX usability testing involves comparing two versions of an app or

website to see which one works better. After that, you must conduct a statistical analysis
to decide which version is more effective.

Do you want to improve your website's conversion rate so that more visitors become
customers? Make tiny changes to your website, such as modifying your call to action
buttons, to see how you can get a better ROI (return on investment) from your existing
traffic. A/B testing can help you figure out how to achieve a better ROI (return on
investment) from your existing traffic.

You can conduct A/B testing for a minimum of seven days. If you haven’t been able to
conclude with proper statistical data that is helpful, test for seven more days.

Tree testing

Tree testing, also known as reverse card sorting or a closed card sort, asks participants
to categorize things or cards into categories that already exist. Participants will explain
why they placed a card in a relevant group, much as they did with card sorting.

It can assess how realistic a navigational layout is in terms of assisting customers in

finding what they are looking for. To use the best menu categories or labels, apply this
study methodology before building a navigational structure or page layout.

5-second test

This sort of qualitative research allows a company to gather a significant amount of

qualitative data on a user's first impressions and reactions to design. Use five-second
testing to see if a website, app, prototype, or wireframe can swiftly communicate a
message to a target audience.
Run this test before releasing a product to ensure that it is designed with the target user
in mind. You might also perform an A/B test on multiple iterations of a design before
attempting it.

Eye-tracking

An eye-tracking website usability assessment method uses a pupil tracking device to

track a user's eye movement. It creates computer heatmaps or pathway diagrams to
analyze where a user clicks or hovers when asked to perform a task. In this method, a
company may figure out which parts of a website are the most effective at grabbing a
user's attention.

Such a testing method is used when brands need to determine how their participants are
likely to react to the company’s website. With an average of 40 participants, this kind of
testing takes a minimum of 20 minutes.

Session recording

Session recording is a technique for capturing the actions of real (but anonymous)
people while interacting with a website. Session recording data aids in determining what
content/features users find most appealing (through heatmap analysis) as well as what
interaction issues users encounter while interacting with your product.

When used in conjunction with another method of usability testing, session recording
yields the best results. You can create a hypothesis about what problems users are
having by studying session recording results, but you'll almost always need to do more
testing to figure out why they're having this problem.

Conclusion

Choosing the perfect usability testing method for your product can be quite a task as
there are multiple options available. But there’s no need to fret; this is a challenge that
every UX expert tackles on a daily basis. It's critical to pick an approach that you believe
will work best for your project. However, to get the most valuable results, you must be
willing to change if the need ever arises. Usability testing is one of the most pivotal
aspects of a product’s journey so ensure to do it well.