Testing a new product's user experience (UX) is a crucial step in product innovation. UX testing helps you validate your assumptions, identify problems, and improve your design. But how can you do it effectively and efficiently? Here are some tips to help you plan, conduct, and analyze your UX tests.
Before you start testing, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to learn and how you will measure it. Your goals should be specific, relevant, and realistic. For example, you might want to test how easy it is for users to complete a certain task, how satisfied they are with the product, or how likely they are to recommend it to others. Your metrics should be quantifiable, observable, and meaningful. For example, you might use task completion rate, time on task, satisfaction score, or net promoter score.
One thing I have found helpful when it comes to effectively testing a new product's user experience is to clearly define what you are testing for e.g navigation and wayfinding, the performance of a desired task, ability to complete tasks within the suitable time frame, ease of use, ability to locate key functions. Additionally, it is important to be data-driven during the process by collecting both quantitative and qualitative user testing data to guide iterations and modifications. Lastly, clearly articulating underlying assumptions used for the product design phase (user persona considerations) will be helpful for the user testing phase as the user experience might help change erroneous assumptions
Depending on your goals and metrics, you can choose from different methods and tools to test your UX. Some of the most common methods are usability testing, user interviews, surveys, and analytics. Usability testing involves observing users as they interact with your product and collecting feedback. User interviews are conversations with users to understand their needs, preferences, and opinions. Surveys are questionnaires that you can send to a large number of users to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Analytics are tools that track and measure user behavior and performance on your product.
As innovation facilitator of 100+ projects, I advise you to EXPERIMENT BY PRETOTYPING, like TESLA… FAKE IT BEFORE YOU MAKE IT ???. Pretotyping is a technique for testing - and validating ideas quickly and cheap, founded by Savoia. It involves creating a simplified version of a product or service to collect user feedback and understand market demand. It’s a non-working prototype. Pretotyping reduces the risk of failure by assessing market response early in the development process. A famous pretotyping story is how Tesla ‘faked’ their first electrical car, the Roadster, using a so-called ‘glider’ of a Lotus Elise to confront their potential customers with a ‘real car’, leading to 250+ launching customers who paid $ 5000,- in advance.
Si el proyecto se centra en el ámbito digital, se dispone de un enorme abanico de posibilidades con las que llegar al público objetivo para que tome la prueba de producto y medir su experiencia. Por ejemplo, nos podemos hacer valer de distintos modelos como el modelo freemium, el cual evoluciona el periodo de prueba de un producto o servicio otorgándole un espacio de uso gratuito y la posibilidad de subir a un nivel de mayor funcionalidad a través del pago.
To get reliable and relevant results, you need to recruit and segment your users according to your target audience and criteria. You can use different channels and incentives to attract users, such as social media, email, referrals, or rewards. You can also use screening questions to filter out users who do not fit your profile. Segmentation helps you group users based on their characteristics, such as demographics, behavior, or needs. Segmentation helps you understand the different user segments and their expectations, preferences, and pain points.
Once you have your goals, metrics, methods, tools, and users, you need to prepare and execute your tests. Preparation involves creating a test plan, a script, a prototype, and a consent form. A test plan outlines the objectives, scope, schedule, and resources of your test. A script guides you through the test session and the questions you will ask. A prototype is a mockup or a version of your product that you will test. A consent form informs users about the purpose, procedure, and privacy of your test and asks for their permission. Execution involves conducting the test sessions , recording the data, and taking notes.
After you have completed your tests, you need to analyze and report your findings. Analysis involves organizing, cleaning, and interpreting your data. You can use different techniques and tools to analyze your data, such as coding, sorting, clustering, or visualizing. Reporting involves summarizing, communicating, and presenting your findings. You can use different formats and media to report your findings, such as reports, dashboards, videos, or slides. Reporting helps you share your insights, recommendations, and next steps with your stakeholders and team members.