How to conduct usability testing for websites and mobile apps?

Effective website usability testing looks at the efficiency, effectiveness, and ease-of-use (satisfaction) of the site.

• Are there challenges to visitors achieving their goal (purchasing an item)?
• Can visitors understand everything and get where they need to go?
• Are load times reasonable, are links broken, do images open?
• And were they happy with their journey?

Depending on what you want to test, you must decide whether to test the entire site, specific pages or sections, and/or if you need a task-based test (can they easily go from your product page to your shopping cart?).

Then select your testers, decide whether the tests are moderated or unmoderated, and if they’ll be remote or in-person.

If remote, you can give testers access to your test site or monitor them via a usability testing platform, which records what the tester does, collects data, and helps you interpret the data to generate insights.

What are some types of website usability tests?

?? First Click – lets you see what a visitor clicks on first when trying to complete a specific task

?? 5-Second Test – users are shown your page (user interface) for five seconds and asked what they can remember about the layout

??? Eye-tracking – enables you to visually see where visitors are looking when on your site, what grabs their attention or not

?? Tree Testing – helps you to evaluate the hierarchy of your website and see how easy is it for visitors to find information

?? What about mobile applications?

While the majority of mobile testing is the same as website testing, the difference is the use of mobile devices.

This means that beyond defining goals, developing use cases, selecting testers, and running the tests, you need to consider where and when to test, what operating system and version to test on, and which devices to use.

Ideally, testers will use their own familiar devices and test in real-world conditions. The more realistic the testing, the better.

You can then use a variety of tools to record what the user does and find answers to your questions.

From browser-based mobile recorders that record what the user does with the app, to mirroring the phone to a computer using specific software, or using cameras that connect to the phone or are placed on a table.

Collate the data, analyze, and report.

Read more on how to measure usability test results.