Every time in a project no matter how confident the core team feel about the product, but still the reality check happens only when we test it with right users.
Having a Usability testing with few set of users is a common practice now a days, it helps us to understand the perspective of the users, how they feel while using the product, and it ensure if product features and functions are usable. There are lots of standard methods how one should conduct a usability testing.
Chances are that the testing can go completely wrong, and results which you see are not realistic. I want to focus on some of the things which we can avoid while doing the testing,
If you want it to be accurate, here are some of the things which you should not do -
- Testing without a protocol — A test protocol contains the flow of how you are going to conduct the test session, from introduction to all the tasks which you want to cover and what specific questions you want to ask while a user is performing a particular task, Testing without a protocol will impact quality of the test because you might end up asking different questions to all the users, and you will not have a common ground to evaluate results on any parameter.
- Not breaking the ice- Imagine you are invited for a usability testing, the moment you arrive, the test conductor shows you a screen and asks you “so tell me how would you use it?”?Often a person who wants to test, just wants to take the feedback and leave, but its very important to first take the pressure off from the user's head by asking them few basic things about themselves, it helps them feel relaxed also we get a better understanding with how much they fit with our user personas.
- Testing the person- This needs to be communicated clearly that the usability testing is for the product, we are not testing the knowledge of the user, hence they don't have to worry about being right. what ever they say and do is right. Nobody wants to look like a stupid specially if they are being recorded, so don't burden them with questions which challenges their knowledge.
- Not telling why they are here- Tell the users why the test is being done and what do we want to achieve from it, you will find they will become more supportive once they know that we only want the reflection of their thoughts. Not telling them about the purpose, might make them feel nervous about the whole situation.
- Not giving them a context of the task — Before asking how would you do it, we must let them know why would they do it, because only then they would be able to feel the situation and respond accordingly. Without a context user's wont have a clear goal in mind to achieve and they might not do the task in a way a regular user would do.
- Making that face, Over expressing about how they are doing that task- Its good if you can just smile, if that's hard keep it blank, we don't have to nod the head and make them feel like its right, or making that face that the answer was not correct. Remember when they will actually use that App or website or the tool, you will not be around.
- Not taking the qualitative data- Capturing only the quantitative data like how much time they took, how much assistance they needed, what labels/words meant to them is not enough. We also need to capture the soft and emotional aspects of experience, like ease of use, look &feel.
- Not recording/taking notes- Last but not the least its equally important to record the test if the conditions don't allow to record it by camera at-least have a audio recordings and detailed notes about the feedback. its always helps us to refer back, rather then depending on the memory.
Its important to practice the standard process and not making these mistakes, because the purpose of usability testing is to get the right data which helps us to improve on design and create a better experience
