UX testing (or usability testing) is a critical aspect of user-centred design. It involves testing your designs on users to evaluate their usability.<\/p>\n
Without UX testing, it\u2019s impossible to know if your products are really meeting the user\u2019s needs and providing a positive experience. And, in the competitive landscape of 2023, UX testing is more important than ever.<\/p>\n
So: if you\u2019re not incorporating UX testing into your product design process, now\u2019s the time to start. This guide will help you, covering the following key topics:<\/p>\n
[GET CERTIFIED IN UX]<\/p>\n Take our Professional Diploma in UX Design course<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n UX testing, otherwise known as usability testing, is the process of testing a product (or one aspect of a product) on real or representative users.<\/p>\n UX stands for user experience<\/a> and it describes the overall quality of the experience a user has with a product, service or brand. A good user experience is intuitive, straightforward and friction-free \u2014 allowing the user to complete their tasks (e.g. ordering a pair of shoes online or opening a bank account) with ease.<\/p>\n UX testing evaluates the UX of a product or service. During a UX\/usability test, the test participants (who represent the target user) are asked to complete specific tasks. This allows the designers and researchers to assess how easy it is for the user to complete those tasks without any prior knowledge of the product. This gives great insight into how usable and intuitive the current design is and enables the UX team to quickly spot usability issues.<\/p>\n UX testing is an essential part of designing products that actually meet your end users\u2019 needs and provide a positive user experience.<\/p>\n The importance of UX testing is directly tied to the value of good UX<\/a> itself. UX testing enables you to:<\/p>\n Ultimately, UX testing brings you closer to a good user experience. Good UX is proven to boost customer loyalty and retention, contribute to a positive brand reputation, drive higher conversion rates, sales and revenue and help to secure a brand\u2019s competitive edge in the market.<\/p>\n UX testing gives you definitive, actionable insights into how real people perceive and interact with your product. Together with user research<\/a>, UX testing is an indispensable component of user-centred design.<\/p>\n In an ideal world, UX testing will feature regularly throughout the UX design process<\/a>. Here are some key moments you might choose to run UX testing:<\/p>\n [GET CERTIFIED IN USER RESEARCH]<\/p>\n Take our Professional Certificate in User Research<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/h2>\n There are three core elements that make up a UX testing session:<\/p>\n UX testing can be:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at these different types of UX testing now.<\/p>\n Qualitative UX testing is based on observations and feedback. For example, if a facilitator observes a user continuously running into errors or confusion when trying to complete a certain task, their qualitative assessment would be that the UX is not good. Likewise, the user might report back that they found the experience confusing, frustrating and too long-winded.<\/p>\n Quantitative UX testing is based on hard metrics and numerical data. If you measured the time it takes a user to complete a certain task, that would constitute quantitative usability testing.<\/p>\n In-person UX testing has participants in the same room as the test facilitator, while remote sessions take place either via video call, remote testing tools or, less commonly nowadays, over the phone.<\/p>\n Remote UX testing can be moderated or unmoderated. Moderated tests are done under the direct supervision and\/or observation of a facilitator, while unmoderated tests have the user carrying out tasks unsupervised.<\/p>\n Explorative UX testing is carried out before design decisions are made. It helps to explore the problem space, uncovering what kind of functionality the product or feature should offer in order to meet users\u2019 needs. In explorative UX testing, participants might interact with different products of services (from competitors), allowing you to highlight any gaps in the market or unsolved user problems that you can design a solution for.<\/p>\n Comparative UX testing compares two different products – or two different versions of the same product or feature –\u00a0 to see which one provides a better user experience.<\/p>\n Evaluative UX testing (otherwise known as usability evaluations) tests a new or updated product either before or just after it\u2019s launched. The goal of usability evaluations is to test the design on real users to make sure that it\u2019s intuitive and usable and to highlight any issues that need to be fixed.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve defined the different types of UX testing. Now let\u2019s introduce some specific UX testing methods and techniques commonly used by designers and researchers.<\/p>\n Guerilla testing is UX testing \u2018in the wild.\u2019 Rather than recruiting a set group of participants, you approach people at random in a public place and ask them to take part in a quick usability test. If you want to do guerilla testing, you\u2019ll usually need to offer participants some kind of incentive, such as a gift card.<\/p>\n Card sorting<\/a> is both a user research technique and a UX testing method. It helps you to evaluate the information architecture of a product (i.e. how the content and information is structured and organised).<\/p>\n To run a card sorting session, you write different labels or concepts on cards and have the user organise them however it makes sense to them. This gives you insight into where and how users expect to find different types of information and lets you assess if your current information architecture matches up.<\/p>\n This \u2018fly on the wall\u2019 approach to UX testing involves a moderator observing participants as they complete the designated tasks. Observations don\u2019t usually entail any interaction between the moderator and the participants as the goal is to see how users navigate the product or approach certain tasks independently (as they would in the real world). The moderator will be paying close attention to the users\u2019 body language and facial expressions to gain insight into how they are finding the overall experience.<\/p>\n In this UX testing method, you use a special type of software to record user sessions on your website as they occur. The software captures the actions that users take when interacting with your website in realtime, showing you where they run into problems (for example, if there\u2019s a certain point where users tend to hit the \u2018back\u2019 button, this hints at a usability issue), how they interact with different elements on the page and at what points they exit the website. Session recordings are great for collecting large volumes of data and spotting issues with functionality and usability.<\/p>\n Research<\/a> suggests that participants who click down the right path on their first click will complete their task successfully 87% of the time. Conversely, participants whose first click takes them down the wrong path tend to have just a 46% success rate in terms of task completion.<\/p>\n First-click testing is therefore a useful UX testing method as it provides a strong indication as to the usability of your product. You can run first-click tests on wireframes, prototypes or live products. As the name suggests, you\u2019re looking at where the user clicks first when asked to complete a certain task.<\/p>\n UX testing is absolutely crucial if you want to design user-friendly products. So how do you go about it? Here\u2019s a quick guide to get you started.<\/p>\n 1. Determine what you\u2019re going to test<\/strong> On top of that, what exactly are you evaluating? The usability and ease of a specific process, the layout of a particular page or something else?<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve got the \u201cwhat\u201d and the \u201cwhy\u201d figured out, you can determine the \u201chow.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. Choose your UX testing method<\/strong> 3. Decide what tasks your participants will carry out<\/strong> 4. Define what success (and failure) looks like<\/strong> 5. Recruit participants<\/strong> You can learn more about how to find users for a usability test here<\/a>.<\/p>\n 6. Analyse your data<\/strong> 7. Report and share your findings<\/strong>What is UX testing (or usability testing)?<\/h2>\n
Why is UX testing so important?<\/h2>\n
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When should you conduct UX testing?<\/h2>\n
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Who and what is involved in UX testing?<\/h2>\n
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What are the different types of UX testing?<\/h2>\n
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Qualitative vs. quantitative UX testing<\/h4>\n
In-person vs. remote UX testing<\/h4>\n
Explorative vs. comparative vs. evaluative UX testing<\/h4>\n
What are some popular UX testing methods and techniques?<\/h2>\n
Guerilla testing<\/h4>\n
Card sorting<\/h4>\n
Observations<\/h4>\n
Session recordings<\/h4>\n
First-click testing<\/h4>\n
How to conduct UX testing: A quick 7-step guide<\/h2>\n
\nHave a clear idea in mind of what you\u2019re going to test. Is it a wireframe, prototype or live product? Are you testing your own designs or running explorative UX testing with competitor websites?<\/p>\n
\nNext up, pick which UX testing method you\u2019ll use. This will be determined by the goal of your UX test, as well as the time and resources you have available. Think about whether your UX test should be moderated or unmoderated and whether it should take place remotely or in person. Ultimately, you want to choose a method that will get you the most valuable insights possible within the confines of your available resources.<\/p>\n
\nDetermine the exact tasks your participants will carry out during the UX test and have a clear process laid out for how the tasks (and the UX test) will be conducted. Think about what tools participants will need and what information you should provide them with prior to the session.<\/p>\n
\nBefore you go ahead and conduct UX testing, it\u2019s essential to define what success and failure look like in relation to the tasks your users will carry out. How will you measure usability? Will you measure the time it takes for a user to complete a particular task, or will you aim for a certain usability score provided by the user? Only with clear success metrics and benchmarks in mind can you act upon the insights uncovered.<\/p>\n
\nIdeally, your UX testing participants will be representative of the people who would use your product in the real world. One of the most common questions when it comes to usability testing is how many participants<\/a> are needed for reliable, valuable results. Five is usually cited as the magic number, allowing you to glean sufficient insights in a cost-effective manner.<\/p>\n
\nOnce you\u2019ve conducted your UX testing, you\u2019ll want to organise and analyse your findings soon after. If you\u2019ve gathered qualitative data (e.g. user feedback or notes from observations), you might use affinity diagramming<\/a> to pull out common themes and patterns. If you\u2019ve gathered quantitative data (e.g. time taken to complete a task), you might want to calculate an average completion time for your whole user group.<\/p>\n
\nThe results of your UX testing should always be acted upon and used to improve your product. After analysing your findings, summarise the main takeaways, share them with relevant stakeholders<\/a> and, most importantly, outline what this means in terms of next steps and the evolution of the product.<\/p>\n