Guide for Conducting Effective Usability Testing: Improving the User Experience

Sanchit Sharma
UX Planet
Published in
5 min readJun 2, 2023

Usability testing is an essential part of user experience design, helping to identify and solve usability issues that can impact the user’s experience with a website or app. Usability testing can be divided into two broad categories: formative and summative testing. Here are some examples of formative and summative types of testing that are commonly used in usability testing:

Formative Testing:

Formative testing is typically used during the design and development process to identify usability issues and improve the design of a product. Here are some examples of formative testing methods:

  • Usability inspection: An expert evaluates a product to identify usability issues and provide recommendations for improvement.
  • Heuristic evaluation: A usability expert evaluates a product against a set of established usability guidelines or principles.
  • Think-aloud protocol: Participants are asked to verbalize their thoughts as they complete tasks on a product, allowing researchers to identify issues with navigation, terminology, and other usability issues.
  • Card sorting: Participants are asked to group items into categories, providing insights into how users perceive the organization and structure of a product.
  • Other Examples: Prototype Testing, Cognitive walkthrough, Expert review, User Feedback Sessions etc.

Summative Testing:

Summative testing is typically used to evaluate the overall effectiveness of a product and compare it to other products or benchmarks. Here are some examples of summative testing methods:

  • Comparative testing: Participants are asked to complete similar tasks on multiple products to compare their performance and satisfaction.
  • Benchmark testing: Participants complete a set of standardized tasks on a product to evaluate its usability and performance against established benchmarks.
  • A/B testing: Two versions of a product are tested against each other to determine which one is more effective in achieving specific goals or objectives.
  • Surveys: Surveys can be used to measure user satisfaction, ease of use, and other key metrics related to the usability of a product. Surveys can be conducted either during or after a user has interacted with a product.
  • Task Completion Rates: This metric measures the percentage of users who successfully complete a given task on a product, providing insight into how easy or difficult it is for users to achieve their goals.
  • Other examples: System Usability Scale(SUS), Time-on-tasks, Error Rates etc.

By using a combination of formative and summative testing methods, designers and developers can continuously improve the usability and effectiveness of their products, providing a better user experience for their customers.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for conducting usability testing.

Step 1: Determine your goals and objectives

Before conducting a usability test, it’s important to determine your goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve through the usability test? Are you trying to identify usability issues? Measure user satisfaction? Evaluate task completion? Once you have identified your goals, you can design your usability test to achieve those objectives.

Step 2: Choose your tools and methods

Once you have determined your goals, you can choose the appropriate tools and methods to conduct the usability test. There are various tools and methods available, including remote testing, in-person testing, think-aloud protocol, surveys, and questionnaires, among others. You should choose the tools and methods that are most appropriate for your project and your target audience.

Step 3: Recruit participants

The success of your usability test depends on recruiting the right participants. You should identify the target audience for your product and recruit participants who are representative of that audience. You can recruit participants through various methods, including social media, user groups, and online communities.

Step 4: Prepare the test materials

Once you have recruited participants, you should prepare the test materials. This may include creating scenarios and tasks for the participants to complete, preparing the survey or questionnaire, and setting up any necessary equipment or software.

Step 5: Conduct the usability test

During the usability test, you should observe the participants as they complete the tasks and take notes on any issues or feedback they provide. You should avoid guiding participants or using leading questions that may bias their responses.

Step 6: Analyze the results

After the usability test is complete, you should analyze the results and identify any common patterns or issues across multiple participants. It’s important to look for feedback that conflicts with your assumptions or expectations and be open to making changes to improve the user experience.

Step 7: Implement changes and iterate

Based on the results of the usability test, you should implement changes to the website or app to address any identified issues or concerns. You should also consider conducting additional usability tests to continue iterating and improving the user experience.

Now, let’s talk about the other important things to keep in mind like what are the tools to use, There are various tools for conducting usability testing on websites and apps. Here are some online and offline examples:

Online Tools:

  1. UserTesting: A remote testing platform that offers video and audio recordings of users testing your website or app.
  2. Hotjar: A website analysis tool that provides heat maps, session recordings, and user feedback to help you identify usability issues.
  3. UsabilityHub: A platform that offers tools for testing various aspects of your website or app, including navigation, layout, and design.
  4. UserZoom: A platform that offers a suite of research tools, including usability testing, card sorting, and surveys.
  5. Lookback: A platform that provides a range of testing tools, including moderated and unmoderated usability tests, and live interviews.
  6. Optimal Workshop: A suite of tools for user research, including tree testing, card sorting, and first-click testing.
  7. Maze: A user testing and research platform that provides tools for testing prototypes and gathering feedback.

Offline tools:

  1. Lab-Based Usability Testing: A method where participants interact with a product in a controlled laboratory setting, allowing for observation and feedback by a researcher.
  2. Eye-Tracking: A tool that uses cameras and software to track where users are looking on a product, providing insight into user attention and behavior.
  3. Paper Prototyping: A method that involves creating low-fidelity paper mockups of a product, allowing for quick and easy testing and iteration.
  4. In-Person Interviews: A method where researchers conduct in-person interviews with participants, allowing for in-depth feedback and observation.
  5. Focus Groups: A method where a group of participants is brought together to provide feedback and insights on a product.

By using a combination of online and offline tools, designers and researchers can gather a variety of insights on a product’s usability and make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience.

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