Unfortunately, user testing is often an afterthought.
However, many projects are completed with only stakeholder feedback of a prototype.
AnyUX designerwho has ever watched people struggle to perform tasks using their prototype understands the value of user testing.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Millions of users visit the support site on Mozilla Firefox each year.
Many visits turn into questions asked on the support forum.
The Dulux Visualizer tool.
Project managers understand only three components that matter on a project: time, cost, and scope.
Pull on one and another will shift.
This is why when a timeline is set, a PM is reluctant to budge.
Lets look at an array of user testing methodsUX designerscan employ to evaluate the usability of digital products.
Attitudinal and behavioral testing is summed up as what people say vs. what people do.
Many times the two are very different.
Qualitative and quantitative testing is described as direct observation vs. indirect measurement.
User testing tools can be analog or digital.
Each of these terms falls under formative or summative.
When the guests taste the soup, thats summative.
What is the optimum number of participants in usability testing?
For best results, this should be performed with three design iterations for a total of 15 participants.
Usability studies are often conducted in the middle of a project after initial design is produced.
The ROI of user testing decreases significantly with more than five users.
The results showed a significant increase in repeated findings with only a few new findings after five participants.
The most important conclusion is that all of the usability tests produced at leastsomeinsight.
Larger numbers of users dont necessarily reveal new findings.
Their usability tests found 33 usability issues, 9 of which were high-impact.
Qualitative attitudinal tests require a few more participants than qualitative behavioral studies, but not many more.
Card sorting is often performed in the middle of a project after auditing the information architecture.
These focus groups are typically conducted during the strategy phase of a project.
There are many exercises to conduct with focus group participants, from participatory design exercises to open discussions.
Their website contained 11,000 web pages and PDFs, of which 80 pages were fundamental to the architecture.
Etre turned each core page into a card for a massive card sorting exercise.
Fortunately, Etre leveraged an online card sorting resource that automatically sorted the data into digestible insights.
Heatmaps can show both page scroll and mouse movements.
Eye tracking for heatmaps is typically performed after a new design is executed.
Quantitative studies
At least20 participants are recommendedfor quantitative studies.
The difference is how the data is collected, which is through viewing remotely instead of one-on-one exercises.
They are often performed towards the end after the product or an interactive prototype is hosted online.
For that reason, theyre less commonly used than many qualitative user testing methods.
Other solutions may work better for products with a very specific, defined set of users.
Quantitative attitudinal user testing
The most participant-heavy test is the quantitative attitudinal exercise.
User surveys are one way to gather quantitative attitudinal data.
Surveys
Survey participants vary by the product population size.
it’s possible for you to use asample size calculatorto determine the required number of participants.
Surveys are conducted at both the beginning and end of a project.
Summary
Showing decision-makers hard data can convince them to dedicate resources to user testing.
