Photo source: Internet.
➤ Readers can refer to this Part 1 (overview of UX design) and Part 2 (UX design process for startups) of the UX Series.
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Planning is one of the most important steps in performing user testing. You need to define and document exactly what you want to do, how you will do it, how many people you need for the test and what are the success criteria for this session.
Below are the steps in turn:
Scope
Before starting planning, your product development team needs to answer the question: What exactly are you trying to test?
From my experience, a usability test can be used to test a new feature or a component (element) application specific. It is also used to test a complete application, website or even a mock application (mockup app) to measure user needs.
In both cases, you need to be very clear about what you want and what you will value.
GOALS (Goals)
Once the scope is clear, you need to identify the main questions, concerns, and goals of the test.
Depending on the defined scope, goals can be broad, e.g "From the first sentences on the website, can users immediately understand what we do?" to more specific things like “Can users easily find the search box in this location?”. Make a specific list of questions you want to answer or things you want to verify.
In addition, you should also list in advance a list of tasks and operations that you need users to perform to test the above.
Photo source: Internet.
SCHEDULE, location & SESSIONS
Discuss with the team and decide when and where you will conduct this test. Is it enough in your office, or do you need a specific location to create the right context for customers to use the product?
Once you have chosen a location, you need to plan the duration of the test sessions: how long should each session last? The average time for a user testing session is 45-60 minutes. If the time for your one session is the same, then you can consider doing up to 5-6 test sessions in a day. Note further that, between test sessions, you will need time 20-30 minutes to update our team and discuss new findings about the customer or product, as well as prepare space for the next person. In addition, it is also very important to arrange a break for the team, because user testing is a long and tiring process.
At the same time, you also need to specify in your team who will support the test session - who will be with the user in the room, and who will observe from the other room. This section is very important. You will need to have a team observe the entire test session from another room, as in such tests, depending on the scope and goals, body language can sometimes play an important role. In addition, an operator (facilitator) only can't keep up with leading users while observing all the details at the same time.
Equipment
Depending on the product, you will need a phone or computer to perform the test. You'll also need a camera that allows the rest of the room to see how users interact with the product, as well as their body language and reactions.
You might also consider recording a screen or voice recording so you can use it later (with user permission, of course).
For some of the tests we ran, we also changed the room slightly to recreate the necessary context. For example, if a user uses our product after they get home from work, we want to “create” the feeling of a living room - having a couch or an armchair to allow the user to go into that context more easily.
Photo source: Internet.
Participant
Besides determining the number of test participants, you also need to clearly define their profiles. Because it doesn't mean anything if you do an experiment with 10 people who all have completely different backgrounds, then the results will be inaccurate - one group of people may have good feedback and another group may have very bad feedback. So make sure you clearly define your profile (persona profile) of target users or early users người chấp nhận sớm, and the participants in the user testing must match these profiles.
You might also consider looking for an agency that specializes in recruiting. From my experience, we will send a screening profile of the people we are looking for and the number of people we want, and the agency will take care of finding them.
If you can't find the right agencies, try finding them on social media - on Facebook, for example, you can create ads that target a specific group of people. You can post and ask people to apply and then you only recruit the number of people you need. In my experience, a small reward or vouchers can encourage people to care (but you should also note that because of the reward, they may not give 100% honest feedback as well).
Once you've found the user for the test session, schedule them to arrive at the designated time and location (can ask them to arrive 15 minutes early in case of rubber time).
Success criteria
Determine what quantitative and qualitative data you want to measure. Depending on the scope and goals, formulate the appropriate criteria that you think needs to be satisfied for the test to be considered successful.
For example, if one of the goals is “how easy it is for users to find a search button in position x” then you can measure how many users find that button, or how long it takes to find it.
Make sure you also think about qualitative indicators such as how satisfied users are after each task, or how easy they are to perform different tasks. You can also take 10-15 minutes before or after the test to ask some basic questions to further validate your target group to get some new insights that can be leveraged in the future (for marketing, for example).
And in general, make sure that someone on the team takes note of every detail needed so that the team doesn't miss important information.
Photo source: Internet.
➤ Readers can refer to this Part 1 (overview of UX design) and Part 2 (UX design process for startups) of the UX Series.
*****
“If you have questions about how your product should work, or what features need to be built, the answer is not in the six walls of the office, not on the whiteboard, and not in constant discussions with your teammates.
Your answer is somewhere out of the office, and the client will be the one to help you figure it out. You need to know how to learn from them. This is one of the most important notes of Lean Startup: you need to constantly test your assumptions with your customers to better understand them, so that you know how you need to build the product.”
Catalina Catana
ThinkZone Accelerator Program Director.