Usability Testing

Usability testing is needed to check if the user interface is easy to use and understand.

Usability Testing is a critical software testing technique, which is often used in user centred interaction design to validate the usability or ease of use of a software product. Performed from the perspective of the real users, usability testing determines how user friendly the interface of an app or a product is.

It helps to rectify various usability problems in a particular website or app, while ensuring its quality and functionality. From validating the ease of navigating a web site to verifying its flow and the content, usability testing ensures all crucial aspects of a product to offer optimum user experience.

Attributes of Usability testing

Ease of use – How easily a user can use the different functionalities of the application.
Ease of learning – How easily user can learn to use the application.
Memorability – How easily user can remember the different flows of the application after exploring it for the first time.
Error rate – While using the application, how often do users make mistakes and how easily can they recover from those errors.
Level of satisfaction – This a subjective attribute that deals with the satisfaction or the general opinion user have about the product.

Advantages of Usability testing

In Usability testing, the development team gets direct feedback from the potential user, this helps in creating a product that meets user’s expectations.
Increased user satisfaction with the product leads to meeting of business goals.
Issues are identified before actual release of the product, this maximizes the chances of product’s success.
Well-conducted usability testing helps in minimizing the overall project cost, as usability bugs found after actual release leads to higher cost of bug fixing.

Usability Testing Checklist

A checklist must clearly state the answers to user’s queries, and give them a clear description of the same.
It is important to ensure that they are offered a smooth navigation path within the website.
There should be navigation links that is written in meaningful language so that the user is able to navigate the site easily.
Use of colour, text size and fonts are very important factors in creating an impact on the user.
Use words or sentences that are easily understood by the target users.
Present the most valuable information to the users according to their usage in the relevant sections. Use catchy headlines for the same.
The elements or the components inside a web page must be positioned with optimal spacing and must not be too close to each other.
Do not ever miss out on listing the appropriate contact information on the site so that the user feels free to contact the concerned owner in case of any discrepancies.
Sitemap is a key to an efficient and successful representation of a website.
Initiate installing plugins at user’s site only if it’s needed and the relevant one.
A good SEO habit is to enhance readability , that is, using words and phrases that are beyond ordinary and which sets apart our content from others.
Have a Q&A forum where users can interact and discuss about issues .
Visually appealing things definitely make an impact on viewer’s minds, therefore, we may include videos that explain and demonstrate how things actually work on the site. This shall help the users to understand the working of various components on the site and hence they adapt themselves quickly.
Updated content definitely catches attention of users. Mention dates alongside a product to let the users know which is the current thing.
Linking the company’s logo helps the users to traverse to the homepage as it has become a convention.
Categorise information. Group similar items under one category, as it enables quick and easy search.
The images or graphics displayed on the site must convey some meaning.
Response to a user query should confine itself to few meaningful lines that adds meaning to the answer.
Information corresponding to an item must not replicate to any advertisement as that may not lure much attention from the viewers.
Theme used on the site must adhere to certain colour schemes. Like a lighter background must not project a text in an even lighter tone.
An important aspect in a website is the structure. Category listing should follow a certain hierarchy.
Below product description there must be quick summary depicting the information in few words.
A theme should be universal throughout the site, that is, same theme across different pages of the same site.
There must always be a FAQ section in a website that addresses the most common type of questions that may arise in one’s mind. This reduces the overhead of answering repeated questions by users.
There is a 3-click rule which means that if a user isn’t able to find the appropriate information within 3 mouse clicks .
Avoid using unnecessary and irrelevant information.
The plus or minus 2 principle is quite helpful in accessing only a few things at a given time.
Speed optimisation is again another factor that can make or break a brand’s goodwill. Make sure that site loads the contents quickly.
Title for a specific content should be self explanatory so that the user can recognise things easily.
Optimise the site for screen resolution so that it appears same across different devices.
A search box must be there within a site as it makes the users search for relevant content within the least amount of time.
Well customer’s privacy is very important. Hence it must be taken care of whether the contact information provided by them is secure and won’t be mishandled.
Spelling and grammatical errors must be dealt with great care as that creates an impression on the minds of the users.
Fixed width and fixed layout of a website may be difficult to render on a large browser.
Using tabs to divide information is a good way to logically segregate the contents into different sections that enhances readability.
If a splash page isn’t necessary then it should be avoided, because a user may be interested in accessing the real content in the first place. A splash page must be rationally used.
META information is very important for an efficient search by any search engine. Hence both the TITLE and META tags must be mentioned.
Highlight the high priority tasks so that the users get to know what needs to be done next.

Usability Testing Process

From getting an insight into the software product to performing usability study with the assistance of user researcher, usability testing involves running tests on a software product and testing its performance from user’s point of view in real time. It follows a specific set of steps, which help the team get accurate and helpful feedbacks from the users.

Hence, the process of usability involves following steps:

Planning: The first stage of the process, here the team prepares a test plan and create some paper prototypes, which assist the testing team accomplish tasks for usability testing. Furthermore, the goal of testing, the format for reporting, and the number of testers required for testing is also decided.
Team Recruiting: This stage of usability testing involves recruiting end user representatives, who are willing to sit through test sessions and validate the usability and accuracy of the product. This is mainly based on the requirement of testing as well as the number of individuals mentioned in the test plan. Once recruiting of testers is accomplished, the team is assigned specific tasks and responsibilities.
Test Execution: It is during this stage of the process that usability testing is finally executed. Testers, in this case the users, examine the product for any discrepancy and record them with accurate details.

Test Result Documentation: The results derived from the test execution is then documented for further analysis.
Data Analysis: The data or the feedback provided by the users testing the product, which was documented earlier, is then analyzed and actionable recommendations are provided to improve the usability of the product.
Reporting: Finally, the results and the recommended changes are reported/shared with the development teams as well as other stakeholders of the project, along with relevant documents, spreadsheets, audio and screen recording, etc.

Usability Testing Methods

Hallway Testing: It involves asking random people about the quality of any particular feature of the product under test. Main motive behind this is to identify the most basic of brick wall scenarios for bugs, the presence of which can make the most basic of features ineffective and sluggish to work with.
Synchronous Remote Usability Testing: This approach was put forward after extensive research on the problems related to conducting usability testing across far away locations. It involves the use of remote web sharing tools like WebEx through video conferencing. However this approach lacks the utility of a real presence to make this collaborative testing procedure a success.
Asynchronous remote Usability Testing: This most prevalent approach makes use of the information from user logs, feedback for user interface and testing is carried out in the user environment itself. This method also helps to easily segment the user feedback into different demographic and behavioural types.
Expert Review: This is a very general method involving the services of a team of experts having a wealth of experience in the field of conducting usability tests. The experts conduct an audit of all the parameters having a bearing on the usability of a software product. Some of the essential parameters include – status visibility of the system, aesthetic of a moderate system design, flexibility and efficiency of use, user control and freedom and automated expert review. It’s just a program based review of all the usability parameters. But downside to it is the lack of insightful reviewing when performed by humans. Also, it is a slower process of testing.
A/B Testing: A/B Testing involves creating a mirror image of the product without a crucial facet from the original and which can have a direct bearing on the user behaviour. This is followed by a comparative analysis. Some of the other elements which undergo this form of usability testing are text, colour or contrast of the interface.
Laboratory Usability Testing: Conducted in the presence of the observers, this type of testing is executed by the team in a separate lab room. It is the responsibility of the observer to constantly monitor the behavior of the testers and to report the outcome of testing to the concerned team.

In most cases, usability testing unravels many bugs closely associated with the results of performance testing procedures. With the conclusion of usability testing, the final software product becomes easier to operate for the users and is readily endorsed by them.