User Testing Tactics

My Background • 10 years running product design and product management for startups of various sizes • Designed/managed products used by millions on sites like Bank of America, American Express, AOL, PCWorld, US News, Sega.com • Average yearly user testing budget: $3,000 Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

What You Can Learn For $700 • How do people complete this task? • How well do they understand what they’re doing? • What issues are hidden by successful completion rates? • What would they not even dream of asking for? Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

When Should I Test? Now. • Test as soon as you’ve identified your 2-3 core use cases • Users don’t know your product isn’t complete • You only need the minimum pages to get through workflow - Paper, BalsamIQ, HTML - Think static, minimal, not all links need to work Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

2 Core Use Cases + ... New product concept Splash screen Registration > 1 screen Entire first user Registration requires signup personal/financial info experience Distribution relies on social/viral Invite/share Validating minimum Navigation viable feature set menus Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

Finding People • Craig’s List “gigs” section • 1-2 weekdays in advance • Provide a non-anon email address and voicemail • Ask for qualifiers (profession and city are good) • Plan for 10-15% “flake rate” • Allow extra time after 1st tester Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

Advance Prep • “Standard” computer setup in private room or isolated area • Test any recording equipment/software • Provide dummy “personal” info, credit card #s • Make templates for note-taking so it’s easier to line up feedback later Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

“I Just Wouldn’t Use This” • Not understood or not useful? • Substitute? • Specific concern? • Do they use any sites/products in this category? • “Well, let’s pretend that you were curious about it and finish the tasks.” Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

“I Have No Idea What to Do Next” • Does anything stand out? • What would you do in “real life”? • Acknowledge frustration • 3 Strikes, then “Actually, you’d click here.” How could that be clearer? Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

QUESTIONS: • Is this the type of information you were expecting to see? • What would you do next? TIP: Don’t stop users from clicking on “dead” links - find out why they were more interesting, then hit the Back button. Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

QUESTIONS: • What can you do on this page? • Why do you think the blue box is asking you to enter more information? • What do you expect to happen if you were to click one of the links in “In the News?” Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

QUESTIONS: • Is this what you expected to see when you clicked “Compose Email”? • If you had been on your own, how likely would you have been to go through this whole process? Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

Followup • Share results internally ASAP • Prioritize issues that need fixing • Look for patterns in freeform user comments • Share results with testers who agreed to participate in future Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

Questions? Send them to: cindy@cindyalvarez.com Sample templates for Moderator Script, Notetaking, and Craig’s List Ad available at http://www.cindyalvarez.com/resources/ UserTestingTactics.zip Copyright 2009 Cindy Alvarez

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User Testing Tactics

by Cindy Alvarez on Sep 10, 2009

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