The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testing

Quick start guide to
guerrilla usability testing
Lily Dart
Head of Service Design
dxw

We use guerrilla testing
because it’s cheap,
simple and eﬀective
@lily_dart
Quick start guide to guerrilla testing

“the art of pouncing on lone people
in cafes and public spaces, [then]
quickly ﬁlming them whilst they use
a website for a couple of minutes”
@lily_dart
@MartinBelam

@lily_dart
Each 10-15 min session includes:

@lily_dart
Your introduction and explanation

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Gaining permission and written consent

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Questions about your participant

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Questions about your participant
2 or 3 tasks for the participant

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Evaluating usability

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Can they navigate the site?

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Can they understand your key messages?

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Can they understand your key messages?
Can they complete user journeys?

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Making feedback fairer

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Help to push back on poor usability decisions

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Feedback about design decisions less personal

@lily_dart
Feedback about design decisions less personal
Measure websites against real metrics

@lily_dart
Preparing a session

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Preparing a session
Venue

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Preparing a session
Where will you ﬁnd your audience?
Venue

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Preparing a session
Can they stop for 10 minutes?
Venue

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Can they stop for 10 minutes?
Will you have internet access?
Venue
Preparing a session

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Preparing a session
Environment

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Preparing a session
What time of day is best?
Environment

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Preparing a session
Will people be distracted?
Environment

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Will people be distracted?
Will they be alone, or with family or friends?
Environment
Preparing a session

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Devices
Preparing a session

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Preparing a session
Which devices does your audience use?
Devices

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Can you record from that device?
Which devices does your audience use?
Devices
Preparing a session

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The script

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The script
Practised introduction

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The script
Who are you?

@lily_dart
The script
Why are you there?
Who are you?

@lily_dart
The script
Why are you there?
What do you want from them?
Who are you?

@lily_dart
The script
Hi, do you have a minute?
My name is Lily and I work for a web agency. I’m here
asking people to take a look at a website and let me
know what they think, and recording the answers. In
return for your time, we’ll buy you a coﬀee or slice of
cake to say thank you.
Do you have 10 minutes to spend with me?
Example introduction

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The script
Contextual questions

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The script
Are they part of your target audience?

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The script
“What is your residential status?”
“Do you live with anyone?”
“Where do you live?”
“Are you employed?”
Example questions

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The script
Which audience segment are they part of?

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The script
Which audience segment are they part of?
Are they aware of the product or service?

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The script
Scenarios

@lily_dart
The script
You have just moved to Holloway Road in North
London and want to get your hair cut.
You’ve had bad experiences with hairdressers
before and want to be sure the salon has a
good reputation. Which salon would you go to,
and why?
Example scenario

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The script
Scenarios
Which user need are you testing?

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The script
Scenarios
What might create that need?

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The script
What might create that need?
When has a user fulﬁlled that need?
Scenarios

@lily_dart
Anatomy of a scenario

@lily_dart
is easy for participants to
relate to
A good scenario

You have just moved to Holloway Road in North
London and want to get your hair cut.
and why?
@lily_dart
Example scenario

@lily_dart
A good scenario
describes a problem for
participants to solve

@lily_dart
A good scenario
has a realistic level
of detail

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A good scenario
doesn’t hint to the
participant how to achieve
the goal

You have just moved to Holloway Road in
North London and want to get your hair cut.
and why?
@lily_dart
Example scenario

@lily_dart
Running a session

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Running a session
Making participants comfortable

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Running a session
You’re testing the site, not them

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Running a session
Set clear expectations about what will happen

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Running a session
Check-in with them regularly

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Running a session
Check-in with them regularly
Let them know they can stop at any time

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Running a session
Before a scenario
ask participants to describe
their thoughts

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Running a session
“Is this what you expected to see?”
“What would you do next?”
“What are you thinking at the moment?”
Open prompts

@lily_dart
During a scenario
let participants identify
success
Running a session

@lily_dart
After a scenario
get participants to tell you
what they’d do next
Running a session

@lily_dart
In conclusion

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Pick a location where your audience is
In conclusion

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Focus your session on scenario based tasks
In conclusion

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Let participants decide success
In conclusion

@lily_dart
Let participants decide success
In conclusion
Understand what they’d do next

@lily_dart
Gives us the power to:

@lily_dart
Push back on bad decisions

@lily_dart
Stop designing against client opinions

@lily_dart
Stop designing against client opinions
Measure against real metrics

Thank you
Any questions?
@lily_dart

The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testing

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