Running user testing

Strategy Research Design Delivery
Running user testing
Steve Cable (@steve_cable)
Walt Buchan (@silverfoxyboy)
Thursday, 25 November 2010

2
Why user test
Pain points identiﬁed from analyticsReported problems Strategic changes
People test their website for
different reasons

3
What stage in the design process should you test?
HTMLDesignsWireframesSketches
The earlier you begin testing
the better.
Test as many stages of the
design as the budget allows
There are issues that testing
designs will bring up that
wireframes won’t, and issues
that testing HTML will bring
up that designs won’t

4
Recruitment Getting the right people is
vital
the type of recruits usually
come from user groups
already defined by the client
We like to define user groups
by the tasks they will perform
on the site/software
for a shopping site it could be
split between people who shop
for themselves, and people
who shop for others
Usually its a good idea to get
a mix of existing and new
users
We avoid ‘Expert’ users as
these people usually only
represent a small portion of
your user group

5
The test plan
We produce a test plan in
collaboration with our client
It defines the overall
objectives of the test and
what we want to find out on
each part of the website
However we don’t use it as a
rigid script. We use it as a guide
This means if we find an
interesting new line of
investigation during a test, we
can explore it

6
Who should be involved?

7
Users
6 participants plus 1
The tests are qualitative research,
meaning we are not trying to prove
something, just identify issues
we find six participants are enough to
identify the majority of issues
The extra user is paid to be around all
day incase one of the 6 participants does
not show up
it means we can avoid the embarrassing
situation of a no-show

8
Moderators
That’s us!
We use two moderators for our tests
One moderator can concentrate on the
interview
The other can concentrate on the note
taking (And looking after the clients)
This means we can do more in depth
interviews and have more comprehensive
notes to work from afterwards

9
Stakeholders
We always encouraged Clients,
developers, designers and anybody
who’s involved to come and watch the
tests
This is so stakeholders can see any
issues users are having for themselves
It’s much more convincing than having a
consultant telling them about it a week
later

10
The test

11
What devices or media can be tested
Mobile devices e.g. Phones, Media players, Tablets Personal computers e.g. PCs, Apple Macs
Printed material e.g. Brochures, Printed forms Prototypes e.g. Paper based, magnetic stickers
We’ve tested all of these devices and
materials for a number of different clients

12
Test structure
Preamble Usability test
Summary &
Close
Depth interview Usability test
Summary &
Close
Test focussing on usability
Test focussing on user experience
Examples of additional user testing
• Benchmarking exercises
• Simple card sorting and ranking exercises
• Preferences e.g. Photography styles, Tone of Voice, Visual style
This structure focuses
on finding specific
usability issues
This structure focuses on
the wider context of use
Great for producing mental
models and user journeys
Tests can be
structured in different
ways to achieve
different results

13
Interview techniques
• Put the participant at ease ‘It’s not you being tested, it’s the website’
• Probe where necessary, leave space for the participant to think
• Listen, show interest, (Be consistently interested or the participant will learn what you want to ﬁnd out)
• Don’t lead the participant, be careful with words and body language
• Use open questions: Who, What, When, How, Where, Why
• It’s about what they actually do, not what they might do (or what their mum would do)
There are loads of interview techniques, but
these are the six we feel are the most
important to remember

14
The set up

15
Why no two way mirror?
Big mirrors can make
participants feel uneasy
Most people only know them
from police interrogations in
films
Anybody watching has to be
silent in the dark
It can be hard for anybody to
stay alert after four hours of
testing in these conditions

16
The set up
Instead we use video link up
This makes the interview room
seem a little more private
It also means the people
watching can make as much noise
as they like
It also gives them a better view
of whats going on as they can
see:
• A direct feed from the users
computer (With live
eyetracking data
• A shot of the users face
• A shot of the computer
screen (For when the user
points at something)

17
The output

18
Eye tracking data
Heatmaps show an aggregated
view of what all the participants
looked at on a page
It’s great for backing up what we
have identified as issues
This example shows how all the
users were missing important
information on the right of the
page

19
User videos We produce full length videos of
the user tests for the clients
to keep
We also produce highlight clips
to highlight particular problems
that were identified

20
Recommendation report
Our reports are designed to be easy to use
Very visual with one clear concise point per page
We back up each point with a quote from the
participants
We don’t just highlight problems. We also provide
clear actionable recommendations
These recommendations are prioritise with the
client to provide them with a clear direction for
improving their site

Thank you
21
Steve Cable
User Experience Consultant
steve.cable@cxpartners.co.uk
+44 117 930 3541
Walt Buchan
Senior User Experience Consultant
walt.buchan@cxpartners.co.uk
+44 117 930 3543

Running user testing

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