Usability testing is an important stage in the development of any digital product: a website or an application. This method will help you understand how real users interact with your product, and what can be improved to make it more convenient and understandable.

However, conducting classic usability tests often seems expensive and difficult for small companies and startups. However, you can learn this skill and conduct usability testing on your own with users. This is especially true if you are a product manager or designer, which implies close interaction with users.

Do you want to understand if this method is suitable for you? Take a look at our free introductory lesson — here we talk about the laws of UX and the basics of UX research and tell you how usability testing helps you find problems in interfaces using real examples.

In the meantime, we are sharing a basic guide that will help you take the first steps in usability testing. If you want to learn how to test products professionally, we at peoplefirst are launching an intensive course on "usability testing" on September 9th - in 5 weeks we will train you in practice with real cases.

10 Steps to Effective Usability Testing

1. Define the research objectives

Formulate a clear hypothesis about what you want to test. Instead of the vague "test the site", identify specific problems: "find out why users do not complete the purchase at the payment stage."

2. Plan organizational issues.

 Set a time frame, assign roles to the team, think of ways to find participants, and choose a venue. Prepare the technical equipment and set the time for each phase of the project.

3. Select a testing methodology

Decide on the approach: personal presence or online format, with a moderator, or independent completion of tasks by participants.

4. Select the technical equipment

Choose the appropriate tools: video communication platforms for online testing, meeting rooms for offline testing, as well as screen recording programs, note-taking and task management services.

5. Determine the sample size

Calculate the optimal number of participants based on the tasks: according to the standards for usability testing, 5-7 people are enough to identify 80% of the problems.

6. Develop custom scenarios

 Come up with realistic tasks that will help test your hypotheses. The participants should perform natural actions, and you should observe their behavior.

7. Select the metrics to measure

Determine in advance what data you will record: the speed of completing tasks, the percentage of successful attempts, the error rate, and the subjective impressions of users.

8. Conduct a pilot test

Check the scenarios with other colleagues to debug the scenarios and fix technical glitches before meeting with the real respondent.

9. File the test results

Create a structured report describing the goals, methodology, characteristics of the participants, identified problems and practical recommendations for improvement.

10. Make a change implementation plan.

Identify those responsible for the implementation of the proposals, set a time frame and create a system for monitoring the implementation of recommendations.

Following this algorithm will help to conduct high-quality usability research and obtain valuable data to improve the product.

At the peoplefirst usability testing course, you will immerse yourself in the practice. Study the usability metrics and learn how to choose the right ones for each task. Master all the stages of preparation for the study, from creating scenarios to setting up technical equipment. And most importantly, you will conduct full-fledged usability testing on a real product and practice moderation skills with live participants.

Who will benefit from these courses?:

✅ Product managers, make informed decisions about customer needs based on real user behavior

For product designers who want to test their prototypes with real customers

For developers who want to better understand users and reduce errors before release

For novice UX researchers who want to upgrade a new research method and improve their skills

  To all those who want to learn how to conduct UX research in products and improve the user experience 

Format: online

Duration: 5 weeks

What will you get for a month of training:

, Practice with a mentor — we will support and direct

, The most useful materials on research methods

Workshops on UX/UI design and UX texts

, Official certificate and business cases in the portfolio

The mentors and speakers of the course are practicing specialists from top product teams of leading IT companies in Kazakhstan.

Your company can pay for the training with corporate discounts of up to 20% for teams. A friend program is also available — gather 4 friends and get access for the 5th participant for free!

Details and recording: peoplefirst.kz

Telegram: @peoplefirstkz