User testing
The importance of user testing
Every web site will benefit from user testing, both before and after it is launched. You should aim to test the site at several stages during development, using both paper and PC based models. Even if your site is already online, you still need to test it.
User testing cannot provide the ‘ideal design’, but it will provide the information you need to develop your design.
Selecting your users
Any user testing is better than none. Even if you only ask one or two friends to test the site, you will still gain valuable information.
Jakob Nielsen suggests that you will find 85% of website problems from testing just five users (Alertbox: Why you only need to test with 5 users - http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html). You will gain much more information from a series of two or three tests with three or four participants, than from one large test.
Ideally, you should select users that fit your typical customer profile. If your target audience needs specialist knowledge to understand the information on your web site, select users who have this knowledge. However, in many cases you will still benefit from testing users who may not fit this profile.
You should pay your test participants for their time. The rate will vary according to their specialist knowledge.
When to test
If you have not yet started to develop a web site, or if you are looking to redesign your existing one, you should test some of your competitors’ sites before you begin.
You should also test paper prototypes and draft page layouts at various stages during development.
It is important to test any changes that you make, to avoid introducing new problems. You should test three users, make the changes needed, then test the next three users. At each stage you will find more improvements that can be made.
The testing process
Setting the tasks
It is important to set the right tasks for the test. The tasks should:
- make the user think and not be too prescriptive
- test the overall objectives of the site or page(s)
Conducting the test
Test each user individually in a room where you will not be disturbed.
You may want to use a video camera to record the computer screen and
the user’s
comments during the session.
Start by introducing yourself and the purpose of the test. Assure the user that they can do nothing right or wrong, because it is the web site being tested, not them.
Give the user the task, written clearly on a piece of paper. Once they have read it, open up the site on the computer screen, or show them the paper models.
To get most benefit from the session, encourage the user to ‘think aloud’. Get them to explain their actions, what they are thinking and why. Avoid helping them or even talking to them, other than to ask questions.
Always try to ask open questions, like “What can you do on this web site?”
Making changes
After each round of testing, you will need to make changes to your web site. Then you must re-test the changed site.
Keep a log of any changes made, so that you can track their success. This
log will also let you measure any changes in converting web site visitors into
customers.
