Usability Testing & Consultancy
Usability is all about creating sites that allow users to do what they want. And what you want then to do. The better the user experience the more site visitors will be converted into customers and repeat customers.
Tests & audit
- Standard usability testing
- Competitor testing
- Lo Fi testing
- Bespoke testing
- Usability audit
Standard usability testing
This is appropriate for existing web sites, extranets and intranets or nearly complete sites. A typical test will give you an overview of site usability along with a list of specific changes that will improve the site.
The process
- Identify the purpose of the site
- Identify audience or audiences
- Design research
- Recruit against correct demographic
- Conduct testing
- Analyse results
- Present results
- Follow up & support
It is normal to use 6-8 people who are brought into a usability lab (location testing is possible) and asked to carry out real tasks on the site. This may seem a small number but there is plenty of evidence to show this will reveal the most important 80% of issues on the site.
Testing
They are supervised and observed by an experienced facilitator and all their mouse moves and key strokes are recorded along with everything they say, using specialist software, a web cam and microphone. They will normally be some pre and post testing questions.
The session can last up to an hour with a maximum of 45 minutes screen time. It is often possible for you to observe the testing but all the footage is available to you afterwards (subject to data protection).
Analysis & delivery of results
The data is then analysed to identify exactly what usability issues have arisen and how they can best be resolved.
The ideal way to deliver the results is to make a PowerPoint presentation to all your stake holders, using video highlights for illustration. The recommendations can be discussed and prioritised in an Ease & Effectiveness matrix. A written report can be supplied as an alternative or in addition. Consultants are available by phone or email following a test.
Competitor testing
This allows you to compare your site with competitors. Competitor testing can be particularly useful before a redesign of your own site to identify current best practice (and worst practice) in your market.
It's a simultaneous test of your site and your competitor's sites, conducted in the same way as a standard test. Though some details will vary
- Likely to be fewer tasks per site
- May require more participants
- Analysis is likely to include more metrics
Lo Fi testing
Lo Fi testing is a highly efficient and cost effective tool to deploy while you are developing a site. It is perfectly possible to use all the techniques of usability testing on prototypes. These can be
- HTML mock-ups on screen
- graphics only mock ups or even
- paper prototypes
- wire frames.
You can test things like Information Architecture, Look & Feel and specific applications before you go to the expense of writing code. You can also separate design, IA and other elements out to test them separately.
Because of the nature of this testing each one can be done with fewer people and less elaborate reporting, so the costs are lower.
Usability audit
If time or budget does not allow for proper testing there is considerable value in an audit. This involves an experienced usability consultant looking at the site then making a series of observations and recommendations based on expertise and experience.
An audit will identify the key usability issues on a reasonable sized site but will not deliver all the insights you would expect from testing using real users.