Usability Testing

Prepare yourself to be humbled.

Observe real people as they interact with and react to the interface, and identify areas for improvement along the way.

Watch real people attempt a task in a working product, or let an impartial moderator accompany users through a rapid prototype to gather early impressions and reactions.

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Our usability testing process

Although usability testing is focused on how users complete tasks in prototypes or live products, the process is similar to that of user interviews, which are geared around understanding the problem space.

Identifying the questions you need to answer

The interview process starts with identifying tasks and questions. What are the key things a user must do in order to be successful? What parts of the design were most hotly debated?

If we’re testing our own designs, we’ll create a rapid prototype based on the goals and scope of the study.

Recruiting the right participants

Together, we identify screening criteria for research participants and define a recruiting strategy. If we’ve conducted prior user interviews for your product, we’ll return to the screening criteria used in the past as a jumping off point. Depending on the criteria, we might recruit from a panel, or work with you to connect with contacts in your organization’s network.

We set up the communications you’ll need and the scheduling experience so that prospective participants know what’s going on at all times. Then, we’ll partner with you on an interview guide rooted in the questions we’ve identified together.

Leading the sessions

Once participant interviews are scheduled, we will conduct one-on-one moderated interviews, asking users to attempt pre-planned tasks, and share their reactions and thoughts. You can watch these interviews in real time and debrief with us after each session to discuss thoughts and observations. With participants’ permission, interviews will be recorded.

Analysis and insights

After the interviews are complete, we will synthesize what we heard and create a final presentation that ranks the identified opportunities from nice-to-have to critical. In a working session, we will review, discuss, and triage the findings.

If we’re testing our own designs, we can then apply the indicated refinements, to further enhance the planned user experience before a developer even lifts a finger.

““I’ve always been impressed with their thoughtful approach, but especially their user testing and the information they were able to extract from users.””

— Senior Web Product Manager | Cybersecurity Software Company

More about how usability testing works

Usability testing often includes the following milestones:
- Usability kickoff
- Establish tasks and stimuli
- Define participant screening criteria and/or recruiting pool
- Determine incentives
- Participant screening review
- Interview guide review
- Moderated interviews & debriefs
- Distribution of incentives to participants
- Workshop to review themes, findings, and recommendations
Usability testing often includes the following deliverables:
- Participant screener & scheduling workflow
- Interview guide
- Participant incentives
- Recordings and transcripts from user interviews
- Presentation of findings and recommendations
- Notes from the review session
- Recordings of all meetings & sessions

Ready to talk specifics?

Book a free consultation to dig into pricing and timeline.