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Tag: usability testing

  • Why Software Usability Testing Is Essential

    Why Software Usability Testing Is Essential

    Keeping an eye on the bigger picture is important when doing just about anything. This adage holds true when testing software, too. There’s no doubt that the QA testing process for software is essential. It makes sure everything is running smoothly and as it should. But generally speaking, it doesn’t always fully take into account the user perspective. Even though developers, designers and testers all try to keep the end user in mind when building and testing, there is no true way to anticipate and test for the variability of actual user experience in the wild.

    This is why it is essential to consult actual users. That’s where the process of usability testing comes in. Every organization should consider implementing the practice before a software product launch.

    Usability Testing Defined

    Unlike functional testing, usability testing hones in on the user’s experience of a product. It focuses on how an application works in the real world with real users. In-house, it’s easy to test a feature and check a box to say it works. But that’s not necessarily the way an application will be used by every user in every situation.

    Usability testing involves having participants complete a few tasks with an application. Then, depending on how easy or difficult those tasks were, testers and developers can decide which, if any, improvements and changes need to be made. Usability testing helps organizations accomplish three key goals:

    1. Uncover opportunities to improve
    2. Identify issues in design
    3. Learn about intended user behaviors

    Differences Between Testing Types

    Software usability testing is sometimes confused with other similar approaches to quality assurance and control. Let’s look at and clarify similarities and differences between these methods.

    • User research versus usability testing: User research comes earlier in the software development life cycle and actually involves usability testing, but it also includes other components like interviews, surveys and focus groups to identify the behaviors of users.
    • User testing versus usability testing: User testing is put into place to validate a product idea. It’s used to understand how a user approaches a given situation and how a product might help address that situation. Usability comes later in the process of testing that specific product.
    • User acceptance testing versus usability testing: User acceptance testing confirms that a product works as intended; it’s about functionality. But usability testing will get into the specifics of user opinions, expectations and actual experience.

    Types of Usability Testing

    There isn’t just one way to conduct usability testing. There are a few options organizations can choose from based on differing objectives.

    • Moderated versus unmoderated: Moderated usability testing involves a moderator facilitating the progress of a tester through a series of tasks. This gives an organization the opportunity to ask questions during specific parts of the process. An unmoderated approach allows a user to complete tasks entirely at their own pace. This method can be conducted at any time, anywhere.
    • Remote versus in-person: In-person testing gives UX researchers the ability to provide specific devices to avoid technical issues, although it might mean missing issues with a user’s actual device that occur in the wild. It also allows for observing non-verbal reactions. Remote testing, on the other hand, allows users to complete tasks as they might in the real world from anywhere and with their actual device.

    Some specific usability testing methods and techniques that can be used include:

    • Screen/video recording: Gives insight into how long it takes to navigate and click through a website, application, system, etc. as well as tracking non-verbal cues.
    • Usability lab: A dedicated testing location. All variables can be controlled so the focus remains on the testing.
    • Guerilla testing: This is done in the wild, recruiting a few people to do a quick software test. While this can be quick and cheap, you can’t ensure you’re testing your specific target audience.
    • Contextual inquiry: Testing in a participant’s own environment with an interview and/or third-party observation of their use of the product. This allows researchers to know things like what device is used and where and how the application is used.
    • Usability testing partners: These are third-party organizations with testing expertise and access to a broad pool of participants that can be recruited and cultivated based on client needs.

    Benefits

    Usability testing can deliver a variety of benefits to an organization, including:

    • Direct feedback from the target audience
    • Cost savings through addressing concerns earlier in software development
    • Detection of usability issues before launch
    • Real-world testing
    • Unbiased assessment

    Costs and Challenges

    The most obvious concerns at the beginning of the software development life cycle are are development costs and time-to-market. While usability testing can take time and involve costs of its own, ultimately, the practice aims to address those concerns; in the long run, it is more expensive to launch a flawed product with poor user experience. A few factors that must be considered when it comes to the time and cost involved in performing usability testing include:

    • Sample size
    • Gathering the right participant profiles
    • Breadth and depth of testing practices
    • Amount of time allocated to the test

    All things considered, when done right usability testing delivers ROI that more than makes up for the cost and time involved.

    Consider the implications when an application is launched and certain users are frustrated with the experience and are left with a negative feeling toward the brand. Usability testing addresses this concern and allows for issues to be discovered and fixed earlier in the development life cycle. Investing in developing and testing for a positive user experience is always worthwhile and effective.

  • Adding Usability Testing to the CD Pipeline

    Adding Usability Testing to the CD Pipeline

    Do you include usability tests in your continuous delivery pipeline? If not, you could be making a big mistake.

    Usability testing, which entails having actual users test an application for user-friendliness, intuitiveness and accessibility, gets easily lost within the DevOps conversation. If you want to do continuous delivery, waiting on manual usability tests may seem like a major barrier.

    Why Usability Testing Matters

    Yet, DevOps teams that ignore the importance of usability tests do so at their peril. Continuously delivered apps will provide little value if they are difficult for ordinary people to use. Users have little tolerance for applications that lack usability.

    It’s worth noting, too, that DevOps makes usability testing even more important than it would be within a waterfall delivery chain. When you do continuous delivery, your software changes more quickly. That increases the chances of introducing a change into production that negatively impacts app usability.

    How to Do DevOps Usability Tests

    So, how can you do proper usability testing without slowing down your continuous delivery pipeline? Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution. Unlike integration and unit tests, usability tests cannot be easily automated.

    You can, however, work closely with your in-house QA team to perform usability tests before changes reach the production stage of your pipeline. This will work as long as your QA team is able to replicate real-world usability conditions well.

    Alternatively, you could release changes to a select group of users before making them generally available. Those users would then test for usability issues quickly and report them to you before your updates reach the wild. This scenario would essentially mean doing a very fast beta release for certain users. If that seems unfeasible, keep in mind that, as long as each of your continuously delivered changes is minor, quick beta testing is manageable.

    Whatever you do, the most important thing is to avoid ignoring usability testing. Otherwise, all of the hard work you put into continuously delivering your app could be for nought.

    — Chris Tozzi

  • 7 Tips for testing the usability of mobile apps

    7 Tips for testing the usability of mobile apps

    Of the one million mobile apps, only half are used more than 5 times

    If you study any random cross-section of successful mobile apps and games you’ll find that they have one common factor. All of them are accessible. They have user interfaces that people can navigate intuitively without instruction. This is partly about building on expectations and established norms with Android, iOS, or whatever platform you are developing on. But there’s no substitute for thorough usability testing.

    According to Localytics, 20% of apps are used once and never opened again. Only 50% of apps are used more than five times. The window for app developers to impress and hook the user slams shut quickly and it stays shut. First impressions are vital if you want to boost retention rates and stand out in a crowd of over a million apps.

    It can be difficult and expensive to extract actionable data from usability tests. Here are a few practical tips for successful usability testing:

    1. Create a mock up – Starting with user-centric design is a smart move that will pay dividends down the line. You can save yourself a lot of time and money by discovering weaknesses and potential problems before the development really begins. There’s no reason you can’t mock up your user interface with simple screenshots and then frame it in an actual size smartphone surround. You can even do this with card and paper if need be. That way you can find out how potential users expect to interact with your app and identify the tasks that are most important to them. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to change your design on paper than it is to rewrite code.
    1. Examine how people interact – This applies to every usability test you conduct, whether it’s a paper mockup, a prototype, or the functional app on a smartphone. If you’re doing it in person then provide minimal guidance, ideally none at all, so you can uncover genuine failure points. Make sure to take plenty of notes. It’s not enough to just record what’s happening onscreen, you need to observe what people are doing with their hands, and see their facial expressions and body language. Are they trying the wrong gestures? Are they getting frustrated? Is it working the way they expect? Close observation will deliver the best insights.
    1. Test in the real world – If you can conduct tests in real world conditions in public then you might uncover some pertinent details about the usability of your app that you would miss in a controlled environment. This means conducting tests in real environments, whether it’s a busy shopping mall or a person’s home. It can be a good idea to avoid giving any instruction, that way you can see just how intuitive the design really is. There are services that offer video footage and audio narration of testers from around the world in different demographics using your app in real world conditions. Without the official framing of a test situation you have relaxed users and this can deliver different insights. Sometimes it might be more indicative of real world conditions to have someone test in their own home.
    1. Keep it short and simple – The longer a test is, or the more complicated it gets, the less likely it is your users will stay focused and interested. If they have to think too much about the parameters of the test and what you’re asking them to do then they’re less representative of an end user. This is particularly important when you’re asking members of the public to test in return for a small reward or for free. 
    1. Vary platforms and devices – Try to let people use their own devices wherever possible. That way the device won’t be a distraction and you’ll get data about different devices. The more variations you can cover, the more useful data you can gather. If you’re releasing on more than one platform then make sure you cover each one. You’ll need to cater for differences in expectations about standard platform navigation.
    1. Ask the right questions – Observation should be your primary source of data during usability tests, but you may want to ask some questions after each session. Be careful about what you ask and focus on getting actionable data. Asking if the app made them happy on a scale of one to ten isn’t going to tell you anything useful in a practical sense. You should also ask for elaboration, and where possible, have people show you what they mean using the app or prototype, rather than tell you, to avoid misconstruing any answers.
    1. Assess and act – You need to aggregate the data you collect and create a plan to assess it. Make sure you draw meaningful conclusions that are backed up by a weight of data. Don’t let personal bias cloud this process. You should be acting on the things that will resonate with the most end users. Just because one vociferous tester shouts louder than the others doesn’t make their feedback more important. Take your time, get further feedback on specific areas if it’s needed, and create a plan of action that you’re confident will result in concrete improvements, then test them again to confirm.

    There’s a lot of work involved in usability testing, but there’s no better way to improve the accessibility of your app and create a favorable first impression with the end user.

    About the Author

    Mush_Headshot cropMush Honda is QA Director at KMS Technology, a provider of IT services across the software development lifecycle with offices in Atlanta and Vietnam. He was previously a tester at Ernst & Young, Nexidia, Colibrium Partners and Connecture. KMS services include application management, testing, support, professional services and staff augmentation.