Do-it-Yourself User Testing: Get big customer insights for little (or no) cost

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by: Mike Kuniavsky

Observing the User Experience
When you know what problems people have, you are much less likely to create solutions that address the wrong problem, or worse, no problem at all.”

Where?
You don’t need a formal testing lab
If you are conducting a full-scale usability test late in the product development cycle, we
recommend using a testing facility where you can track users’ reaction in a systematic way.

But for testing user reactions early in the design process, the conference room down the
hall will work just fine. All you need is a table, a chair, a moderator and a test subject. Just make sure you audiotape the proceedings or have a colleague take notes to share with your design team later.

When?

It’s never too early to listen to your customers

There are many creative ways to get feedback and insights from your customers during the design

process. For example:

o Show customers your early page designs on paper, before they are built, to get their

reactions

o Observe customers using your current website to get impressions of their experience and

uncover pain points

o Watch customers use your competitors’ sites or products to see what they think works and

what doesn’t

o If you are redesigning a process (e.g. a registration form or shopping cart), review any new

steps with your customers to see if they are easy to understand

What?
A simple sketch will do
You don’t need to show your customers a fully-designed and functioning web site in order to get their reaction to it. In fact, reviewing a simple sketch or paper prototype is often all you need to garner important and sometimes surprising insights. Paper prototypes are especially useful for:

o Sharing new navigation schemes and naming conventions to find out if they
are intuitive
o Testing new features or changes to existing features, like a search form or
shopping cart, to see if they make things better or worse

How?
Leave your assumptions at the door
The process of validating design decisions and collecting feedback from customers is called a design walkthrough. The technique typically involves using a paper prototype, however, it can also be conducted with a functioning prototype or parts of a website that are fully developed.

A design walkthrough involves taking a group of participants through website designs using real-life user scenarios or tasks. Participants are asked to specify the actions they would take on each page and to make comments about the usability and usefulness of each page.

The trick here is not to over-guide your participants. Give them a general idea of what the
site or product is for, or describe a scenario or objective for them, then let them respond
as they would when using a real website on their own. You’ll want to develop a script in
advance to ensure consistency from one participant to the next.

Once you’ve gathered insights from your customers, it is time to analyze and act upon
them. You may uncover a “showstopper” that requires you to radically alter the course
of your product. More likely, you will come away with a list of important refinements and improvements. The most important thing is to capture and share those insights with your design team so they can act upon them.

Additional Resources
Books
> Observing the User Experience: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Mike
Kuniavsky
> Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
> Paper Prototyping by Carolyn Snyde