Usability testing
Improve the quality of the services providedUsability tests are one of the most useful tools for improving systems that require interaction with a person, such as websites but not only, just think of the chatbots in use in recent years.
THEusability is the measure of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which service users achieve their goals.
- Efficiency: as precision and thoroughness with which users are able to achieve their goals
- Efficiency: how the resources used by users, in terms of understanding, available tools, accuracy in use, completion and time spent, allow to achieve the objectives
- Satisfaction: such as the absence of frustration and discomfort felt by users in reaching their goals, producing on the contrary a positive attitude and the idea of being "understood on the fly" as potential customers within their own needs.
It is precisely in the use of the product/service that one realizes if a usability study has been missing upstream of the project, while when this study has taken place, often one does not notice it.
THEweb usability o web usability is the application of the principles ofusability applied to websites and services provided digitally through a graphic interface.
Usability therefore has as its objectives that of economize the cognitive effort of the user, proposing products that are easy to understand, to learn, to use, to remember, which avoid or make mistakes recoverable and which therefore gratify the user.
In many only realize when the project is completed, errors that could have been avoided by adopting usability heuristics right from the beginning of the project. Errors whose settlement can lead to unexpected additional investments in terms of time and costs, the implementation of solutions which, however refined, force us to accept compromises that can complicate and compromise the efficiency of the product/service in its use..
Why have them done by an outsider?
An observer external to the client is not conditioned by the project development activity and as such, in addition to seeing things for the first time, is in a privileged position to bring out and highlight important "unpleasant truths" that often involved in the project tends not to see.
Why does it work?
It works because all websites have problems that can limit the number of conversions. How many times have you used a website with a usability problem? Sometimes it can happen that they are so important that you leave the site and go to the competitor's site. They may have concerned the tools to navigate it or the unclear contents.
It works because most of the important problems are easy to discover
It works because observing people improves planning ability
HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?
It depends on what needs to be analysed, but generally if it is a question of testing a website or an already provided service, they are quite fast and involve the use of at least three people, the preparation of the test, the debriefing in which to compile the report and know what needs to be fixed before a possible subsequent test session.
What is it about in practice?
An activity as simple as extremely effective!
Watch people try to use what you have created / built / designed, or are doing now, in order to understand how to make it easier to use or confirm that it is easy to use.
WHEN TO DO THEM?
Usually we tend to think that you can't start usability testing until you have something that works, but that's not the case. It is possible to detect serious usability problems early in the development process, even when you have very little to see,
It's much easier and cheaper in the long run if you fix usability issues early, before you go on to build a site that has them all.
Sometimes it is no longer possible to correct major problems discovered late.
The worst practice is the most common: waiting to test until the site is completed and ready to launch.
WHAT STATS ARE GENERATED?
It is not possible to generate statistics because the number of candidates is too low. The point is that this type of testing is not quantitative and you don't need to prove something but qualitative and identify major problems and improve things by solving them.