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What is a UX test?
What is a UX test? A UX test is a test designed to check whether a product does its job the way its creators expected. Usability tests are used to evaluate websites, web applications...
What is a UX test?
A UX test is a test designed to check whether a product does its job the way its creators expected. Usability tests are used to evaluate websites, web applications, computer interfaces and devices. Before the test begins, scenarios are created or realistic situations are used, so that the product in question can be tested as thoroughly as possible.
What can be tested with a UX test?
A usability test lets us test many aspects of our product, e.g. whether our website/app is simple and intuitive. It shows whether users can understand how our product works within a reasonable time, whether they will be satisfied with it and whether it meets their requirements. It also lets us check how easy it is to move between subpages, menus, graphics and widgets.
What are the advantages and benefits of a UX test?
The main advantage of usability tests is how quickly they can be carried out (usually within a few days). Preparing the research is fairly simple and inexpensive, yet very effective: we can quickly identify most of our product's problems. It helps to encourage new users to use our product, which allows us to increase the revenue it generates and reduce customer service costs. Usability tests should detect most errors.
What does the UX testing process look like?
UX tests are usually divided into 6 stages:
- Preparation Stage - used to prepare the tasks our group of participants will receive and to define the target group
- Participant Recruitment Stage - used to recruit people for the study
- Testing Stage - usually takes about 1 hour per participant, during which the person completes the tasks prepared for them
- Analysis Stage - used to analyse the data collected during the testing phase
- Synthesis Stage - used to draw conclusions and formulate optimisation recommendations
- Reporting Stage - used to present the results and recommendations to the relevant stakeholders.
The participant is asked to complete the tasks prepared in the preparation stage. The tasks can vary, e.g. buying a product on our website, creating and editing an account, contacting the company using a form, or publishing posts (in the case of blogs).
During the testing stage, the following are taken into account: the time taken to complete the tasks, how easy they were to complete and the problems the participant encountered; the actions they took while completing each task; and their reactions, e.g. facial expressions.
What research techniques are there?
The most popular UX testing techniques are:
- Click-Tracking - in this method, all of the participant's clicks are recorded.
- Eye-Tracking - this method tracks what the user is looking at.
- Post-its and Affinities - in this method, people are asked to sort sticky notes with different content into appropriate categories.
