User testing with real people from your target demographic will help you to achieve your website goals. The Nielsen Norman Group recently reminded us that recruiting internal staff to test a website should be a last resort.
Embracing feedback from your real users will enable you to make decisions that:
- Maximise your ROI
- Increase conversion rate
- Improve user retention
Testing methods
Testing methods are the ways to conduct a usability study on any type of interface, although we will almost always be testing website interfaces here at Indulge. There are three main testing methods; each of them has its strengths and weaknesses.
Moderated in-person
This is the classic approach to usability testing: users physically attend a session in a lab like environment. These tests are often with a one-way mirror and observed by a team of researchers.
Moderated remote
The participant and facilitator are in different locations. Screen sharing software (like GoToMeeting) allows the facilitator to remotely observe the participant attempting website tasks and allows for probing on problems.
Unmoderated remote
Software from UserTesting, Loop 11 or TryMyUI administer tasks to participants that match your demographic. You can collect a lot of data quickly and for a fraction of the cost of in-person testing. In most cases you have a recording of the participant's screen, but there's no way to simultaneously interact with all participants.
How can we conduct user testing for you?
Here at Indulge we have a process in place for conducting remote user testing. The data we have collected from each study has provided us with valuable actions to improve user experience. We start off with defining a test plan that looks at specific tasks and questions you would like to ask your users. Using a remote user testing platform we commission the tests and produce a report to visualise the data.
Contact us for more information about user testing and how we can carry out a bespoke study specific to your website.
