What is Usability Testing?
To understand usability testing, it is important to first understand what it is that makes a website usable. For the purposes of this article, we will discuss usability as it relates to the general population–usability for those with disabilities is discussed as the separate but equally important issue of website accessibility. Usability relates to how easily a user can interact with and navigate a website, and whether its content is valuable and relevant to them.
Why do you need usability testing?
During the development process, it is crucial that a website is designed and made with users in mind. However, even if your website is excellent when it is deployed, problems can arise later. For example, a broken button or some other unforeseen bug can cause your website to become difficult or even impossible to use, and deter even the most determined of customers. Imagine if the checkout button on your website was to break, how much money and customer loyalty you could lose! Additionally, if your website breaks for any amount of time it is in danger of seeming untrustworthy to users. This can damage your business’ reputation and credibility, and trust is almost impossible to regain once it is broken. Although it is a good idea to conduct usability testing regularly regardless, there are some specific indicators that it is time to conduct a test. If you see a sudden spike in bounce rate (that is: users who only spend time on the home page before leaving your website), or a sudden or dramatic reduction in revenue, you should definitely test your website for usability issues.
How to conduct usability testing
There are two main usability testing methods: using a testing tool and creating a study with users. However, the criteria for both are essentially the same. Any good usability test starts with defining the most important interactions and functionalities of your website. If your website is a blog perhaps that interaction is subscribing to a newsletter; if you are a business likely that interaction involves the adding to cart and checkout functions. You need to base your test around this interaction or interactions, and define what a successful interaction vs. an unsuccessful interaction is. For example, if a user is able to add a desired product to their cart, go to checkout, and pay for the item that would be a successful interaction. If the ‘add to cart’ function is broken or they can’t find the checkout button, that would be an unsuccessful interaction. The study method involves having a group of users (the recommended amount is five) try to perform the specific interactions you have defined as most important. Although this method is effective, it is also costly in terms of time and resources, and cannot be easily or often repeated. Usability testing tools, such as Miyar, solve all of the issues associated with the study method. For example, when using Miyar you record the desired results of your most important interactions and functionalities. You then define the amount you want your test to run (once a week, once a day, many times a day) and leave it to run in the background. This continuous testing ensures that your website remains functioning properly, and if anything breaks or deviates from the desired outcome you are immediately alerted. This way you can spend your precious time and resources on other areas of running your business, and you don’t lose revenue, credibility or customers in the meantime.