A presentation at Confab Central 2018 in in Minneapolis, MN, USA by Ida Aalen
Easy & affordable user-te st ing Ida Aalen / @idaaa CPO, Confrere ida@confrere.com
Confab Central, May 2018
confrere.com/usertest
Task 1 Read the title and the intro. Write down 1-5 questions you expect will be answered on this page.
Task 2
Read the text.
•
Were your questions answered?
•
Is there content that cut be cut or
should be expanded?
#1 Micro-tes t ing content. • Time: 30 min+ • Price: Mostly free
Feedback on needs, not grammar and typos
•
What equipment is supported?
•
Can this service be used on
mobile devices?
•
How can I know that it is safe?
•
What is the flow like, step by
step, when setting up a call?
•
How much does it cost?
•
How do you embed/link this on
your own site?
User te st ing can be easy & affordable.
Do you recognise this icon? Survey with 4273 respondents, 2014 Mobile: 53% said no Desktop: 73% said no
Colleagues are not your users.
Designers are not your users.
Content st rategi st s are not your users.
1 in 3 problems found by experts are false alarms 1 in 2 user problems are overlooked by experts
5
N (1-(1-L)n)
0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Number of test subjects 0 3 6 9 12 15 Share observed problems Small and frequent tests are better than bigger and infrequent tests
User te st ing is real users solving real tasks.
Have you done user te st ing?
What we want to find out: Is it clear to physicians that they can use Confrere for video appointments?
Our que st ion ≠ User task
Open & explorative
What would you do to
find a video calling
service that’s suitable
for physicians?
Specific & measurable
Could you find the
page which explains
how Confrere is
HIPAA compliant?
Partially open
Go to confrere.com.
What would you do
to figure out whether
this is suitable for
physicians?
Open & explorative • If you want to find more problems • It’s ok to give different tasks to different people • More realistic, but also more time- consuming Specific & measurable • When you know there’s a problem, but you want to figure out why • Easier to measure and compare • Can be leading Partially open
5 techniques
#1 Microte st ing content. • Time: 30 min+ • Price: Free
#2 Information archite $ ure • Time: 30 min+ • Price: Free / $99-199 per month
#3 Get out. • Time: 1-4 hours • Price: Snacks
It’s this easy:
(Translated by Google)
#4 Lab te st on a budget. • Time: 1 day for planning and recruiting, 1 day for the actual test • Price: Rewarding users
(Translated by Google)
«Hugging»
If you need observers: Test machine Observation + Tool for screen sharing +
Help the person think out loud
What are you thinking about?
I’m looking for the menu… Help the user think out loud and ask open questions
What happens if I click here? What do you think might happen if you click there? Make sure you’re not helping the user
How do you lead a tes t , without leading the user?
I’ve made the design for the new website and I’d love to hear what you think! The team who has designed the site need help figuring out if it’s really working.
You’re really good at this! You’re solving all the tasks! Thank you! Let’s move on to the next task.
It would have gone so much faster if you had just clicked the menu-button. There’s really a big room for improvement here. Thank you for helping us identify this!
Sigh…
The user is there to help you
Don’t li st en. Observe.
Rationalization
Michael S. Gazzaniga:
“The Interpreter”
http://youtu.be/mJKloz2vwlc
Differentiate between… Observation What the person did and said during the task Interpretation Why you believe the person did what they did Improvements What you believe could be a solution to the problem
Example Observation • The user did not click the “Buy”-button Interpretations • The button should be placed elsewhere • The button has the wrong color or shape • The microcopy “buy” sounds too committing • The user didn’t think they really were supposed to “buy” since it’s just a test
#5 Was this helpful? • Time: 15 min+ • Price: Often free
5 methods: 1. Microtesting of content 2. Information architecture 3. Get out 4. Lab test on a budget 5. Was this helpful? confrere.com/ usertest
5 methods: 1. Microtesting of content 2. Information architecture 3. Get out 4. Lab test on a budget 5. Was this helpful? confrere.com/ usertest
You learn so much more meeting people face to face!
Thank you! Ida Aalen / @idaaa Chief Product Officer ida@confrere.com confrere.com/usertest
It’s not difficult to find people who agree that user testing is a good idea. But it’s even easier to find people who say they don’t have the time or the budget for user testing. This session will offer tips, tools, and examples from actual projects—ultimately demonstrating that yes, you do actually have everything you need to do user testing.
This session will cover:
Simple and affordable techniques to get user insight Choosing how and what to test in your project Arguments to convince your boss that testing is absolutely necessary
for free. You
can too.