#5 Do-it-yourself usability testing for startups

Usability testing can help you dramatically improve your website or app by watching people use it. We all know this to be true, and yet so many of us don’t do a lot of testing.

Usability testing seems to be time consuming and too complicated forbeginners. But is it really? Applying 5 simple steps and using automation willhelp you get started right away!

Stefan Rössler, Userbrain

Greg Pietruszynski,Growbots

#DIY

Follow 5 simple steps:

Planning. Don’t waste too much time on it. The idea of perfection keeps you from testing early and often enough — that’s why we strive for continual improvement instead.

Automation trick: use Clara to

schedule your meetings.

#1

source

Testing always works, and even the worst test with the wrong user will show you important things you can do to improve your site.

Steve Krug Author of Don’t make me think

#disclousure

Your first usability test will suck! You will do almost everything wrong,

even if you’re perfectly prepared. The secret of usability testing is to

just do it.

Conducting. If this is your first time to conduct a usability test, here’s how you

can do it:

#2

1.

2.

4.

3.

Give a short intro to your users based on Steve Krug’s example script (PDF).

Write a scenario that reflects your website’s purpose.

Give your users a concrete task to do.

Be a silent observer rather than a leading facilitator.

Analyzing. Conducting a usability test is one thing; analyzing it is something

completely different.

#3

Interpreting the results is complex.

Watch Steve Krug’s video and learn how to interpret your data.

Reporting. Typically, usability testing is done by outside experts. The obvious

problem with this approach is that these experts need to report the findings to

you and your team, which usually takes a lot of time and money.

#4

#DoItYourself

When a designer runs a test, he or she knows what happened and can immediately start redesigning to fix the problems that the test identified. No meeting, no report, no communications overhead required.

Jakob NielsenNielsen Norman Group

After the first session you’ll have a dozen things to improve.

Using the results. If you do usability tests yourself, using the results becomes a no-brainer: you see how people have problems with your design, you improve it based on your observations - repeat.

#5

Don’t let the term usability intimidate

you.

Read the whole article here:http://blog.growbots.co/

startup-growth-academy-5-diy-usability-

testing-for-startups

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www.growbots.co | www.blog.growbots.co

Greg Pietruszynski | @pietruszynski CEO Growbots | @growbots_

Stefan Rössler | @stefanroessler cofounder & designer at Userbrain and Simplease Personal mantra: get involved, be useful, and enjoy.

www.userbrain.net | www.userbrain.net/blog