Usability Testing: What you need to know?

Posted by usabilitysciences on February 13th, 2013

What is Usability Testing?

Website usability testing is a technique used to measure the ease of use of a given website or an application. A web usability test may be performed in either one of the three standard ways that are – Remote, Lab Based or Field Testing.

The test results are measured in terms of –

1. Performance – It refers to the ease with which users are able to accomplish a task on their first interaction with the web design.

2. Efficiency – This concerns the speed and accuracy with which the user can perform the given task.

3. Recall Value – This refers to the retention of the design in the user’s mind, after a gap of time since the first time the website was used by him.

4. Scope of errors – This concerns the errors made by a user while using the website. The severity of errors and the time taken to rectify these is what matters.

5. User satisfaction – This is how much the user likes the web design and finds it easy to use.

What is the aim of Web Usability Testing?

Usability testing is the first step in knowing what is liked and what does not work with the end users. This is followed by a certain set of steps, which are aimed at bringing the website to a form which is easy to use and provides a reasonable level of user satisfaction.

1. Observation

Once the usability testing is performed, the team must give due consideration to the findings on both the fronts, a performance that refers to success, time, errors, etc. as well as subjective, which includes the user's satisfaction and comfort ratings.

2. Inference

After keen observation, the testing team should analyse the findings, in order to understand the problem areas.

3. Finding the Best Solution

In case there is a need to redesign or revise the website, the testing team along with the web-development team needs to find the best possible solution while considering the time and budget constraints from the client’s end.

4. Execution

After completion of the first three steps, the final step involves implementation of the solution, which comprises of setting the priorities, changing the prototype or redesigning the complete website.

These days, one can find a host of web usability experts available online. All you need to do is to surf the internet, and choose a company that you think can provide the best testing services at optimum rates.

About The Author:

The article has been written by Ben Bishop, the Marketing Manager at Usability Sciences. Usability Sciences offers various Usability Testing services like – Website Usability Testing, Mobile Usability Testing, Website Design Testing, Remote Usability Testing, and Rapid Iterative Testing. They also offer Eye tracking, Web Usability, Card Sorting and Intercept Survey services to improve your web experience. Besides these they also take a keen interest in various online research and competitive usability research study and analysis.