Usability Testing: An Iterative Approach To Leverage Hidden Opportunities

As people are gaining more and more exposure to digital services like web applications and software technology, the more crucial it has become to work on the Quality Assurance goals. Though the modern product release strategies extensively focus on creating strong hypotheses for their tech projects, the past knowledge and experience of the DevOps and QAOps team is the last thing that makes way for final outcomes.  

Since the primary goals associated with any product launch are concerned about offering maximum usability to the end-users, software development brands heavily rely on Usability Testing services to validate all the hypothetical requirements framed for a product. In other words, usability testing forms the base of the feedback when the software brand needs to align with the actual user’s requirements.  

Besides, the reports have suggested that 85 percent of the usability issues are detected when 5 users are continuously testing a solution. While Forbes has found that UX and Usability testing applied to the process has proven to be the best decision businesses could take to scale faster. Moreover, every single dollar invested in usability design and testing tends to return 10 to 100 times return on the product releases, reports IBM. 

All in all, usability testing is one such iterative practice that can help you get rid of all the potential issues related to a product while opening doors for numerous business opportunities. Moreover, having a fresh perspective of the technology that you have developed is always a great idea to unravel profits never attained.  

Let’s dig into detail to understand usability testing, methods, and process of drafting the test plans.  

 Usability Testing: The Basics 

Usability testing is all about creating a product that is created to offer a user-centric design. Most usability testing service providers, opt for an iterative process to evaluate the product. The process works by asking the relevant audience to review the product for functionality. The feedback from the review process is gathered and processed to create test scenarios on leading the entire task of usability testing. 

Common Testing Methods:

• A/B Testing 

• Beta Testing 

• Focus Groups 

• Surveys 

A/B Testing 

As the term depicts, A/B testing is the approach to test best out of two options. This usually starts with creating two versions of the same feature to find out which one is more effective. Furthermore, both options are taken to a similar number of users to understand the perception of the audience. This approach is usually preferred for checking on design or achieving great UX through QA while working on both versions till perfection is attained. 

Beta Testing 

Beta testing is another popular testing practice where product owners have the chance to showcase their product to the potential users for the critical feedback. Moreover, the practice involves asking questions related to product experience and any bugs that might affect the user experience. However, this type of testing is only employed when product is completely ready but need end-users testing to validate it. 

Focus Groups 

Focus groups are one of the most popular testing methods where a focus group of 6 to 12 people is made to discuss issues related to the product. This type of testing is managed by moderators who maintain the focus of the group for a typical session of 2 hours. Moreover, this technique helps to understand the user requirements related to a product based on their preferences, thoughts, and feeling. 

Besides, it is very important than your focus groups should include diverse and relevant audience. For instance, if you need to launch an application dedicated for kids, taking it to business experts of age above 50 would only lead to failure.  

Survey 

Last but not least, you can attain your usability testing goals by using the survey-based approach. This practice could help you gather a mass volume of information without making many efforts. The surveys are usually run using survey websites or forms containing relevant and clear answers. 

It is necessary that surveys should not be exhausting and are made considering the target audience in mind. These needs taking care of language as well as any other information that makes it to the successful results. 

Making The Right Choice On Usability Tests Types 

When it comes to usability testing to meet QA goals, Usability Testing Service companies often work on analyzing the pros and cons of different test approaches. Especially, when modern-day technology such as AI has transformed software testing to a great extent, finding the best approach for usability testing requires having the best answers on certain queries.  

1. When do you need the results? 
2. What are your expectations with the information? 

In case, you need results quickly, then focus groups or A/B testing could make things easier for you. On the other hand, if you want to have user data, then you can lean on surveys or beta testing. Moreover, A/B testing can also help designers to make decisions with two options while beta testing could be accommodated to measure the potential of a complete product package. 

Progressing Towards The Test Plans 

Once you are done selecting the right test model for your project, the next step that you need to take is draft the test plan for your usability testing initiatives. And it is quite easy to manage when you hire usability testers to assist you on this stage since they generally stick with 5 easy steps to draft effective test plans: 

1. Create a script  
2. Select the users 
3. Run & record the test 
4. Analyze case results or data 
5. Document the information to plan implementation tasks. 

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Apart from this, there are few important details that must be kept in focus to improve the entire usability testing experience.  

Know The Focus Area 

The first tip that you should follow to improve your usability testing process is define the focus area. This means either picking up on the screen part of the application or checking on particular user experience factors like navigation. Such approach would make it easy for you to create scenarios and process data better. 

Plan Conversations With Your User Groups 

Even if you are the best usability testing service provider in India, leading a usability testing initiative needs you to interact with your user group or audience to help them learn the purpose of the survey or test process. This must be made clear that the users are required to share their honest opinion and it has nothing to do with their knowledge of the industry to ensure the best information could be gathered. This needs to be an extremely patient practice.  

Make Sure You Record 

Testing should be done under a well-defined test environment where you can drag conversations that can add productivity to the overall project. Moreover, the test process should be fostered while recording the entire test process and conversational data to have clear insights of the entire project. 

Define Your Priorities 

Another important tip that could help you prevent any overwhelming situations is to define the priorities for the test. You can try on using Trello board or maybe using blank cards to have any random inputs that could help improving the project. Though the process may need extensive brainstorming, fixing bugs or improving user experience, all gets easy when you have prioritized things. 

Summing It Up 

To conclude it all, anybody dealing with usability testing services need to understand that it is small things that makes way for an excellent job. The more you manage to accommodate details into the process, the more interactive will be the products. 

Moreover, sticking to every bit and piece of the above-defined process could help you make usability testing a highly interactive process making way for extensive business opportunities. Obviously, knowledge is power and when you have the right information on usability goals, you can land into the market with a product that defines your entire customer journey making your business an ultimate success.  

All the best! 

In case, you are struggling with the stress to hire tester for usability testing or have assistance on usability testing services, feel free to reach our industry experts through info@bugraptors.com