What Is User Testing? Methods and Steps

What is user testing? If you’ve ever taken the time to create a product only to have it fall flat on its face, you may be compelled to think about this question.

As you move through the product development process, user testing helps you view the product through your users’ eyes. It enables you to identify areas of improvement in your user experience design before launch.

In this article, we explore what user testing is, the different approaches to user testing, and the steps to follow to conduct an effective test.

TL;DR

• User testing refers to the handing over of your product to users so they can test it for potential errors or usability issues.
• Whereas user testing is akin to user experience testing, user research is the study of everything concerning the user’s needs, behaviors, and motivation.
• User tests help you to uncover usability issues and address bugs that impact the user experience. It can also help you validate your design ideas and choices to help you avoid design mistakes.
• There are different user testing methods, including usability tests, user feedback surveys, A/B tests, beta testing, heatmaps, and session replays.

Here are the steps to follow when conducting a user test include:

• Define a goal for your user test. It can be anything from assessing usability to improving customer satisfaction.
• Choose user testing metrics to measure your success. Metrics can include task completion rate, error rate, time on task, and so on.
• Pick a user testing method depending on your goals and needs.
• Recruit test participants using segmentation. Ensure that the sample you chose is representative of your user base.
• Analyze the collected data to identify recurring themes, then report your findings.

Book a demo today to learn how Userpilot can help you facilitate the test process and analyze your results.

What is user testing?

User testing involves getting a sample of your target audience to use your product or service in real conditions so they can evaluate its user-friendliness and identify areas for improvement before the product is released to a wide audience.

User testing vs. user research

Both user testing and user research are closely related concepts that work together to help you create a user-centric design. There are a few key distinctions, though.

User testing involves providing real users with your product to complete tasks. Your goal here is to observe how these users interact with the product and receive feedback from them that helps you improve the user experience.

The focus of user testing, therefore, is to explore how the user responds to the product or feature. This involves examining all their perceptions, emotions, and behaviors in response to that product.

User research, though, has a much broader scope. It encompasses everything you do to understand your users’ needs, behaviors, and motivations, and provides insights that inform the design process.

Why is user testing important?

User testing is a simple way to get real-world data on how users respond to your design choices. Because real users interact with products differently than expected, user testing may uncover unexpected challenges.

This enables you to identify and address pain points before a full launch, helping you create a much smoother user experience. Thus, running user tests enables you to validate and improve your design ideas.

Ultimately, this means you’ll create a product that adequately meets the needs of your target audience. This will save you time, money, and frustration, and lead to higher adoption rates and improved user satisfaction and loyalty.

Types of user testing

Every prototype, feature, or product is different, as is every company and user base. Thankfully, you can select from a variety of user test techniques, including:

Usability testing

Usability testing is an aspect of user testing that focuses on how a user uses your product to achieve a specific goal.

So, test participants in a usability test are charged with testing the product’s usefulness, ease of operation, and the intuitiveness of your design.

There are different categories of usability tests such as:

• Qualitative: Focuses on collecting numerical data and metrics describing the user experience like task completion time, task success rates, error rates, etc.
• Quantitative: Focuses on understanding the ‘why’ behind the numbers and the feelings of users through focus groups, interviews, and other research methods.
• Moderated: Involves a member of your team acting as a facilitator (moderator) to guide participants through the test session. The moderator explains what they’re to do, answers their questions, asks follow-up questions, and collects feedback.
• Unmoderated: Free of any interference or guidance from a moderator. Instead, you provide participants with pre-recorded test instructions and receive their feedback after they complete the task.

Types of usability testing:

Different usability testing methods fit into these categories. Some of these include:

1. 5-second tests: Five-second tests are designed to gauge a user’s first impressions of a design. The user is shown an image of a design for a brief period (about 5 seconds), after which they’re asked what they recall about the design.
2. Card sorting: This usability test method is used to understand how users categorize information by having them sort labeled cards into groups. For example, this method can be used to determine the most intuitive structure for a website’s menu and content categories.
3. Tree testing: Tree testing is similar to card sorting, except that participants are asked to build a hierarchical structure to show how they expect to navigate a website.
4. First-click tests: First-click tests test for the intuitiveness of a design. The user is presented with a screen and asked to click on the element they believe will help them complete a specific task.

User feedback surveys

Feedback surveys are a great source of quantitative data from your customers. This type of user testing helps you obtain accurate customer information about your product or service.

There are various survey types to help you determine how users perceive your product, including Customer effort score, Net Promoter score, and Customer satisfaction score surveys.

Thanks to behavior-triggering techniques, you can also gather feedback for very specific situations. For example, you can launch a customer effort score survey after a user interacts with a new feature to get their thoughts on it.

Track your product’s intuitiveness with CES surveys. Create survey code-free with Userpilot.

Thanks to the ease of sharing them, surveys are ideal if you want to receive lots of responses in a short time frame. You can also structure them in different ways to get really specific responses.

A/B testing

A/B testing essentially involves comparing different versions of the same thing to determine user preferences. So, rather than trying to guess what works for them, A/B testing provides accurate data about what results in better conversion rates.

If you take your customer base as a single group, for example, you can split them into two parts and send each part a specific product design. Then, you can track their reactions to see which variant they love best.

A/B testing report in Userpilot.

For example, you may want to test different task flows to see which one best aids user efficiency. You’ll have to split your users into two groups, show each group a different flow variant, and track the user behavior of both groups.

Beta testing

Beta testing is conducted when your product is at the final stages of its development process. This means your product/prototype/feature is complete but not yet ready for final distribution.

Beta testing, therefore, involves providing a beta tester with this nearly complete product to test its performance in the real world and identify any potential errors.

Before a beta test should occur, though, you should’ve conducted other tests. This way, you’ll only have minor changes (if any) to make.

One great way to recruit beta testers is by segmenting your loyal customers and sending them an in-app message inviting them to the beta test. Since they are already happy with your product, they will be more open to giving their time and helping you improve it further.

In-app beta testing invite in Userpilot.

Heatmaps

Heatmaps offer a visual representation of where a user has been on a page or in an app. It shows where they’ve clicked, spent time, and interacted with. It may also involve eye-tracking, mouse-tracking, etc.

The typical heatmap represents user interaction levels with colors, with the hottest colors representing high engagement and the coolest colors representing low engagement.

As a user testing tool, heatmaps may reveal which features in your product are most engaging and which ones aren’t. You can then conduct further research to determine the reasons for low engagement.

A feature heatmap in Userpilot.

Session replays

Session replays are non-audio video recordings of a user’s journey on your site/app. They reveal actions like clicking, scrolling, form fills, etc., and are a great source of anonymous usability testing data.

Much like heatmaps, session replays reveal user behavior trends on your website. Because test subjects don’t know they’re being observed, you also get to see their real on-site behavior.

Hotjar session replay.

How to conduct user testing?

Now that you know the different testing methods available to you, let’s examine what a typical user testing process should look like.

Define a goal for your user test

What do you want to achieve with this test? This is your time to determine the questions you hope to answer through this test.

For example, you may want the test to focus on specific tasks or features. You may also be interested in observing specific aspects of the product, such as its usability, learnability, and user satisfaction.

Establish your user testing metrics

What metrics will help you answer your chosen questions? In user testing settings, these metrics may include:

• Task success rate: The percentage of users who successfully complete a given task.
• Number of actions: The total steps or clicks a user takes to complete a task.
• Time on task: The amount of time it takes for a user to finish a task from start to end.
• Task-level satisfaction: The user’s satisfaction rating after completing a specific task, is often measured via a post-task survey.
• Number of errors: The count of mistakes a user makes while attempting to complete a task.

Choose your user testing method

How would you like to proceed with the test? Depending on your chosen metrics, you may choose between tracking user behavior within your product or questioning users about their feelings and opinions.

This is also the time to decide on questions like moderated vs. unmoderated testing, remote vs. in-person, and qualitative insights vs. quantitative data.

Recruit test participants

The ideal test participant is someone who fits the mold of your target user. If you have multiple user personas, you may need to select representative test participants for each persona.

Always ensure, though, that you have just enough participants to gather rich data, but not too much that it becomes overwhelming.

If your product is already in the market, you can always select a handful of your existing users as test participants through segmentation.

Segment your test participants with Userpilot.

Analyze and report your findings

As the test results pour in, it’s time to start analyzing. Analyze test results to identify recurring themes, usability issues, and any areas for improvement.

As you notice certain patterns in the quantitative data (completion rates, completion time, etc.), look to the qualitative data (user feedback, observations, etc.) for insights.

For example, if you chose surveys as your user testing method, use a dedicated tool to visualize survey responses and analyze them at a glance.

Review and analyze survey results in Userpilot.

Finally, create a report summarizing the test results and key takeaways, and highlighting the next steps based on your findings.

Conclusion

By incorporating user testing into your development process, you gain a user-centric perspective that can make all the difference in the success of your product.

Userpilot simplifies the process of segmenting your ideal test participants, conducting in-app tests, and analyzing test results. Book a demo today to learn more.