A Quick Definition of “Usability Testing”
Welcome to another rapid-fire nugget of UX design goodness! In this article we’re going to talk about usability.
“Usability” is the idea that a normal person should be able to use your products and find them self-explanatory, efficient, and simple. Beyond making sure that things work well and are easy to understand, designers are responsible for creating products that are forgiving, evoke positive emotions, and get users absorbed in the experience.
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Testing this is typically conducted by a UX researcher or designer with a chosen participant who resembles a representative user. They are briefed to perform actionable and realistic tasks, and are observed in the process of doing so.
Usability testing can be used to uphold a set of standards for quality, consistency and customer success and measured for a given set of test tasks.
Some examples of metrics that could be collected during usability testing include:
- Completion rate: whether user completes the given task
- Expectation: perceived difficulty of a given task
- Time on task: time per completed task
- Overall user satisfaction: general perception of the experience
- Errors : any unintended mistakes, clicks or actions
Learn More
These tutorials will get you on your way to fully understand usability testing, including advice on how to conduct interviews and which tools to help you collect feedback.
- Usability Testing Tools for Quick and Early FeedbackAndreia Paralta Carqueija22 Aug 2016
- An Introduction to Remote Usability TestingHarry Brignull29 Aug 2016
- UX Research: How to Build an Interview GuideJoel12 Dec 2016
- Quick Tip: How to Run a Guerrilla Testing SessionAndreia Paralta Carqueija26 Jan 2016