Usability testing

The principle is simple: watch customers as they use your product and discuss the experience with them. You can use what you learn to help you design improvements to the interface. It's a powerful way to make products more popular and more profitable.

The most successful projects perform iterative usability tests on mock-ups and sketches, starting from the early stages of the design process. Testing a finished product lets you gather information about its strengths and weaknesses, and where to focus your efforts next.

How it works

A usability test session is usually conducted one-to-one: just one respondent working with a Flow consultant. It can involve a number of different activities, including:

• Context interview: Understand how people might have used the product or features in previous situations.
• Comprehension test: Ask people to explain what they think the product is for and the functions of individual elements.
• Pre-defined tasks: Ask people to use the interface to perform specific tasks that the team consider important.
• User-generated tasks: Ask people what they would like the interface to do, and then see if they can get the results they want.
• Perceptions: Gather subjective perceptions, using interviewing and numerical scales.

We record the test onto DVD, and also keep a log of all the key results using our own software, the Flowbulator.

We can also perform eye tracking as part of the test. Eye tracking technology follows the user's gaze to see what parts of the interface they look at. On its own, gaze information is of limited use, but it can add helpful insight if you use it alongside other usability testing techniques. Eye tracking produces very compelling "heatmap" images too, which can help to persuade project stakeholders of the significance of overall test findings.

Results

We bring experience and insight, so you get intelligent analysis, not just data. Our deliverables include:

• A framework that explains your target users' motivations, goals, and typical behaviour patterns. This sets the usability findings in context and helps the team to design more successful interfaces in future.
• A list of usability issues found, along with a severity grading.
• Recommendations for short- and long-term improvements.
• Illustrated solutions where appropriate.

We can deliver in all sorts of formats including presentations, reports, workshops and DVD.

Practical details

How many users?

A round of testing can range in size from 6 to 24 sessions depending on the range of demographics, target countries and product complexity. There's theory to show that small studies are a cost effective way to uncover all the usability issues present in a product.

You can also cover sample sizes of several hundred respondents using online usability testing tools.

Timescales

Depending on scale and deliverables, a round of usability testing will typically take between 3 and 10 days. Allow 1-2 weeks in advance for user recruitment.

Finding users

We recruit people to match your customer profile, using an experienced market research fieldwork agency. Working with them, we've built a successful track record of recruiting all sorts of people, from everyday folk to high-level professionals or people who operate in specialised areas.