User Testing Checklist: What To Test For When User Testing Your Site or App

Testing Your Website or App for Usability: A Comprehensive Guide

It’s always critical when launching a new app or website, to thoroughly test the software so that it does everything you need it to do, and works properly.

No matter how visually appealing or innovative your website or app is, if users struggle to navigate it or encounter frequent errors, they will quickly lose interest.

Usability testing and stress testing allow you to identify potential problems, improve the user experience, and ultimately increase engagement and conversion rates.

The Purpose of Usability Testing

Usability testing involves evaluating a product by testing it on users. This direct input allows developers to see if the product is easy to use, understand, and navigate, and whether it meets user expectations.

This process helps identify areas of confusion and possible improvements, making it an essential step in web and app development.

Usability Testing vs Stress Testing

You may have heard of both terms, but usability testing is primarily testing to make sure the website is easy to use and bug free.

Stress testing is more centered on the speed and performance of the site or app – do the pages load quickly, does the site respond quickly, and how does it do when there are a lot of users all concurrently using the site?

Key Steps in Usability Testing

1. Plan Your Testing: Determine what aspects of your website or app you want to test, who your testers will be, and what tasks they will perform.
2. Prepare Your Test Participants: Select your participants and prepare them for the test by explaining what they will do and what you hope to learn.
3. Run the Test: Observe your participants as they use your website or app, taking notes on any difficulties or issues they encounter. Obviously, it’s very important not to help or guide or communicate with your testers as they test.
4. Analyze Your Results: Review your findings, look for trends or common issues, and develop a plan for addressing them.

Common Errors To Check For

There are several common errors you should watch for during usability testing. These include:

• Navigation issues: Users struggle to find their way around your website or app.
• Design issues: The design is not intuitive, causing users to become confused or frustrated.
• Functionality issues: Features or functions of your website or app do not work as expected.
• Content issues: The content is unclear or does not meet user needs.

Encourage Users to “Break” Your Website or App

One of the most effective ways to find potential issues with your website or app is to encourage users to try to “break” it.

This doesn’t mean literally causing damage, but rather trying to use the website or app in unexpected ways or pushing its boundaries. Users often use products in ways that the developers didn’t anticipate, and these can often reveal issues that need to be addressed.

For example, a user might try to submit a form without filling out all the fields, or use the back button in a way that you didn’t expect.

By encouraging this kind of exploratory behavior, you can identify potential problems and fix them before they cause issues for your users.

Creating a User Testing Checklist

Creating a comprehensive user testing checklist is a critical step in ensuring your website or app’s usability. This checklist should cover the following aspects:

Usability

Check if the user can easily navigate through the website or app, find information, and accomplish tasks. Here are some usability aspects to consider:

• Consistency of design and navigation
• Ease of learning for new users
• Efficiency of use for returning users
• Memorability for infrequent users
• Error prevention and handling

Functionality

Ensure all features and functions work as expected. This should include:

• Links and buttons working correctly
• Forms submitting properly
• Search functionality returning accurate results 

Compatibility

Test your website or app on different devices, browsers, and operating systems to ensure compatibility. Aspects to check include:

• Website layout on different screen sizes
• Functionality across various browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
• App performance on different operating systems (e.g., iOS, Android)

Performance

Check how well your website or app performs under different conditions. This could involve:

• Loading speed on different network speeds
• App performance when device storage is low
• Website performance when multiple users are accessing it simultaneously

Security

Ensure your website or app protects user information and doesn’t have vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Consider:

• Encryption of user data
• Protection against common attacks (e.g., SQL injection, Cross-Site Scripting)
• Appropriate access controls (users can only access what they need to)

How to Conduct User Testing

Choosing the Right Testing Methods

There are several methods of user testing, each with its own advantages and considerations. These methods include moderated testing, unmoderated testing, remote testing, and in-person testing. Choose the method that best suits your needs and resources. Nielsen Norman Group – Which UX Research Methods

Recruiting Test Users

Test users should ideally represent your target audience. This can be achieved through careful recruitment, either by recruiting existing users, using a recruitment agency, or using a platform that provides test users.

Preparing Test Scenarios

Create real-world scenarios that the test users can work through during testing. These scenarios should cover a range of functionalities and tasks that users might need to perform. Testing and Launching Your Website or App: The Ultimate Checklist

Analyzing User Testing Results

Identifying Common Issues

After conducting user testing, analyze the results to identify common issues or areas of improvement. Look for patterns in user behavior and feedback to identify any potential problems. This could involve users struggling with a particular task, misunderstanding a feature, or experiencing technical issues. Smashing Magazine – How To Improve User Testing

Planning for Improvements

Based on the common issues identified, plan how to make improvements to your website or app. This could involve redesigning certain features, fixing bugs, or improving performance. Remember, the goal is to enhance the user experience, not just fix individual issues.

Prioritizing Changes

Not all changes can be made at once, so it’s important to prioritize. Consider factors such as the impact on users, the cost and time required to implement changes, and the overall strategic goals of your business.

Continual User Testing: A Key to Success

Remember, user testing is not a one-time activity. It should be an ongoing process that takes place at various stages of your website or app’s lifecycle. Regular user testing allows you to continually improve the user experience, stay ahead of potential issues, and ensure your digital product remains relevant and valuable to users.

Best Tools for User Testing

There are numerous tools available to aid in user testing. Here are a few categories of tools that you might find useful:

Heatmap Tools

Heatmap tools provide visual representations of how users interact with your website or app. This can help identify areas where users click most, how far they scroll, and other user behaviors. Tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg are popular in this category.

Session Recording Tools

Session recording tools allow you to record user interactions, providing a real-time view of how users navigate and use your website or app. This can be invaluable in identifying usability issues. Lookback and FullStory are examples of session recording tools.

User Feedback Tools

User feedback tools provide a direct line of communication with your users. They can provide insights into user satisfaction, issues, and suggestions for improvement. Tools such as Uservoice and UserTesting provide platforms for gathering user feedback. Best Affordable User Testing Feedback Tools

In conclusion, creating a “user testing checklist” and understanding “how to test your website or app” is crucial in enhancing user experience and ensuring the success of your digital product.

By following the steps and considerations outlined in this guide, you can create a robust and effective user testing strategy.

Effective Methods of Usability Testing

There are several methods of usability testing that you can use depending on your needs and resources. Here are some of the most effective ones:

1. Remote Usability Testing: This method involves users testing your website or app from their location, typically their home or workplace. This can provide a more realistic understanding of how users interact with your product in their natural environment.
2. Laboratory Usability Testing: This method involves bringing users into a controlled environment, like a testing lab, and observing them as they interact with your website or app. This allows for a high degree of control and the ability to collect detailed data.
3. Card Sorting: This technique is used to understand how users categorize information. Users are asked to sort different items into groups and label them. This can help you structure your navigation and content in a way that makes sense to users.
4. A/B Testing: This involves creating two different versions of a specific feature or page and seeing which one performs better. This can provide concrete data on what works best for your users.A/B testing is commonly used in advertising campaigns to test one ad against another. Every founder should be aware of this concept and process.

Implementing Changes and Re-testing

Once you’ve gathered your data, the next step is to analyze the results and make necessary changes. It’s crucial to prioritize changes based on their potential impact on user experience. Once changes have been made, it’s important to re-test to ensure that the changes have had the desired effect and haven’t introduced new issues.

Common Errors to Check For

When conducting usability testing, there are several common errors to watch out for. It’s important to remember that these can significantly affect the user experience, so identifying and fixing them should be a priority. Here are some common issues:

1. Navigation Issues: Users should be able to easily find what they’re looking for. If your navigation is confusing or inconsistent, users may struggle to use your website or app effectively.
2. Broken Links: These can lead to user frustration and reduce the perceived quality of your website or app. Regularly checking for and fixing broken links can improve the user experience.
3. Slow Load Times: Today’s users expect websites and apps to load quickly. If yours doesn’t, users may abandon it in favor of a faster alternative.
4. Poor Mobile Experience: With more people using mobile devices to access the internet, it’s crucial that your website or app provides a good experience on smaller screens.
5. Difficult-to-Read Text: Text that is too small, too close together, or in a hard-to-read font can make your website or app difficult to use. It’s important to ensure that all text is easily legible.
6. Hard to retrieve password: A user sometimes needs to reset or recover their password, make sure it’s easy and secure.
7. Buggy or cumbersome checkout experience: The process of checking out should be the most easy to use, dummy-proof, error free part of your website!

Conclusion

In conclusion, usability testing is a critical part of the design and development process.

By actively seeking out potential problems and addressing them, you can create a product that is more enjoyable to use and that meets the needs of your users more effectively.

Remember, a satisfied user is often a loyal user, so it’s worth the effort to make your website or app as user-friendly as possible.