Essentials of Mobile Usability Testing

18 May 2016

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The right way to find out how efficiently your product works is to see people interacting with its functionality.

When done at the design stage, mobile usability testing will not only help in refining user experience but improving it on the whole. 

By broadening the testing realm and bringing newer ways to handle usability flaws, digital interfaces can work like a marvel. 

The essentials of usability testing cannot be ignored and if you are thinking to get your digital product tested, following are the tips to consider. 

Begin testing at an early stage and test often 

Testing does not demand an exact time and you are never too early to begin testing your digital product. When you handle the design issues after testing in the initial stages of design, it will only save the monetary part in the developmental stage. It is ideal to test a product over the course of design stage. However, if you are running on a tight budget and time constraints, aim to test when you have developed a prototype of the product. 

Find genuine participants 

Finding the right users based on your target audience is essential if you wish to get genuine feedback. If you have designed a mobile app for women, gathering men for usability testing will not give your true insights. Your usability lab, app prototype and genuine participants are the three things that will lead your usability testing. 

Prepare a test script 

Outlining your objectives for conducting a usability testing may help you in keeping your focus. A test script will also help you in targeting to specific problem areas in your app and relevancy in using it. When you prepare a script, you will know the exact questions that you can ask your users without any detours in the entire session. 

Quantify your observations 

Merely asking users how good or bad your product is would not suffice the purpose of carrying out mobile usability testing. When you quantify your observations, you will be in a better position to analyse and explain about them. You can ask each user to rate the app to measure their score of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product. You can also ask them to describe their experience and relate it to a brand that they like or dislike the most. These methods will help in quantifying the exact outcome of your product. 

Conclusion 

Usability testing can save your apps or rather any digital product will only make your design better and help you in delivering seamless user experiences in the end.

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