{"id":7165,"date":"2017-12-15T13:22:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T13:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?p=7165"},"modified":"2019-11-28T11:10:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-28T11:10:57","slug":"user-testing-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/user-testing-guide","title":{"rendered":"How to get started with user testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"User<\/p>\n

At GoSquared, we do user testing on a regular basis, and we have done so for years.<\/p>\n

After chatting with lots of people from other companies, we recently started to realise there were a bunch of learnings we\u2019ve gained over time, so we thought it\u2019d be great to get everything we\u2019ve learned about user testing written down in one (surprisingly big) blog post.\u2028<\/p>\n

Happy testing!<\/p>\n

Why do user testing?<\/h2>\n

\"broken\"<\/p>\n

Putting your product in the hands of real world users is the best way to validate any assumptions you\u2019ve made during development. Test early and often. It’s cheaper and easier to correct assumptions early in development than after something\u2019s already shipped.<\/p>\n

User tests provide in-depth, candid feedback about your product. They’re also a great opportunity to do some market research and find out how well your product\/pitch lands with your users.<\/p>\n

Another benefit is that it’s the most reliable way of identifying \u2018wow\u2019 moments<\/a> \u2013 the parts of your product that make a user go \u2018wow\u2019 and should be highlighted in your marketing material.<\/p>\n

Having said all this, how do you actually go about conducting a user test? The internet is full of advice to help craft the perfect testing methodology. However, in our experience what holds people back, is not what to test, but the practical aspects of setting one up. How do you find a user? How do you record your findings? How long should they last?<\/p>\n

This post will cover what works for us here at GoSquared.<\/p>\n

Finding a user to test with<\/h2>\n

\"finding<\/p>\n

Finding a user is obviously a pretty crucial part of conducting a user test. However not all users are created equal. You need a clear understanding of what you\u2019re trying to test and who the intended audience is. For example, don\u2019t invite a sales person to test your new developer platform!<\/p>\n

From easiest to hardest, here’s how we find people:<\/p>\n

Ask a colleague<\/strong> \u2013 this is super low-effort and if you\u2019ve never performed a user test before it\u2019s a good way to practice with somebody sympathetic to the situation. They already know where your office is and they work for the same company which immediately gets rid of any red tape you may have around confidentiality. The ideal person would be somebody that had minimal involvement the development of the feature you\u2019re testing. The only downside is that the feedback won’t necessarily be reflective of real world users if it comes from someone privy to a lot of your internal business or product decisions.<\/p>\n

Ask a recent hire<\/strong> \u2013 for many of the same reasons as above. If you ask them to be part of test early on it\u2019s a great way to familiarise them with the product and hopefully they they\u2019ll still be free of any internal preconceptions and biases.<\/p>\n

Utilise your work network<\/strong> \u2013 grab somebody from your shared office\/workspace or ask somebody from a meet-up. They\u2019ll be a greater degree of separation further than a colleague so hopefully will be able to provide a fresher perspective. You can always return the favour by doing a test for them in the future.<\/p>\n

Ask an engaged user<\/strong> \u2013 hopefully they\u2019ll be willing and enthusiastic because they get to give direct feedback on a product they already love. This is valuable feedback because they\u2019re the people who will actually end up paying for the feature they\u2019re testing!<\/p>\n

Find a member of the public<\/strong> \u2013 use social media like LinkedIn or Twitter. Ask them not to research your product beforehand so you can observe their unbiased reactions during the test. The less they know about your product\/company the better. Be warned that the quality of people that respond will wary wildly so you might need to offer an incentive for taking part (such as an Amazon voucher).<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve got a shortlist of testers, have a quick call with them to screen their technical capability, understand their current job role and asses their knowledge of the competitive marketplace. Ask them to avoid doing any research on your company before the user test. As a practical tip, make sure they know how to find your office!<\/p>\n

Preparing for your test<\/h2>\n

\"prepare<\/p>\n

Do you have consent to record the test?<\/h3>\n

Not everybody is comfortable being recorded so it\u2019s best check ahead of time. Reassure them that the recording is purely for internal use only and won\u2019t be shared publicly. You don\u2019t necessarily need them to sign anything, getting consent over email (so you have it in writing) is usually good enough.<\/p>\n

Ask the user for discretion<\/h3>\n

The product you\u2019re testing is likely rough around the edges and not a true representative of its final form. Ultimately, it may never make it to market. Depending on how sensitive the product is and how much you trust the person, you might need a formal NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). If this is difficult, that shouldn\u2019t put you off testing existing, publicly available parts of your product with them anyway.<\/p>\n

Find somewhere quiet<\/h3>\n

Book a meeting room or find somewhere quiet where you won\u2019t be interrupted. Wherever you choose, double check it has a decent wifi signal too!<\/p>\n

Get two laptops<\/h3>\n

You\u2019ll need two laptops, one for your notes and timekeeping, and a second for the test subject to use.<\/p>\n

Test data<\/h3>\n

Depending on what you\u2019re testing you may need to prepare a testing account with some dummy data in (unless of course you\u2019re testing your onboarding<\/a> in which case you may well want to observe them going through the account creation process themselves). Prototyping tools like Marvel<\/a> are great for testing interaction and UI choices in the early stages of development.<\/p>\n

Prepare your questions and\/or a script<\/h3>\n

Standardising your test procedure and questions is essential if you want the test to be repeatable with multiple people. Don\u2019t ask leading questions, keep them open-ended so the user can explore the answer more naturally. Check your timings so that the test won\u2019t overrun or end up incomplete. It\u2019s also a good idea to have a few non-essential bonus questions prepared so that you can keep your user busy if you\u2019re under time.<\/p>\n

Learn how to stream to Youtube<\/h3>\n

Setting up a private Youtube stream is a really handy way to record the user\u2019s screen and have a video that is immediately backed up and ready to review after the test. This is a barebones quick guide to setting it up:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Log into your Youtube acocunt on the test subject’s laptop.
    \nHead to the \u2018Creator studio\u2019 and find the     live events section here<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Create a \u2018New live event\u2019 and tweak the privacy settings to that the stream is either private or unlisted (only people with a link to the video can view it). Set the \u2018Type\u2019 to \u2018Quick\u2019.<\/li>\n
  3. When you click \u2018Go live now\u2019 it will open a new Google Hangouts window where you can test the microphone and share the laptop screen with the stream.<\/li>\n
  4. Hit \u2018Start Broadcast\u2019 in the Google Hangout window to actually start recording.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We tend not to use the laptop webcam. Most laptops will struggle to record the screen and the webcam at the same time and your test subject will probably be more comfortable without them being filmed.<\/p>\n

    Tell the team to watch<\/h3>\n

    Whether they watch the live stream or review the video later, your team will always pick up on extra things you missed and interpret feedback differently. If they\u2019re watching along live, they can even prompt you to dig deeper on a specific interaction whilst the test is still ongoing.<\/p>\n

    Basic structure of the test<\/h2>\n

    \"basic<\/p>\n

    Every user test will be different depending on what you want to test, however there are some basic things that we think every test can benefit from. We aim to keep our user tests under an hour long so that the user doesn\u2019t lose interest. Also \u2013 don\u2019t forget to start your Youtube live stream before you begin!<\/p>\n

    User background \u2013 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

    It\u2019s worth conducting a brief interview with the user so your team can contextualise any feedback. Ask about their background, existing product knowledge, job role and technical ability. What products\/tools do they currently use? How much do they pay for them? Have they used your product before? What problems do they experience in their current role?<\/p>\n

    Set expectations \u2013 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

    Before jumping into the test, it\u2019s extremely important to set the right tone, outline your goals and what you expect of the user during the test.<\/p>\n

    The test is for you to observe and record their genuine reactions to your product. It\u2019s only going to be used internally and won\u2019t be shared outside of the company. You need to encourage them to think aloud, verbalise their actions and be as candid and honest as possible \u2013 you won\u2019t get offended by any criticism they make.<\/p>\n

    When something isn\u2019t clear to the tester, encourage them to ask questions, but let them know you won\u2019t necessarily answer most of them. You\u2019re not deliberately being unhelpful, but in a real-world scenario the user wouldn\u2019t have a product expert on hand to answer their every question.<\/p>\n

    Let them know that whatever happens, they can\u2019t mess up. If they\u2019re making mistakes, it\u2019s your fault because the product\/site hasn\u2019t communicated the solutions well enough.<\/p>\n

    Explain the scenario \u2013 2 minutes<\/h3>\n

    Whether you found the perfect user or not, it can be helpful to give them a fictional scenario or role to help them frame the test. For example, they could be working for a small online business of 5-10 people and their boss has asked them to evaluate marketing tools.<\/p>\n

    Marketing site first impressions \u2013 10 minutes<\/h3>\n

    Unless the whole test is about your marketing site, it\u2019s worth spending at least ten minutes at the start of a test to get candid feedback on it. After all, if your marketing site isn\u2019t up to scratch you won\u2019t need to worry about the usability of product because you\u2019ll have nobody signing up to use it! <\/p>\n

    Have a web browser open on their screen showing a blank tab. Have your site open in a second, background tab ready for them to switch to. Ask them to browse the site for 30 seconds then switch back to the blank tab. Then follow up with these questions to see if anything stood out:<\/p>\n