Some Essential Guidelines for Site Usability Testing
The whole concept of site usability testing provides an assurance of quality to the person who has commissioned the site. Furthermore, it is also used to gauge the reaction of people to the site that has been created.
A site usability test is conducted when a group of individuals use a site. In this, they have guidance from a facilitator and their use and comfort while browsing through the site determines the success of a particular site.
There are a few guidelines related to site usability testing that must be followed to ensure its efficacy. Given below are some of them.
Choose users with care
The users that you select must be a part of the proposed target audience of the site. They must have a fair understanding of the subject matter of the site, and must be chosen within the parameters of a specific profile.
Familiarity with the environment
Before the site usability testing begins in earnest, try to familiarize the users with the environment. Make them aware of certain aspects of the site like the URL etc. Also ask them as to their expectation from the site and take their initial feedback.
Once users look at the site, ask them question related to their first impression of the site before allowing them to get well acquainted with the site.
Choose the right tasks
It’s important in terms of site usability testing, that the tasks you assign your users are chosen with care. They should be an important component of the site and must be essential for the success of the new site.
For e.g. if it’s a business website some of the tasks can include, the buying of products, payment of bills etc.
It’s important to understand that the purpose of the tasks is not to glorify the site, but see whether your potential audience would be able to do these tasks with ease and comfort.
Presenting a task
It’s important that during site usability testing the participants are only given one task at a time. Any more, and they can get confused or might even feel intimidated.
Moreover, most participants are asked for their inputs, suggestions, view, etc during and after the task. Try using a form for this purpose as with this structure you will not only get feedback on the site, but also gain information about most minute of all elements that are a part of the site.
Your behavior
If you have developed a site, it’s not surprising to be possessive of your site and treat it accordingly. However, one must understand that when undergoing site usability testing, it’s the website that is being tested and not you.
Make sure that this understood by the participants as well. Do not get flustered, irritated, or angry if a participant cannot perform a task, as it’s a mark against your website and is not a criticism against you. You must not doctor the test results or make any kind of suggestion regarding the website to the participants.
After the testing process
Finally, after the site usability testing process is over, ask all the participants about their overall impression and whether all their expectations from the site have been met or not.
At the end, you must also ask each participant as to whether they have any remembrance of the structure of the site. If they do, then it’s a clear indication that the site has been structured in a logical manner.
After evaluating all the result of site usability testing you must identify unresolved issues and put them straight. Only after that can the site be called ‘ready for use’.
