Cheap and fast usability testing
Today I want to dispel the myth that usability is expensive and difficult, and also present you with a new service for crowdsourcing usability testing: usertest.ru .
Many companies conducting usability testing, write about the process, as about something that requires special knowledge, beyond the control of a mere mortal. The people conducting the tests are called “experts”. Much attention is paid to special equipment (recording the user's face, tracking pupil movement), as if testing can only be done in laboratories. It is not surprising that the price tags for such services are measured in tens and hundreds of thousands. I already feel like stones, rakes and torches of usability professionals fly into me, but if you are not Amazon, you don’t need such expenses, despite the justification of high prices through ROI calculations ( here , here or just Google ). Almost the same effect can be obtained with a much smaller budget.
')
Already Comrade Stephen Krug in his book “Do not make me think” began to promote budget usability tests. “At first, such testing was very expensive. This required a special laboratory with an observation room and a mirror glass and at least two video cameras ... In order to obtain statistically reliable results, it was necessary to involve many test subjects in such testing. It was a whole science. The cost of one such test ranged from 20 to 50 thousand dollars. ". Instead, Circle simply suggests inviting any users and watching how they use the product. "Take anyone and guess about your entire audience by it ... The usual fee for one-hour testing varies between $ 50 for" average "users and a few hundred dollars for specialists, for example, cardiologists ... Do not forget that even if testing lasts no more than 30 minutes, people usually have to spend about an hour on the road. ”
Since the writing of the book, progress has not stood still, and now the same can actually be organized through crowdsourcing usability testing. The approach that we use on usertest.ru is really simple and consists of the following.
Many teams in order to reduce initial costs postpone usability testing at a later stage of the project, when it becomes more or less clear whether the project will take off or not. In reality, the saving effect on testing is the greater, the earlier it was carried out (more details on Nielsen ). I hope that the ability to carry out budget usability tests will allow more projects to test usability in the early stages. And this, in turn, will save a lot of human nerves and time.
PS By the way, anyone can become a tester here. To do this, just perform a trial work .
Many companies conducting usability testing, write about the process, as about something that requires special knowledge, beyond the control of a mere mortal. The people conducting the tests are called “experts”. Much attention is paid to special equipment (recording the user's face, tracking pupil movement), as if testing can only be done in laboratories. It is not surprising that the price tags for such services are measured in tens and hundreds of thousands. I already feel like stones, rakes and torches of usability professionals fly into me, but if you are not Amazon, you don’t need such expenses, despite the justification of high prices through ROI calculations ( here , here or just Google ). Almost the same effect can be obtained with a much smaller budget.
')
How to organize effective usability testing.
Already Comrade Stephen Krug in his book “Do not make me think” began to promote budget usability tests. “At first, such testing was very expensive. This required a special laboratory with an observation room and a mirror glass and at least two video cameras ... In order to obtain statistically reliable results, it was necessary to involve many test subjects in such testing. It was a whole science. The cost of one such test ranged from 20 to 50 thousand dollars. ". Instead, Circle simply suggests inviting any users and watching how they use the product. "Take anyone and guess about your entire audience by it ... The usual fee for one-hour testing varies between $ 50 for" average "users and a few hundred dollars for specialists, for example, cardiologists ... Do not forget that even if testing lasts no more than 30 minutes, people usually have to spend about an hour on the road. ”
Crowdsourcing usability testing
Since the writing of the book, progress has not stood still, and now the same can actually be organized through crowdsourcing usability testing. The approach that we use on usertest.ru is really simple and consists of the following.
- A client who wants to conduct usability testing describes the tasks and scenario of behavior.
- The task is sent to all active user testers.
- The user who takes the job, executes instructions written by the client. At the same time there is a recording (screencast) of what is happening on the screen of the tester and his oral comments.
- The client has the opportunity to ask any questions to the user.
Many teams in order to reduce initial costs postpone usability testing at a later stage of the project, when it becomes more or less clear whether the project will take off or not. In reality, the saving effect on testing is the greater, the earlier it was carried out (more details on Nielsen ). I hope that the ability to carry out budget usability tests will allow more projects to test usability in the early stages. And this, in turn, will save a lot of human nerves and time.
PS By the way, anyone can become a tester here. To do this, just perform a trial work .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/129114/
All Articles