In this pandemic the world has moved towards digital transformation faster than ever. Every business is online and so is the customer. This has created a red ocean for the businesses that generate revenue online as everybody wants a bigger share of the pie. To get the bigger share of the pie they need to make the customer’s experience seamless and the key to that is usability testing.
Usability Testing is a UX testing technique where application(s) are tested to determine if they are Useful, easy to Navigate, Accessible, Usable, & Desirable. In essence, it ensures that the end-product satisfies users’ demands and can deliver a consistent & seamless user experience. Usability Testing is the key to success, and if done right, provides a good user experience that enriches a brand and leads to more uses, more users, and ultimately more growth. With the growing number of mobile devices and browsers, Automation of Usability Testing has a significant role to play.
Now there are different types of usability testing and to choose which one suits your objectives is very critical.
Unmoderated Usability testing: Unmoderated usability testing is a UX research technique where there is no one to guide the participants. Participants have to complete the tasks assigned to them with or without a given time frame. Researcher also gets to add some survey questions through UXArmy’s unmoderated usability testing tool. This ux testing technique delivers quick results as there are no moderators. The UXArmy tool also offers features like Screen recording playback and audio feedback of the customers
Pros: Since there are a limited number of tasks and questions we can get the results of our research in no time. This UX testing technique does not require a moderator therefore the cost of this UX research technique is lower.
Cons: Since there are no moderators the number of questions can be limited and getting a deep insight of the user’s mindset is difficult using this technique. We have to choose our questions carefully. If Participant encounters a difficulty then the researcher can’t clarify that in between the tests but the UXArmy’s Remote user testing tool solves some of these problems to an extent by offering features like screen recording, audio feedback from user, heat maps and navigation paths.
Moderated usability testing: With moderated usability testing, a real person will be there to help facilitate (i.e., moderate) the test. The moderator will work directly with the test participant, guiding them through the study and finding the usability problems. This tool also has features to add observers and translators to make the research process a smooth one.
Pros: In moderated testing the moderator gets a deep understanding of the user’s mindset as the moderator can directly interact with the user and see his use the website/app. This also allows researchers to pick up subtle cues from the user’s body language and facial expressions. This type of test allows you to develop a connect and have a natural conversation with your customers which helps establish trust and can lead to candid feedback that might not be possible with other qualitative research methods
Cons: Moderated User testing is more time consuming and results are often delayed as a session has to be scheduled with every tester. Remote Moderated studies offer quicker results but they still aren’t as fast as unmoderated testing.
Conclusion
As the world is moving towards digital transformation, usability testing is now more than a milestone in user testing. It has now become an imperative part of the end user experience. Improving user experience is a never ending process and so is the need for usability testing. In this competitive digital era customers can be acquired and retained only by providing a seamless experience and usability testing is the key to that.