Great Websites Begin With Usability Testing

Discover how usability testing can be an invaluable tool for you.

The power of usability testing

An online presence is your window to the world – and to your customers. In fact, roughly 70% of the buyer's journey is online. And as younger generations (GenX, Millennials, and Gen Z) begin to assume decision-making roles in business, that number is only going to increase.  

No one even questions the need for a website today. The more important question is, are you doing it right? A big part of doing it right is by testing your site with real users—from the design phase all the way to the launch of your site.

What is usability testing?

According to HubSpot, “Usability testing is a method of evaluating a product or website’s user experience. By testing the usability of their product or website with a representative group of their users or customers, User Experience (UX) researchers can determine if their actual users can easily and intuitively use their product or website." 

In other words, it’s the act of testing how easy a website, application, or program is by observing real users. While traditional testing (e.g. bug fixes) might be done by the web developer or internal project team, usability testing focuses on the end user. Usability testing can (and should) be used by all companies, large and small. While it may seem like an unnecessary expense, there are many ways to conduct usability-testing studies that are both beneficial and affordable.

Benefits of usability testing

Usability testing helps lay the foundation for your entire website's plan. How? By uncovering problems in the design process, finding opportunities to improve the design, and teaching you about your users, including their behaviors, preferences, and expectations. 

Simply put, website creation goes a lot further than the code that holds it all together. It’s about creating a destination that users can easily navigate and understand so they can find what they're looking for.  

User testing in the UX and design phase is especially important in understanding your clients' needs to best plan your website design at the outset – and help you save money on costly development changes down the road.

What should you test?

The company, User Testing, found (through Gartner and PWC) that "90% of customer-facing employees said they understood the needs of customers" while only "38% of U.S. consumers say the employees they interact with understand their needs." With such a divide, how can we bridge the gap? 

Meeting expectations is important in website development. You want to avoid frustrations caused by a user getting lost on your website or finding themselves unable to complete simple tasks. 

Some items you should test include: 

Navigation - Is content found where, and how, it is intended to be found? 

Design - Is it aesthetically pleasing? Do images, icons and other design elements compliment the content and enhance the company’s brand identity? 

Buttons - Did you know it was a button? Did clicking on the button take you where you expected to go? 

Content – Does the content help guide you to complete a task? Or are instructions lacking? 

Tasks - What prevents you from completing certain tasks? 

Testing happens as early as sitemap planning, when all the information for the different pages, videos, and other files are being organized and linked together. This can be done in low-fi paper testing or through moderated testing.

How to conduct usability testing

Usability testers can help impact every part of a website, from the way it looks, to how something is worded, and even how pages link together. The Nielson Norman Group explains the process of usability testing, saying, "A researcher (called a 'facilitator' or a 'moderator') asks a participant to perform tasks, usually using one or more specific user interfaces. While the participant completes each task, the researcher observes the participant’s behavior and listens for feedback." 

Certain tasks are given to these testers, which can be completed independently or before a team of observers. The advantage of having observers allows notes to be taken as a tester interacts with a website. This allows the observers to see the user’s positive and negative reactions in real time. As a rule of thumb, always ask your tester to react out loud to better understand their thoughts and motivations while testing the website’s usability. 

There are several different types of usability testing. Remote tests have become more popular with advances in technology and since the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote tests also require less time and money than in-person testing. Remote, unmoderated testing allows testers to complete tasks in their typical work environment, giving more objective feedback. 

Once the raw data is gathered from the study, the organization running the usability test will make recommendations on next steps and updates that should be made to improve the UX. 

For example, Sparkbox worked with a midwestern academic medical center to improve their patient-facing website, conducting research to identify how the homepage could be improved. Then, they made updates based on their findings. Once those changes were implemented, Sparkbox performed a side-by-side usability test to determine the impact of the improvements they made. 

Through side-by-side testing, they found their changes significantly improved findability on the homepage with a "94% success rate for the new layout versus a 45% success rate with the initial design." 

Sparkbox also learned that the implemented navigation labels weren't helpful to users in finding the right content, so they designed an alternative, user-friendly navigation experience for the site. 

By performing usability testing, companies can gather insight on how to improve a user's experience on their website and work with them to create solutions, that increase a website's traffic and make it more marketable for the business or individual.

Start usability testing early to reap the rewards 

Usability testing is a great way for businesses to improve their digital presence and grow relationships with new and existing clients. The earlier you incorporate usability testing into the process of building or updating your website, the more time and money you will save long term.  

It is important to determine the best way to connect with users by offering an easy-to-use site they feel comfortable returning to again and again. Consider partnering with our Global Prairie team to discuss usability testing and how we can work together to improve your website user experience.