1、Practical Approaches to Usability Testing,Julie Nowicki President Optavia Corporation,WEB2000,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,1,Goals,Put usability testing in perspective In the bigger picture of usability Compared to other techniques Understand the breadth of usability testing met
2、hods available Be able to focus and choose the right method Depending on the web sites development stage Balancing resource costs against benefits of various methods,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,2,Topics,The role of usability testing Definition and comparison to other techniques
3、 Designing the usability test Planning Choosing specific methods Tuxedos or jeans? Summary: Getting what you want And what your customers want!,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,3,E-commerce and Usability,Three E-commerce segments B2C (Business-to-Consumer) B2B (Business-to-Business)
4、 B2E (Business-to-Employee) All focus on the customer Ability of customer to effectively complete a task, with high satisfaction levels is key to the bottom line,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,4,Qualities of a usable Web site,Learnability Can customers easily grasp how to use the
5、site the very first time? Memorability Do customers remember how the next time? Ease-of-use Can customers navigate easily? Is the design consistent and predictable? Efficiency Can customers complete tasks and transactions effectively? Appeal More than visual: do customers feel positive about the exp
6、erience?,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,5,How can usability testing help?,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,6,Characteristics of a usability test,Uses real customers (users) Customers perform actual tasks with the site or a prototype Data is recorded May be qualita
7、tive or quantitative Includes customer comments Provides objective information Facilitated by a skilled specialist Observed by a skilled specialist,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,7,Limitations of usability testing,Based on a few customers Guinea pig effect Test environment cannot
8、duplicate the real world Users know they are being watched Not thorough by nature Testing a few tasks, not every aspect of site usage Some issues are not readily apparent Use of color and fonts Accessibility,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,8,Usability testing compared,Web site log
9、statistics Automated use testing Focus groups QA and system testing User acceptance testing Proven usability techniques: Heuristic evaluation and guidelines reviews Walkthroughs,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,9,Tip,Usability encompasses customer-centered design and evaluation.Howe
10、ver Usability testing is an evaluation technique. Usability testing is not a design technique.,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,10,Customer-centered design process,Analysis,Evaluation,Understand objectives Understand customers Understand their tasks,Develop design concept Specify th
11、e details,Test with real customers (usability testing) Review with design specialists,Design,Iterative!,Actual Timeline,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,12,Anatomy of a usability test,Plan and Design,Report and Recommend,Conduct,Plan: Answer the big questions Select the test methods
12、 Get participants,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,13,Overview of usability testing methods,To prepare for the test, you must Plan Answer some big-picture questionsUnderstand objectives, customers, and tasks Choose the test methodsConsidering a number of parameters,Pick the best usa
13、bility testing methods for your situation,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,14,Planning: Big decisions to make first,What are you trying to accomplish? When will you do the test? Based on product lifecycle What are the customer profiles? What tasks will customers do? How will you pre
14、sent the results? How will you make recommendations? Explore design alternatives,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,15,What are you trying to accomplish?,Find out how your site compares to the competition Find out if your new design works for Existing customers New customers Get stati
15、stically sound data,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,16,Tips for setting objectives,Prioritize the four usability components Learnability Ease-of-use Efficiency Appeal Be specific NO “Registration is easy to use.” YES “New customers should be able to complete the registration proces
16、s in 5 minutes without help.”,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,17,Tip,Usability testing done early in the design cycle reduces risk.,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,18,The Cost to Make a Change,Adapted from Rapid Application Development by James Martin,Usability,U-
17、test a must,Usability,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,19,Dont get fooled by online development tools! Sketches are highly advantageous They are easy to throw away People dont assume the system is done People are more likely to suggest changes Usability testing can be done with sket
18、ches,Tip,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,20,Tip,Usability testing done late in the production process helps you plan for the next iteration.,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,21,Who are the customers?,Marketing information such as Age Income Education Career Experie
19、nce with the Internet Experience with online shopping Anticipated frequency of use (your site) Environment they work in Home, office,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,22,What are the tasks?,Creating task scenarios is a must! Dont use language that leads the user NO “Go to My Profile
20、and change your address to” YES “You have moved. Change your address to”,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,23,Presenting the results,Consider allowing observers during the test Make sure they do not interfere Highlight tape Compelling and efficient Results of data collection Summary
21、of issues, prioritized by Usability criticality Implementation effort Recommendations,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,24,The next step,Once you have considered what you want to accomplish, and when identified your customer profiles determined the tasks you want customers to perform
22、 decided how to communicate the results you are ready to design the test methods,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,25,Test methods: Parameters that you must select,Equipment and facilities What to measure Quantitative and qualitative How to collect measurements Use of participants (p
23、rotocol) How many participants Level of facilitation Level of participant verbalization,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,26,Equipment and facilities,Conference room Paper notes,One camera Paper notes,Portable lab Logging software,Lab facility Logging software,Practical Approaches to
24、 Usability Testing WEB2000,27,Example Usability Labs,From ,From Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,28,Advantages of video tape,Records very valuable, compelling qualitative data Page navigation Expressions Comments in context Provides a real snippet of an actual customer experience Watch out S
25、omeone needs to understand the equipment Time to setup, review, create highlight tape,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,29,What to measure: Quantitative,Time on task Number of errors Successful completion of task (yes/no)How you collect measurements is determined by facility and equi
26、pment,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,30,What to watch for: Qualitative,Navigation patterns Getting lost? Predictability Understand graphics? Understand words? Looking for it to work like something else? Flexibility Looking for a quicker way? Looking for help?,Practical Approaches
27、to Usability Testing WEB2000,31,Protocols (Use of participants),Individual Paired Comparison Good for competitive analysis Between-subjects: each customer uses one site Within-subjects: each customer uses both sites,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,32,How many participants?,5-8 part
28、icipants will find 80% of usability problems 4 is good minimum number,Qualitative data Early prototype,Qualitative and quantitative Later in development,Paired or comparison protocols,3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12,Statistically sound results,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,33,Level of fac
29、ilitation,Facilitator in another room,Facilitator in same room Discussion after each task,Facilitator and participant interact during task,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,34,Level of participant verbalization,Think-aloud Heads-down work,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB
30、2000,35,Interaction,HighLow,Low HighParticipant verbalization,Facilitation,Putting it all together,Informal Formal,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,37,Now that weve said that,Can you do informal testing on a production site? Sure! Can you do quick, but formal testing in a lab on a p
31、rototype? Sure!,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,38,What if,Youre in the fast-paced e-commerce environment You want customer data but you need it Now (yesterday) Whenever you make significant changes You want guidance in making design decisions or changes,Variation,Informal Formal,P
32、ractical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,40,Resource costs will be determined by your choices,Cost of facilities and equipment Time for each participant Your time resources Planning test Conducting test Reporting and decision-making Staff resources and skill levels Generally all go up as you
33、 move from informal to formal,Practical Approaches to Usability Testing WEB2000,41,Results,“When we introduced an electronic expense payment system, users declared the application incredibly efficient as early as the testing phase. That never would have happened if we hadnt had the usability group t
34、o help us meet our business objectives. No company should ever move forward on a project in todays business environment without some usability in their back pocket.”,From Supervisor of Integrated Business Practices,Usability is more than just usability testing,It is a process,Julie Nowicki President Optavia Corporation JN 608 260 9000 ,
