Mobile usability testing

As of mid 2012, over a quarter of adults and almost half of teenagers own smartphones, and with the number of tablets and e-readers per household increasing every quarter, the majority of your audience are now likely to engage with your brand through these means.

We are able to eye track and conduct usability research on a range of mobile devices;

• Smartphones
• Tablets
• E-readers
• Handheld gaming devices

Why should I invest in mobile usability?

The mobile user experience is qualitatively different from that of a desktop site; from the usability issues associated with smaller screen sizes, limited/unique input methods (finger or stylus, not mouse/keyboard) to contending with constant connectivity disruptions. Given the considerable obstacles users have to contend with, the mobile user journey needs to be as streamlined as possible to counter these.

Different motivations for usage

There are also crucial differences in what users are likely to want to be able to do through these platforms how they’ll expect your mobile assets to meet these needs. Users are more likely to be goal driven, need quicker access, (not just in speed but also in number of clicks it takes to achieve their goal) and are less likely to engage for convenience rather than browse widely. Mobile sites/apps also have a cross-channel role when users are interacting with your brand through multiple touch points (e.g. checking order status, using click and collect services etc.). Therefore mobile needs a different approach and criteria for evaluation than a desktop site.

How beMobile can help

In a time of growing demand for mobile sites and mobile apps, we can help you ensure that you’re meeting the needs of your customers; we can test at any stage of mobile site/app development, and help you ensure your mobile marketing strategy is working to full potential.

Our beMobile service will help you to maximise your mobile spend by;

• Identifying common user tasks
  • We begin by assessing why your customers are using your mobile website and what they want to be able to achieve from your brand on the move.
• Testing journeys
  • We will test identified journeys against the mobile site / app / device to ensure that they are optimal and find where improvements can be made.

These objectives can be met using either an Expert review initially or using more objective user testing.

Research questions we can address

We can help you to;

• Evaluate your mobile app/site’s general usability
• Assess cross platform site adaptivity, performance and stability
• Observe the impact of connectivity and loading times
• Explore the cross platform role of your mobile media

….across a range of industries and applications;

• E-commerce
• Financial
• Advertising
• Email campaigns
• Mobile gaming

Eye tracking mobile devices

Our portable SMI eye tracking glasses, the most advanced available worldwide, allow us to effectively research your mobile product, whether it be an application or a website. The glasses feature HD recording cameras and are lightweight, non-intrusive and comfortable to wear. As they’re portable, the glasses allow us to conduct research anywhere that your customer might be using their mobile. Once the eye tracking glasses are put on you can see exactly where their eye movements are attracted to on the device, in high resolution.

Read more about our technology for eye tracking mobile devices.

Natural Interaction

Our glasses based solution means that the phone is always in view of the camera; no cradles, mounts or restrictions are necessary. This means that users are free to use their mobiles as they wish; rotating them, resting them on their laps, whatever is most natural to them.

We recruit participants carefully to ensure that they will be using a device similar or identical to the one they own, so that they’re familiar with its functionalities and can get straight into interacting with the testing material as comfortably and naturally as possible.

Device agnostic

The way in which we eye track mobiles or tablets allows us the flexibility of being able to test any device or platform. However, we do recommend that if you are looking to uncover issues with your mobile site / app, the study be limited to one or two device types (or at least 6 users per device). This is so that you can be confident when usability findings are genuinely arising from your site and not usability issues associated with the device/operating system.