Why usability testing?

We call our approach beInsight. It begins with an understanding of your project’s scope, and ends with compelling and actionable usability advice. Outputs provide crucial evidence for organisations to move forward and feed directly into improvements in customer experience, leading to increased conversion. User testing also has the power minimise internal politics and unify teams behind a common goal because the evidence is directly from your most important stakeholder, your customer.

What is usability testing and what can be tested?

Usability testing is the process of taking real users from your target audience to identify how easily they can achieve their goal using a given interface or stimulus. Usability testing is typically associated with interactive mediums such as websites, mobile/tablet applications, and software and digital materials such as emails. But the approach can also be meaningfully applied to in-store journeys, print advertising, direct mail and video /TV ad campaigns.

Types of usability testing

• Key journey testing (exploratory, often observing users with existing solutions)
• Design benchmarking (evaluating alternative designs, possibly against existing or competitor designs)
• Pre-launch testing (assessing for final opportunities for improvement)
• Pre-launch competitor benchmarking
• Post launch in-depth testing.

Usability testing can also be combined with an expert review which can begin identifying issues before actual users are involved.

What can be achieved?

Our reporting gives you evidence so that your team can move forward, outputs and recommendations will focus on;

• Eliminating key frustrations and problems from the user experience.
• Maximising return on investment from your usability testing by removing barriers to completion/sales or reducing costly call-centre enquiries.
• Informing business decisions, so that you can confidently choose designs based on evidence from users.
• Delivering wider insights about how your targets perceive your product or brand.

We can also provide design solution prototyping services.

Our testing facilities and options

Our specialist testing facilities and technology allows us to capture the user’s eye movements actions, reactions, and comments as they work their way through the tasks. Our usability lab is fully mobile, and tests can be run anywhere where there is an internet network connection available, whether it’s our own offices, onsite with you and your team, or even at your user’s homes.

Our on-site viewing facilities allow you to observe the usability testing sessions, as they happen, without disrupting the user. Experience has taught us that encouraging all stakeholders to sit down and watch a test can be a powerful discussion starter, can bring about key decisions quicker and really makes your team feel involved.

The detail

When should we do it and how often?

Usability testing can be done at any time in the development process. We follow a user centred design approach whether you are prototyping a new website, revamping an old one or just wanting to spruce things up a bit, a usability test can provide you with a wealth of information that will be invaluable to the design/redesign process.

Usability testing is not a one off ‘tick the box’ and the ‘job is done’ type of deal. If you are committed to delivering a quality service then you should be continually adapting to your customer needs. We recommend regular usability testing ‘top-ups’ every 6 months to keep you up to speed with your users.

How long will it take?

An average user session lasts around one hour (but may vary depending on the depth of subject, number of tasks or stimuli to cover) and we recommend testing with 6 users in a day. We recommend one day of testing for each distinct user group. For each day of testing we require time for recruitment, preparation, analysis and documentation. To further discuss how we can fit into your timescales please get in touch.

How do we find participants?

We relieve you from the sometimes tricky job of recruiting a representative sample typical of your target audience, and can help you define what this is. We usually allow around two weeks for the recruitment of participants against the agreed profile, however we can draw on our extensive database to deliver quicker recruitment in some instances.

How much will it cost?

This depends on the type of testing and how many user groups you want to test with. All our pricing is transparent. Visit our research cost estimator to determine what’s viable within your budget.

Interested in Usability Testing?

Contact Us to discuss your website usability testing needs.