The Top Five Questions We Get About Usability

Even more than ever, the experience your customers or clients have on your website or online application can have implications for your business. A good user experience results in a higher conversion rate, loyal customers, and better brand reputation.

Conducting usability testing is important because it gives you insights directly from your target audience to better inform your strategy. Otherwise, you’re often making decisions based on assumptions that may have an inherent bias.

Web analytics are undoubtedly important, but they don’t tell the whole story. There’s a difference between spending 45 seconds on a page because you’re engaged and spending 45 seconds on a page because you can’t find what you’re looking for. They’re two completely different user experiences! Usability testing gives you that “why” behind the numbers.

One of the most popular usability tests we conduct is called task-based usability testing. We work with you to determine three to five of the most important tasks that people need to complete on your website. Then we set up a moderated session and use an application, such as UserHappy™. We request that the participants execute the tasks, and we observe their movements and listen to what they’re thinking as they speak out loud. We collect and analyze the data and insights and make practical recommendations on how to improve the user experience.

Would you believe that with task-based usability testing, five members of your target audience can uncover 80% of usability issues? It’s true–just a small sample will give you invaluable insights.

Forrester Research has shown that for every dollar invested in user experience research, you’ll get an ROI of $10 to $100. Even more than that, you’ll build trust and brand loyalty. Those, it can be argued, are priceless.