Usability and User Testing

What Is Usability Testing?

Usability testing, or user testing as it is more commonly known, involves gaining an understanding of how actual end users of your website actually find using your site. The most important tasks that visitors will want to carry out on your website are documented and then users are brought in to carry out trying to achieve the objectives. We measure how affective your website is in making these tasks easy to accomplish.

The feedback and results from usability testing usually identify a series of key areas that can be improved or reworked, and by then following this through with split testing of alternative versions, the affectiveness of the changs can be measured.

What Are The Benefits of Usability Testing?

Once changes from the usability testing are carried out and tested, this can lead to a variety of benefits:

• for retailers, you can see increased sales conversion rates
• also for retailers, you will be able to reduce checkout abandonment rates
• businesses looking to improve enquiry rates can see increased numbers of people submitting an enquiry
• businesses with application processes can see improve conversion rates
• businesses looking at how to encourage returning visitors will see increases in this area

Additional long term benefits of usability testing include:

• you will gain a greater understanding of the wants and needs of your primary customers
• if you have customer support teams you will experience a reduction in customer support calls
• if you have an in-house team the experiences they gain from the usability testing will ensure they are better equipped going forward to be more user-focused

What Deliverables Are There From Usability Testing?

A Detailed Usability Report

You will be provided with a detailed report which highlights the key usability issues that the testing has identified. Rather than just presenting the issues, we will provide recommendations on ways in which you can look at rectifying the issues uncovered. Not only this but based upon the testing sessions and our experiences, we will prioritise the recommendations based on what we feel will have the biggest impact on your conversion rates and other primary metrics.

A Presentation To The Project Team

This allows for feedback, questions and knowledge sharing - empowering you and your team with valuable usability insights which can be used for future projects. It is also affective in convincing key stakeholders of the benefits of user testing.

What Methods Are Used For Usability Testing?

Identifying Your Users
We work with you to fully understand your customers and potential users of your site

Determining Tasks and Journeys
We determine tasks based upon our e-commerce experience and your commercial objectives

Encouraging Natural Responses and Experiences
We place a great emphasis on making the users who are taking part feel as comfortable as possible prior to starting the sessions. If the users don't feel comfortable their actions will be forced and you can't expect to get genuine real-life feedback

Efficiency, Effectiveness, Satisfaction
We measure these 3 keys areas during the usability testing sessions, providing you with comprehensive customer insights

Think Out-Loud
We encourage users to talk about what they are thinking during their completion of tasks

Capturing Audio and Visual Feedback
It is vital that we capture user feedback for both what they are saying, doing and expressing

Reporting Results and Recommendations
Based upon the sort of report you are looking for we will provide a structured report which includes prioritised recommendations

Client Testimonial and Case Study

"PRWD delivered a particularly insightful review of the Isabella Oliver website, whilst being a pleasure to work with. Overall they were professional, thorough and responsive to Isabella Oliver's requests"

Zoe Pearson, Marketing Manager at Isabella Oliver

Read the Isabella Oliver E-commerce Usability Testing Case Study