Discover how five companies - Shopify, Typeform, ElectricFeel, Movista, and Trint - approached usability testing to improve their app user experience. In this article, we'll dive into real-life scenarios, questions, and tasks that these designers and UX researchers used to get valuable feedback from users.
Are you ready to take your app's user experience to the next level? Running a successful usability test is crucial for identifying usability problems, improving the overall user experience, and fine-tuning your design. But where do you start?
Before we dive into the examples, let's quickly recap what usability testing is all about. Usability testing involves conducting tests with real users to see how easily they can navigate your app, understand how to use it, and achieve their goals. There are various methods to choose from, including qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Why You Need Usability Testing Examples
While learning the ins and outs of usability testing is essential, seeing actual test scenarios in action can be incredibly helpful. By understanding what an actual test looks like, you'll gain confidence in creating your own test plan. Remember, running usability tests isn't just about identifying usability problems - it's also about fine-tuning your testing process.
Let's take a look at five real-life usability testing examples from Shopify, Typeform, ElectricFeel, Movista, and Trint. You'll learn about each company's test scenarios, the types of questions and tasks they used, and the key insights they gained.
Discovery Phase Usability Test Example: Shopify
The Shopify Experts Marketplace is a platform that connects Shopify merchants with trusted experts who have demonstrated proven expertise in their services. The team wanted to ensure that the Expert profile page was easy to navigate, as this would increase the likelihood of merchants reaching out to potential service providers.
To achieve this, they conducted generative user interviews to gather insights about what merchants would need to know about Experts. Next, they evaluated the information architecture using card sorting and tree testing studies. Finally, usability testing provided valuable feedback on how well they were meeting users' expectations.
Melanie Buset, User Experience Researcher at Shopify, explains: "Usability testing gave us insight into how well we were meeting user's expectations. Now that we knew what information we needed to surface, we needed to evaluate how and where we surfaced this information."
Test Scenario
"Imagine you're interested in hiring a Shopify Expert to help with developing a marketing campaign." The team selected participants who had previously been interested in hiring an expert, recreating a scenario as close to the real world as possible.
Task and Question Examples
Participants were given general tasks and asked to think aloud while sharing any feedback throughout the session. Tasks included showing how they would go about finding someone to hire via the Experts Marketplace and going through the process as if they were ready to make a decision.
These five usability testing examples demonstrate the power of usability testing in improving app user experience. By understanding what works best for your users, you can create a more intuitive and enjoyable experience that sets your app apart from the competition.