Some of usability testing Fundaes:
Why: Value of usability testing
“A bad design can cost 40% of repeat traffic, half of potential sales” – CIO / Forrester
“People will gladly waste a million dollars on their fancy design and not spend $4,000 to see if it works” – Nielsen
Intranet: lost time = lost money
Reduced calls to help line: do the math
Why: Cost of usability testing
$0: do-it-yourself, no-budget, invest time
$2k: low budget, do-it-yourself
$20k: hire out usability testing, portable lab
$100k: fancy lab with trimmings
Compare with Fortune 1000s: spending $2 mil/year on redesigns
Why: Software Development Lifecycle
Fit usability testing into your own way of doing things
The sooner in the process, the better
The more often you do it, the better
Not a good idea: do testing just before a fixed release date
How: Plan
Decide the Purpose and audience of site first.
Then define Usability goals
Detail out each task on every screen Tasks
Decide Participants, scheduling, payment. Try to Cover different user categories
( Novice versus Expert)Involving representatives of the end users
Choosing Experimenters
….See that the experimenter had No previous interaction with the users
….He should not have any personal opinions / indications for user performance
….No assistance to the users
….Exception previous user experiences
….Effect on subsequent tasks
….There should not be any confusion for the users
….Appoint Multiple observers
….Appoint one as official experimenter
….Provide instructions and interaction
Keep task Material ready
Check Setting for test computer and test application
Formative / Summative evaluation
…Expect to hear bad news