Usability Testing for Mobile Apps and Websites – Why and How?

“We do not have the budget for testing user experience” or “There’s no time left for testing” – This is a common statement made while planning and developing the projects. Testing the mobile apps with the real users can be time-consuming and expensive too. Most of the app development companies avoid advanced testing methods to reduce the time and stress. Don’t forget that usability test provides instant benefits. Quick wins can help you take quick actions and enhance the user experience. This would, in turn, increase the conversion rate and ultimately boost your ROI.

Usability testing help to determine whether the users feel comfortable with the website or application according to different parameters – the flow, the navigation, speed, content, layout, etc. – especially in comparison to other similar apps.

Usability testing answers the following questions:

• How easy it is to use the software?
• How convenient the app is for the end users? 
• How simple it is to learn the software?

Here are some major components of usability testing:

1. Learnability: It is important that the users can accomplish basic tasks as soon as they start using the website or app.
2. Errors: The users are likely to make errors, but it is important that they recover from the same.
3. Efficiency: How soon can the users accomplish the tasks?
4. Memorability: When the users return to the same website after a long period of time, do they remember the functionality and navigation or else they need to start over learning again?
5. Satisfaction: How much does the user like the system?

Benefits of usability testing for the end users:

• High quality software
• Easy to use software
• Software readily accepted by users
• Short learning curves

What are the advantages of usability testing?

• Usability testing can be used for several other types of testing such as system integration testing, functional testing, unit testing, smoke testing, etc.
• When planned properly, usability testing can be considered to be a cost-effective and economical.
• Usability test can be beneficial in fixing problems that the users may face even before the release of the system. This would help in better performance. It is important to use proper resources (expert and experienced testers) to improve the system performance.
• Usability testing helps in discovering the potential bugs and potholes. The bugs and errors that are not visible to the developers can be found out and testers can try out new ways to remove them in order to make the system bug-free.
   

In a nutshell, usability testing has many benefits. You should take the feedbacks and suggestions positively and work on them patiently. The creative testers and people involved in the usability testing should possess the skills like patience and observation skills to spot and fix the issues.