Evaluate how well your website helps visitors meet their goals in an engaging and efficient way.
Effective:
Watch some people try to complete some goals. Look out for the results of each task – was the goal completed? Was the attempt successful. You might want to ask the person if they felt the task was completed successfully, since sometimes they’re not aware they’ve made a mistake and think the task was finished properly, which is important information to make a note of.It’s a good idea to let the person know that you’re testing how well the system helps them do something, rather than testing the person themselves, as this puts people under a lot of unfair pressure. And often the person hasn’t made a mistake, they’ve made a reasonable attempt to do something logical – you just didn’t happen to anticipate that way of working when you were thrashing out the design and the interactive features your product needs.- Efficient:
It’s also helpful to time users as they complete a specific scenario. You can compare this time against someone who’s more familiar with your product, as they can play the role of an expert user. Look for places where the screen layout or navigation make the work harder than it needs to be and the person ends up struggling with the system.You can also write down the most efficient way to do the task and count each time the person deviates from that efficient method. - Engaging:
Watch for signs that the screens are confusing, or difficult to read, by asking the person to think aloud as they have a go at the task. You can also ask the person at the end of the scenario “How would you describe your experience using this system to do that scenario”. Always try not to ask leading questions like “Was that easy for you?” or “I thought that was difficult for you to complete, how did you feel about it”. - Error Tolerant:
Create a test in which you think mistakes are likely to happen, and see how well users can recover from problems and how helpful the product is. Count the number of times users see error messages and how helpful the message was and how they could be prevented from happening in the first place. If it’s a complex, important system for employees or customers, you’ll probably want to make sure common mistakes are eliminated during training sessions. - Easy to Learn:
Try not to prompt the person if they come unstuck using the product. Sometimes the person will fix it themselves very quickly without any prompting from you – what I call a “Kayak Moment”. Even if they don’t fix the problem, it’s helpful to see how they go about solving it. If the person is having real difficulty, it’s OK to give them a brief prompt to get them back on track.When you’re briefing people before the session, control how much instruction is given to them, and give each participant the same information. This means during the sessions you’re testing the product, and not the effectiveness of the briefings.
These tips will help you evaluate your product and find out how well it meets your users needs. Post up a question if you’d like more tips on how to do this sort of evaluation.
