A website usability testing is a method of evaluating the functionality and performance of a website. In this method, real users are asked to complete certain tasks on the website and the researchers observe the actions of the users to understand how they are feeling the ease of using the website. During the test, the real users or the performers reveal whether they face any problem or not. They also provide their advice for further development of the website that can enhance the ease of navigation. Above all, the purpose of website usability testing is to identify the areas of confusion and recognize the opportunities for the improvement of user experience.
The Importance of Usability Testing:
As the usability test involves real users who are not familiar with the website, this helps to recognize the usability issues. Otherwise, the persons who are familiar with the website such as designers, website owners may not identify the real issues due to their deep knowledge about the website. While you bring real users to test your website, you can understand the following things-
1) Whether the users are facing confusion or they really understand the functionality of your website.
2) Are they able to complete their tasks or not.
3) Whether they face bugs or usability issues.
4) How they experienced the functionality and efficiency of the website.
5) Whether they have noticed any usability problem or not.
Before making a website publicly available, usability testing is effective to understand the reaction of the users about your website.
Categories of Usability Testing:
One can conduct a usability test for different purposes. On the basis of the purpose, there are two types of usability testing- i) Comparative Usability Testing, ii) Explorative Usability Testing.
1) Comparative Usability Testing:
In order to compare the functionality of two different websites, this test is effective. This test helps you to make a comparison not only between your website and other sites but also between two different designs for your website.
2) Explorative Usability Testing:
This test helps you to recognize the users’ needs and the opportunities for further improvement. Through this test, you can assess whether you need to add any functionality to make the user experience better.
The Advantages of Website Usability Testing:
Usability testing provides several advantages such as-
1) From the reactions of the real users, you can have an idea about the authentication of your website. Before launching the final product, this testing will help you to assess where you need to make changes and where you need to plan for the inclusion of a functionality.
2) After the completion of the website, this test helps to understand whether your website meets the expectations of the users.
3) The usability testing helps to identify complex flows and you can make the functions straightforward without involving multiple steps.
4) This test is also effective to find out smaller errors such as grammatical issues, site errors, broken links, etc.
There are many other advantages of website usability testing. Above all, this test helps to make the user experience better.
