SensoryMetrics

A few months ago, someone asked me how she could conduct cheap focus groups to assess usability of her product. The question itself raises a red flag. First – let’s look at three basic types of research and their purpose.

1. Qualitative Market Research: this helps you assess product concepts – usually presenting your ideas to your intended customers or leaders in the industry you’re targetting. The most common method is focus groups, and that’s where targetted recruiting of participants is very important. The results of these groups will most likely influence your business case.

2. Quantitative Market Research: this gives you answers to specific questions – like price points, feature priorities, distribution channels… The method for this is usually surveys, as you need lots of responses for statistical significance.

3. Usability Testing: Use this to assess product design. You can evaluate the ease of use of your product, whether users understand the navigation, and whether they can complete the tasks that your software enables. Things you’ll want to watch for is whether there’s confusion in the language, if users make mistakes – are they able to recover from those mistakes without requiring assistance. The overall goal is to make sure that your users don’t give up on your product in frustration, or require a support call. A third objective could be – can users use your product without any documentation or help? For best results, usability testing should be done often. The results can be used to continually improve as you develop. Start testing before you start coding!

Tomorrow, I’ll describe an easy methodology that is quick and cheap.

Tags: usability-testing

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