Online Usability Lab

Online usability lab: is my website more of a hindrance than a help?

Aims

The users of a website determine its success. Decisive factors for the duration of their stay on the site and the type of activities they pursue (e.g. online shopping) are not only the content, but also the usability of the site. By using a combination of observation and survey techniques, the online usability lab traces existing problems and indicates scope for improvement.

Results

• Is it clear what the website is offering?
• Is it clear how it differentiates itself from other, similar sites?
• Are the contents easily found, can they be accessed intuitively?
• Are tools such as calculators or search engines intuitive and easy to understand?
• Are descriptions / texts clear and easy to understand? Is the wording of key terms in the menus / catalogues correct?

Applications

• Test of an existing Internet presence: what improvements need to be made? Which processes should be re-worked, and how?
• Planning a re-launch:
  • Which alternatives should be implemented?
  • How can planned process improvements best be put into practice?
  • Which additional services should be offered?
• Possible samples:
  • Initial screenshots / print-outs, also for testing alternative designs.
  • Initial, linked html-pages.
  • Working prototypes.
  • Existing sites.

Process (in test studio)

• Implementation by experienced Psyma research staff.
• Guideline exploration (survey follows standard procedure, but also takes into account user-specific aspects).
• Preliminary questioning (experiences, expectations).
• Free surfing & specific surfing tasks: Thinking aloud, detailed exploration.
• Post questioning (likes / dislikes, image).
• Broad target group coverage.
• Small sample size (approx. 20 interviews). Length of interview approx. 60 – 90 mins.
• Strongly implementation-oriented report.

There are other possible variations, in addition to the QuaL-UseLab described:

QuaN-UseLab

• Test studio with “standard” interview room (without facilities for observation and video recording).
• Carried out by experienced interviewer.
• Short, structured questionnaire (approx. 10 – 15 minutes), often with very specific questions (e.g. testing of just one aspect of usability).
• Larger sample size (at least 30 – 50 interviews per sub-target group).
• Extremely fast delivery of results.
• Report is also quantitative and differentiated according to sub-target group.