Usability Testing

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Usability testing

Usability testing is a test type of software testing that tests how easy to use and user-friendly a software is. Usability testing involves real users who perform requested tasks on the software and provide feedback on their experience. Usability testing helps to find usability issues.

Usability testing examples

• You test the usability of your e-learning website by asking real students to enroll in a course, watch a video lesson, take a quiz, and rate their experience. You measure the time taken, any errors, and satisfaction of each student for each task.
• You test the usability of your travel mobile app by asking travelers to search for a destination, book a flight and a hotel, and view their itinerary. You derive the ease, and effectiveness of the app for each traveler for each task.
• You test the usability of your social media platform by asking users to create a profile, add a friend, send a message, and post a status update. You survey the users to derive the engagement, enjoyment, and trust of the users for each task.
• You test the usability of your online shopping website by asking customers to browse for a product, add it to the cart, check out, and track their order. Using website analytics, you measure the conversion rate, retention rate, and customer satisfaction for each task.

Tips for usability testing

• Identify the usability goals and criteria for your software by referring the project plan and test plan.
  
• Design the usability test scenarios that cover the most frequently used and revenue generating tasks in your software.
• Recruit and select the usability test participants that represent your end users.
• Conduct and moderate the usability test sessions with your participants, observe their behavior and feedback, and collect data for analysis.
• Analyze and report the usability test results, any usability issues and recommendations.

FAQ (interview questions and answers)

1. What is the difference between usability testing and user acceptance testing?
   Usability testing is a type of non-functional testing that tests how user-friendly and easy to use a software is. User acceptance testing (UAT) is a type of functional testing that tests whether a software meets the end users' business requirements, in real-world conditions.
2. What are some tools for usability testing?
   UserTesting, Hotjar, Usabilla, Optimal Workshop, etc.
3. Is usability testing a type of qualitative or quantitative testing?
   Usability testing can be both qualitative and quantitative. It is qualitative testing because it involves observing and understanding the user behavior and feedback. It is quantitative testing because it involves measuring and analyzing the user data and metrics. But, primarily, usability testing is qualitative testing.
   
4. How do you perform heuristic evaluation?
   By applying heuristics (a set of predefined usability principles) to evaluate a software to identify any usability defects or issues.

Remember to just comment if you have any doubts or queries.