User-led usability testing
User-led usability testing is a new and innovative service that Webcredible has pioneered. It involves finding out what your target audience does on the Internet when left to their own devices. It's fantastic for truly getting into the minds of your target users.
Webcredible carried out usability testing for us across two countries. It was an eye-opening experience, particularly being able to watch the testing live in Webcredible's usability lab. The way the tests were conducted was to the highest calibre.
Simret Dhillon, World Health Organization (see more testimonials)
What is user-led usability testing?
Traditional usability testing forces users onto your site. A typical task might be: “Go to carinsurance.com and get a quote for insuring your car”. User-led usability testing would re-phrase the task in a far less directed way, such as: “Your car insurance is running out soon and you are looking for new quotes - show me what you would do”.
Traditional usability testing is good at helping you find out how people use your site for specific, low-level tasks. User-led usability testing, however, lets you find out how your target users actually use the Internet for general, high-level tasks.
What you'll learn from user-led usability testing
Why we're different
Webcredible does things slightly differently to (and much better than) our competitors:
- We know more than just usability and accessibility
- We're experts in what we do
- We're passionate about our work
- We don't have 'project managers'
- You'll enjoy working with us
- We believe in knowledge sharing so you'll learn a lot from us
Find out in more detail about why we're different.
User-led usability testing will tell you how people:
- Think about (and approach) the overall task - Letting users decide how they go about achieving their task will give you a far richer and more detailed understanding of users and their behaviour.
- Find websites - Allowing people to choose which site they visit during a usability testing session will let you find out which search engines and search terms they use.
- Choose which website(s) to visit - Not telling people which site to use lets you find out how they decide where to go. This will tell you how your website can attract more people in future.
It'll also tell you what people:
- Like (and dislike) about competitors' sites - Allowing people to visit competitors' sites will allow you to identify mistakes you should avoid and good ideas you can learn from.
- Like (and dislike) about your site - If users happen to visit your site, you'll also get the sort of feedback that a traditional usability session would provide.
User-led usability testing is an excellent way for you to find out what your target audience is doing online. It will tell you about the overall environment in which your website exists (including users' attitudes and priorities and other websites).
Allowing users to lead the sessions means you'll find things out that you would never have thought of!
User-led usability testing vs. traditional usability testing
User-led usability testing sessions are ideal for getting a broad strategic understanding of your target audience and their needs. It will show you exactly how they choose which site to visit and what they want a site to provide once they're there.
Traditional usability testing is best suited to finding out how people use specific features and functions of your site.
We would always recommend using both methods (user-led usability testing and traditional usability testing) to help improve your website. Their different strengths will come together to deliver a site that's far more successful at attracting, converting and retaining users than either in isolation ever could.
What next?
Please contact us by phone on 0870 242 6095 or by e-mail at usability at webcredible.co.uk. We'll discuss your user-led usability testing needs and requirements with no pushy sales pitch and no obligation to you.