January 13, 2016
5 min

A comprehensive look at usability testing

Usability testing has an important role in UX and if you’re new to it, this article gives you a solid introduction to it with practical tips, a checklist for success and a look at our remote testing tool, Treejack.

Concepts Of usability testing 👩🏾💻

Usability testing is the process of evaluating a product or service with users prior to implementation. The goal of usability testing is to identify any usability issues before the product or service is released into the world for use. Usability testing is a research activity that results in both quantitative and qualitative insights and can be used to gauge user satisfaction.A typical usability testing session is moderated and involves a participant, a facilitator and an observer. The facilitator leads the session and the observer takes notes while the participant completes the task based scenario.

While this is common, usability testing is scalable and the possible approaches are endless giving you the flexibility to work with the resources you have available—sometimes one person performs the role of facilitator and observer!Location also varies for usability testing. For example, you might conduct your testing in a lab environment or you might talk to users in a specific environment. It also worth noting that not all usability testing sessions are moderated—more about this later.Usability testing usually occurs multiple times during the design process and can be conducted anytime you have a design you would like to test.

User research activities like a focus group for example, are conducted early in the design process to explore and gain understanding before ideas are generated. Usability testing is about testing those ideas as early and as often as possible. From a fully functioning digital prototype to a simple hand drawn wireframe on paper, nothing is too unrefined or too rough to be tested.

Developing a usability test plan 🛠️

Before you start a round of usability testing, you need to develop a usability test plan. The usability test plan will keep you organised and is an opportunity to define roles and set clear expectations upfront. The first step in developing this is to hold a meeting with your team and stakeholders to discuss what you are going to do and how you plan to achieve it. Following this meeting, a document outlining the usability test plan as it was discussed is created and shared with the group for review. Any changes suggested by the group are then added to the final document for approval from the relevant stakeholders.

What to include in your usability test plan:

  • The goal, scope and intent of the usability testing
  • Constraints impacting upon testing
  • Details on what will be tested eg wireframes
  • Schedule and testing location
  • Associated costs eg participant recruitment
  • Facilitator and observer details for each session
  • Session details
  • Participant recruitment approach
  • Equipment
  • Details of any documentation to be produced eg a report

Usability testing questions 🤔

Once you have developed your test plan, you need to create a list of questions and task based scenarios for the testing session. These form the structure for your testing and provide a framework of consistency across all testing sessions in the study.The questions serve as a warm up to ease the participant into the session and can also provide insights on the user that you may not have had before. These questions can be a combination of open and closed questions and are especially useful if you are also developing personas for example. Some examples of what you might ask include:

  • Tell me about a recent experience you had with this product/service
  • Do you currently use this product/service?
  • Do you own a tablet device?

The purpose of the task based scenarios is to simulate a real life experience as closely as possible. They provide a contextual setting for the participant to frame their approach and they need to be realistic—your participant needs an actionable starting point to work from. A good starting point for task based scenario development would be to look at a use case.It is also important that you avoid using language that provides clues to the solution or leads your participant as this can produce inaccurate results. An example of a task based scenario would be:You’re planning a Christmas vacation to New Zealand for your family of two adults and 4 children. Find the lowest priced airfares for your trip.

Usability testing software: Tree testing 🌲🌳🌿

Treejack is a remote information architecture (IA) validation tool that shows you exactly where users are getting lost in your content. Knowing this will enable you to design a structure for your website that makes sense to users before moving on to the user interface (UI) design.Treejack works like a card sort in reverse. Imagine you have just completed a card sort with your users to determine your IA and you are now working backwards to test that thinking against real world task based scenarios. Treejack does this using a text-based version of your IA that is free from distracting visual aids such as navigation and colour allowing you to determine if your structure is usable from the ground up. A Treejack study is structured around task based scenarios and comes with the option to include pre and post study questionnaires.

treejack task image
Usability testing with Treejack

As a remote testing tool, Treejack is unmoderated and provides the opportunity to reach a much larger audience because all you have to do is share a link to the study with your participants to gain insights. You also have the option of handing the task of targeted participant recruitment over to Optimal Workshop.Once launched and shared with participants, Treejack takes care of itself by recording the results as they come in giving you the freedom to multitask while you wait for the testing to finish.

The results produced by Treejack are not only detailed and comprehensive but are also quite beautiful. The story of your participants’ journey through your testing activity is told through pietrees. A pietree is a detailed pathway map that shows where your participants went at each fork in the road and their destinations. They allow you to pinpoint exactly where the issues lie and are a powerful way to communicate the results to your team and stakeholders.

bananacom pie tree
Treejack presents your results using pietrees

Treejack also provides insights into where your participants landed their first click and records detailed information on pathways followed by each individual participant.

bananacom paths
Treejack records full details of the paths followed by every participant

Usability testing checklist 📋

The following checklist will help ensure your usability testing process runs smoothly:

  • Meet with team and stakeholders
  • Determine goals, scope and intent of usability testing
  • Decide how many sessions will be conducted
  • Create usability testing schedule
  • Select facilitators and observers for each session if applicable
  • Develop and complete a usability test plan
  • Determine test questions and scenarios
  • Recruit participants for testing
  • Gather equipment required for testing if applicable
  • Book testing location if applicable
  • Keep a list of useful contact details close by in case you need to contact anyone during testing
  • Complete a dry run of a testing session with a team member to ensure everything works before actual testing begins
  • Organise debrief meetings with observers after each testing session
  • Set aside time to analyse the findings
  • Document and present findings to team and relevant stakeholders

Related reading 📚🎧☕

Share this article
Author
Optimal
Workshop

Related articles

View all blog articles
Learn more
1 min read

Building Trust Through Design for Financial Services

When it comes to financial services, user experience goes way beyond just making things easy to use. It’s about creating a seamless journey and establishing trust at every touchpoint. Think about it: as we rely more and more on digital banking and financial apps in our everyday lives, we need to feel absolutely confident that our personal information is safe and that the companies managing our money actually know what they're doing. Without that trust foundation, even the most competitive brands will struggle with customer adoption.

Why Trust Matters More Than Ever

The stakes are uniquely high in financial UX. Unlike other digital products where a poor experience might result in minor frustration, financial applications handle our life savings, investment portfolios, and sensitive personal data. A single misstep in design can trigger alarm bells for users, potentially leading to lost customers.

Using UX Research to Measure and Build Trust

Building high trust experiences requires deep insights into user perceptions, behaviors, and pain points. The best UX platforms can help financial companies spot trust issues and test whether their solutions actually work.

Identify Trust Issues with Tree Testing

Tree testing helps financial institutions understand how easily users can find critical information and features:

  • Test information architecture to ensure security features and privacy information are easily discoverable
  • Identify confusing terminology that may undermine user confidence
  • Compare findability metrics for trust-related content across different user segments

Optimize for Trustworthy First Impressions with First-Click Testing

First-click testing helps identify where users naturally look for visual symbols and cues that are associated with security:

  • Test where users instinctively look for security indicators like references to security certifications
  • Compare the effectiveness of different visual trust symbols (locks, shields, badges)
  • Identify the optimal placement for security messaging across key screens

Map User Journeys with Card Sorting

Card sorting helps brands understand how users organize concepts. Reducing confusion, helps your financial brand appear more trustworthy, quickly:

  • Use open card sorts to understand how users naturally categorize security and privacy features
  • Identify terminology that resonates with users' perceptions around security

Qualitative Insights Through Targeted Questions

Gathering qualitative data through strategically placed questions allows financial institutions to collect rich, timely insights about how much their customers trust their brand:

  • Ask open ended questions about trust concerns at key moments in the testing process
  • Gather specific feedback on security terminology understanding and recognition
  • Capture emotional responses to different trust indicators

What Makes a Financial Brand Look Trustworthy?

Visual Consistency and Professional Polish

When someone opens your financial app or website, they're making snap judgments about whether they can trust you with their money. It happens in milliseconds, and a lot of that decision comes down to how polished and consistent everything looks.Clean, consistent design sends that signal of stability and attention to detail that people expect when money's involved.

To achieve this, develop and rigorously apply a solid design system across all digital touchpoints including fonts, colors, button styles, and spacing, it all needs to be consistent across every page and interaction. Even small inconsistencies can make people subconsciously lose confidence.

Making Security Visible

Unlike walking into a bank where you can see the vault and security cameras, digital security happens behind the scenes. Users can't see all the protection you've built in unless you make a point of showing them.

Highlighting your security measures in ways that feel reassuring rather than overwhelming gives people that same sense of "my money is safe here" that they'd get from seeing a bank's physical security.

From a design perspective, apply this thinking to elements like:

  • Real time login notifications
  • Transaction verification steps
  • Clear encryption indicators
  • Transparent data usage explanations
  • Session timeout warnings

You can test the success of these design elements through preference testing, where you can compare different approaches to security visualization to determine which elements most effectively communicate trust without creating anxiety.

Making Complex Language Simple

Financial terminology is naturally complex, but your interface content doesn't have to be. Clear, straightforward language builds trust so it’s important to develop a content strategy that:

  • Explains unavoidable complex terms contextually
  • Replaces jargon with plain language
  • Provides proactive guidance before errors occur
  • Uses positive, confident messaging around security features

You can test your language and navigation elements by using tree testing to evaluate user understanding of different terminology, measuring success rates for finding information using different labeling options.

Create an Ongoing Trust Measurement Program

A user research platform enables financial institutions to implement ongoing trust measurement across the product lifecycle:

Establish Trust Benchmarks

Use UX research tools to establish baseline metrics for measuring user trust:

  • Findability scores for security features
  • User reported confidence ratings
  • Success rates for security related tasks
  • Terminology comprehension levels

Validate Design Updates

Before implementing changes to critical elements, use quick tests to validate designs:

  • Compare current vs. proposed designs with prototype testing
  • Measure findability improvements with tree testing
  • Evaluate usability through first-click testing

Monitor Trust Metrics Over Time

Create a dashboard of trust metrics that can be tracked regularly:

  • Task success rates for security related activities
  • Time-to-completion for verification processes
  • Confidence ratings at key security touchpoints

Cross-Functional Collaboration to Improve Trust

While UX designers can significantly impact brand credibility, remember that trust is earned across the entire customer experience:

  • Product teams ensure feature promises align with actual capabilities
  • Security teams translate complex security measures into user-friendly experiences
  • Marketing ensures brand promises align with the actual user experience
  • Customer service supports customers when trust issues arise

Trust as a Competitive Advantage

In an industry where products and services can often seem interchangeable to consumers, trust becomes a powerful differentiator. By placing trust at the center of your design philosophy and using comprehensive user research to measure and improve trust metrics, you're not just improving user experience, you're creating a foundation for lasting customer relationships in an industry where loyalty is increasingly rare.

The most successful financial institutions of the future won't necessarily be those with the most features or the slickest interfaces, but those that have earned and maintained user trust through thoughtful UX design built on a foundation of deep user research and continuous improvement.

Learn more
1 min read

The Role of Usability Metrics in User-Centered Design

The term ‘usability’ captures sentiments of how usable, useful, enjoyable, and intuitive a website or app is perceived by users. By its very nature, usability is somewhat subjective. But what we’re really looking for when we talk about usability is how well a website can be used to achieve a specific task or goal. Using this definition we can analyze usability metrics (standard units of measurement) to understand how well user experience design is performing.

Usability metrics provide helpful insights before and after any digital product is launched. They help us form a deeper understanding of how we can design with the user front of mind. This user-centered design approach is considered the best-practice in building effective information architecture and user experiences that help websites, apps, and software meet and exceed users' needs.

In this article, we’ll highlight key usability metrics, how to measure and understand them, and how you can apply them to improve user experience.

Understanding Usability Metrics

Usability metrics aim to understand three core elements of usability, namely: effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. A variety of research techniques offer designers an avenue for quantifying usability. Quantifying usability is key because we want to measure and understand it objectively, rather than making assumptions.

Types of Usability Metrics

There are a few key metrics that we can measure directly if we’re looking to quantify effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Here are four common examples:

  • Success rate: Also known as ‘completion rate’, success rate is the percentage of users who were able to successfully complete the tasks.
  • Time-based efficiency: Also known as ‘time on task’, time-based efficiency measures how much time a user needs to complete a certain task.
  • Number of errors: Sounds like what it is! It measures the average number of times where an error occurred per user when performing a given task.
  • Post-task satisfaction: Measures a user's general impression or satisfaction after completing (or not completing) a given task.

How to Collect Usability Metrics


Usability metrics are outputs from research techniques deployed when conducting usability testing. Usability testing in web design, for example, involves assessing how a user interacts with the website by observing (and listening to) users completing defined tasks, such as purchasing a product or signing up for newsletters.

Conducting usability testing and collecting usability metrics usually involves:

  • Defining a set of tasks that you want to test
  • Recruitment of test participants
  • Observing participants (remotely or in-person)
  • Recording detailed observations
  • Follow-up satisfaction survey or questionnaire

Tools such Reframer are helpful in conducting usability tests remotely, and they enable live collaboration of multiple team members. It is extremely handy when trying to record and organize those insightful observations! Using paper prototypes is an inexpensive way to test usability early in the design process.

The Importance of Usability Metrics in User-Centered Design

User-centered design challenges designers to put user needs first. This means in order to deploy user-centered design, you need to understand your user. This is where usability testing and metrics add value to website and app performance; they provide direct, objective insight into user behavior, needs, and frustrations. If your user isn’t getting what they want or expect, they’ll simply leave and look elsewhere.

Usability metrics identify which parts of your design aren’t hitting the mark. Recognizing where users might be having trouble completing certain actions, or where users are regularly making errors, are vital insights when implementing user-centered design. In short, user-centered design relies on data-driven user insight.

But why hark on about usability metrics and user-centered design? Because at the heart of most successful businesses is a well-solved user problem. Take Spotify, for example, which solved the problem of dodgy, pirated digital files being so unreliable. People liked access to free digital music, but they had to battle viruses and fake files to get it. With Spotify, for a small monthly fee, or the cost of listening to a few ads, users have the best of both worlds. The same principle applies to user experience - identify recurring problems, then solve them.

Best Practices for Using Usability Metrics

Usability metrics should be analyzed by design teams of every size. However, there are some things to bear in mind when using usability metrics to inform design decisions:

  • Defining success: Usability metrics are only valuable if they are being measured against clearly defined benchmarks. Many tasks and processes are unique to each business, so use appropriate comparisons and targets; usually in the form of an ‘optimized’ user (a user with high efficiency).
  • Real user metrics: Be sure to test with participants that represent your final user base. For example, there’s little point in testing your team, who will likely be intimately aware of your business structure, terminology, and internal workflows.
  • Test early: Usability testing and subsequent usability metrics provide the most impact early on in the design process. This usually means testing an early prototype or even a paper prototype. Early testing helps to avoid any significant, unforeseen challenges that could be difficult to rewind in your information architecture.
  • Regular testing: Usability metrics can change over time as user behavior and familiarity with digital products evolve. You should also test and analyze the usability of new feature releases on your website or app.

Remember, data analysis is only as good as the data itself. Give yourself the best chance of designing exceptional user experiences by collecting, researching, and analyzing meaningful and accurate usability metrics.

Conclusion

Usability metrics are a guiding light when it comes to user experience. As the old saying goes, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. By including usability metrics in your design process, you invite direct user feedback into your product. This is ideal because we want to leave any assumptions or guesswork about user experience at the door.

User-centered design inherently relies on constant user research. Usability metrics such as success rate, time-based efficiency, number of errors, and post-task satisfaction will highlight potential shortcomings in your design. Subsequently, they identify where improvements can be made, AND they lay down a benchmark to check whether any resulting updates addressed the issues.

Ready to start collecting and analyzing usability metrics? Check out our guide to planning and running effective usability tests to get a head start!

Learn more
1 min read

A comprehensive look at usability testing

Usability testing has an important role in UX and if you’re new to it, this article gives you a solid introduction to it with practical tips, a checklist for success and a look at our remote testing tool, Treejack.

Concepts Of usability testing 👩🏾💻

Usability testing is the process of evaluating a product or service with users prior to implementation. The goal of usability testing is to identify any usability issues before the product or service is released into the world for use. Usability testing is a research activity that results in both quantitative and qualitative insights and can be used to gauge user satisfaction.A typical usability testing session is moderated and involves a participant, a facilitator and an observer. The facilitator leads the session and the observer takes notes while the participant completes the task based scenario.

While this is common, usability testing is scalable and the possible approaches are endless giving you the flexibility to work with the resources you have available—sometimes one person performs the role of facilitator and observer!Location also varies for usability testing. For example, you might conduct your testing in a lab environment or you might talk to users in a specific environment. It also worth noting that not all usability testing sessions are moderated—more about this later.Usability testing usually occurs multiple times during the design process and can be conducted anytime you have a design you would like to test.

User research activities like a focus group for example, are conducted early in the design process to explore and gain understanding before ideas are generated. Usability testing is about testing those ideas as early and as often as possible. From a fully functioning digital prototype to a simple hand drawn wireframe on paper, nothing is too unrefined or too rough to be tested.

Developing a usability test plan 🛠️

Before you start a round of usability testing, you need to develop a usability test plan. The usability test plan will keep you organised and is an opportunity to define roles and set clear expectations upfront. The first step in developing this is to hold a meeting with your team and stakeholders to discuss what you are going to do and how you plan to achieve it. Following this meeting, a document outlining the usability test plan as it was discussed is created and shared with the group for review. Any changes suggested by the group are then added to the final document for approval from the relevant stakeholders.

What to include in your usability test plan:

  • The goal, scope and intent of the usability testing
  • Constraints impacting upon testing
  • Details on what will be tested eg wireframes
  • Schedule and testing location
  • Associated costs eg participant recruitment
  • Facilitator and observer details for each session
  • Session details
  • Participant recruitment approach
  • Equipment
  • Details of any documentation to be produced eg a report

Usability testing questions 🤔

Once you have developed your test plan, you need to create a list of questions and task based scenarios for the testing session. These form the structure for your testing and provide a framework of consistency across all testing sessions in the study.The questions serve as a warm up to ease the participant into the session and can also provide insights on the user that you may not have had before. These questions can be a combination of open and closed questions and are especially useful if you are also developing personas for example. Some examples of what you might ask include:

  • Tell me about a recent experience you had with this product/service
  • Do you currently use this product/service?
  • Do you own a tablet device?

The purpose of the task based scenarios is to simulate a real life experience as closely as possible. They provide a contextual setting for the participant to frame their approach and they need to be realistic—your participant needs an actionable starting point to work from. A good starting point for task based scenario development would be to look at a use case.It is also important that you avoid using language that provides clues to the solution or leads your participant as this can produce inaccurate results. An example of a task based scenario would be:You’re planning a Christmas vacation to New Zealand for your family of two adults and 4 children. Find the lowest priced airfares for your trip.

Usability testing software: Tree testing 🌲🌳🌿

Treejack is a remote information architecture (IA) validation tool that shows you exactly where users are getting lost in your content. Knowing this will enable you to design a structure for your website that makes sense to users before moving on to the user interface (UI) design.Treejack works like a card sort in reverse. Imagine you have just completed a card sort with your users to determine your IA and you are now working backwards to test that thinking against real world task based scenarios. Treejack does this using a text-based version of your IA that is free from distracting visual aids such as navigation and colour allowing you to determine if your structure is usable from the ground up. A Treejack study is structured around task based scenarios and comes with the option to include pre and post study questionnaires.

treejack task image
Usability testing with Treejack

As a remote testing tool, Treejack is unmoderated and provides the opportunity to reach a much larger audience because all you have to do is share a link to the study with your participants to gain insights. You also have the option of handing the task of targeted participant recruitment over to Optimal Workshop.Once launched and shared with participants, Treejack takes care of itself by recording the results as they come in giving you the freedom to multitask while you wait for the testing to finish.

The results produced by Treejack are not only detailed and comprehensive but are also quite beautiful. The story of your participants’ journey through your testing activity is told through pietrees. A pietree is a detailed pathway map that shows where your participants went at each fork in the road and their destinations. They allow you to pinpoint exactly where the issues lie and are a powerful way to communicate the results to your team and stakeholders.

bananacom pie tree
Treejack presents your results using pietrees

Treejack also provides insights into where your participants landed their first click and records detailed information on pathways followed by each individual participant.

bananacom paths
Treejack records full details of the paths followed by every participant

Usability testing checklist 📋

The following checklist will help ensure your usability testing process runs smoothly:

  • Meet with team and stakeholders
  • Determine goals, scope and intent of usability testing
  • Decide how many sessions will be conducted
  • Create usability testing schedule
  • Select facilitators and observers for each session if applicable
  • Develop and complete a usability test plan
  • Determine test questions and scenarios
  • Recruit participants for testing
  • Gather equipment required for testing if applicable
  • Book testing location if applicable
  • Keep a list of useful contact details close by in case you need to contact anyone during testing
  • Complete a dry run of a testing session with a team member to ensure everything works before actual testing begins
  • Organise debrief meetings with observers after each testing session
  • Set aside time to analyse the findings
  • Document and present findings to team and relevant stakeholders

Related reading 📚🎧☕

Seeing is believing

Explore our tools and see how Optimal makes gathering insights simple, powerful, and impactful.