User Experience Design

UX Evaluation
Usability Testing

The most effective way of understanding what

works and what doesnt in an interface is
to watch people use it
When the right participants attempt realistic
activities, qualitative insights are gained
into what is causing users to have trouble, this
helps determine design improvements
Usability Testing

In order to observe participants they need something

to do
These assignments are frequently referred to as Tasks
it's
better to situate the request within a short
scenario that sets the stage for the action
Scenarios are based on what are the most important
things that every user must be able to accomplish on
the site?
Usability Testing Rules

1. Make the Task Realistic

User goal: Browse product offerings and
purchase an item
Poor task: Purchase a pair of orange Nike
running shoes
Better task: Buy a pair of shoes for under
$40
Usability Testing Rules

2. Make the Task Actionable

User goal: Find movie and show times
Poortask: You want to see a movie Sunday
afternoon. Go to www.fandango.com and
tell me where youd click next
Better
task: Use www.fandago.com to find
a movie youd be interested in seeing on
Sunday afternoon
Usability Testing Rules

3. Avoid Clues and Describing the Steps

User goal: Look up grades
Poor task: You want to see the results of
your midterm exams. Go to the website,
sign in, and tell me where you would click
to get your transcript
Better
task: Look up the results of your
midterm exams.
UAT Summary

During a usability test, mimic the real world as

much as possible
Ensure that each task scenario:
1. Is realistic and typical for how people actually use
the system, when they are on their own time,
doing their own activities
2. Encourages users to interact with the interface
3. Doesnt give away the answer
What is A/B Testing?

A/B testing (sometimes called

split testing) is comparing two
versions of a web page to see
which one performs better
You compare two web pages by
showing the two variants (A and B)
to similar visitors
The one that gives a better
conversion rate, wins!
Why Perform A/B Testing?

A/B testing allows for

making more out of a
systems existing traffic
The Return On Investment
of A/B testing can be
massive, as even small
changes on a landing page
or website can result in
significant increases in
leads generated, sales and
revenue
What Can Be Tested?
Headlines
Sub Headlines
Testimonials
Call To Action Text
Call To Action Buttons
Links & Images
Social Proof
Media Mentions
Awards And Badges
The A/B Testing Process
The correct way to run an AB testing experiment is to follow the
Scientific Method
1. Ask a question: "Why is the bounce rate of my website higher
than industry standard?"
2. Do background research: Understand your visitors' behavior
using Google Analytics and any other analytics tools running on
your website
3. Construct a hypothesis: "Adding more links in the footer will
reduce the bounce rate"
4. Calculate the number of visitors/days you need to run the
test for: Always calculate the number of visitors required for a
test before starting the test
The A/B Testing Process

5. Test your hypothesis: You create a site wide A/B test in

which the variation (version B) has a footer with more links.
You test it against the original and measure bounce rate
6. Analyze data and draw conclusions: If the footer with more
links reduces bounce rate, then you can conclude that
increased number of links in the footer is one of the factors
that reduces bounce. If there is no difference in bounce,
then go back to step 3
7. Report results to all concerned: Let others in Marketing, IT
and UI/UX know of the test results and insights generated
Heuristic Principles

A Heuristic Evaluation is a usability

inspection method for computer software
that helps to identify usability problems in
the user interface (UI) design
It specifically involves evaluators examining
the interface and judging its compliance
with recognized usability principles (the
"heuristics")
Visibility of System Status

The system should always

keep users informed about
current state and actions
through appropriate visual
cues and feedback within
reasonable time
Gmail loading a users
mailbox tells the user to
wait & indicates the status
of whats going on
Match Between System And The Real
World
Thesystem should speak the
users' language, with words,
phrases and concepts
familiar to the user, rather
than system-oriented terms
Followreal-world
conventions, making
information appear in a
natural and logical order
User Control And Freedom

Users often choose system

functions by mistake and
will need a clearly marked
"emergency exit" to leave
the unwanted state without
having to go through an
extended dialogue
Support undo and redo
Error Prevention

Even better than good error

messages is a careful design
which prevents a problem from
occurring in the first place
Either eliminate error-prone
conditions or check for them
and present users with a
confirmation option before
they commit to the action
Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, And
Recover From Errors
Error messages
should be expressed
in plain language
(no codes), precisely
indicate the
problem, and
constructively
suggest a solution
Consistency And Standards

Users should not have to

wonder whether different
words, situations, or actions
mean the same thing
Follow platform conventions
Recognition Rather Than Recall

Minimize the user's

memory load by
making objects,
actions, and options
visible
The user should not
have to remember
information from one
part of the dialogue to
another
Flexibility And Efficiency Of Use

Accelerators (unseen by
the novice user) may
often speed up the
interaction for the expert
user such that the system
can cater to both
inexperienced and
experienced users
Allow users to tailor
frequent actions
Aesthetic And Minimalist Design

Dialogues should not contain

information which is
irrelevant or rarely needed
Every extra unit of
information in a dialogue
competes with the relevant
units of information and
diminishes their relative
visibility
Help and Documentation

Itmay be necessary to
provide help and
documentation
Any such information
should be easy to
search, focused on the
user's task, list
concrete steps to be
carried out, and not be
too large