Usability testing
Why it matters
What is obvious to the person who built something is usually what confuses everyone else, and watching is the only dependable way to find that out. Analytics can say two in five people leave at a given step without ever saying why. Usability testing supplies the missing why and turns a drop-off number into a fixable cause.
This matters even more when a product is built quickly with AI. Speed makes it easy to ship screens that make sense only to their author.
How to apply it
- Recruit five to eight people who resemble the target customer. Small groups reveal most of the recurring problems, and more adds little.
- Give a real task, not a loaded question such as "do you like this button?"
- Ask people to think aloud, and resist the urge to help unless they are truly stuck.
- Look for patterns across sessions. If three people trip on the same step, that is the fix.
- Change one thing, then measure whether the drop-off falls.
What it is
You give a person a realistic task, such as "sign up and create your first project", and watch them attempt it while thinking aloud. You do not explain or help. Every pause, wrong click and confused comment is a finding. It can be moderated, where someone watches and asks questions live, or unmoderated, where people record themselves or a tool records their screen.
Common mistakes
- Testing with colleagues or friends, who know too much.
- Explaining the screen to the person, which hides the problem you came to find.
- Treating one person's taste as a finding. Act on what several people do, not on one opinion.
