(Free) User Testing Strategies You Can Use From the Couch
If you would have told me a month ago, that we would be conducting user tests exclusively from the comfort of our homes, I may have switched careers. Making personal human connections is such an integral aspect of UX/UI design, and at the time it would have seemed impossible to replicate in a digital environment. However, this pandemic has highlighted the power of software, and how it can be leveraged to reach users where they are — also at home. The following is a list of resources you can use to replicate common user tests on the cheap in a virtual environment.
Card Sorting
Card sorting is an activity where users are given a set of items and asked to sort them into categories. In a brick-and-mortar environment, groups might be given a stack of cards, a large piece of construction paper, and a glue stick. This allows users to shuffle cards back and forth as they think through the best fit.
The challenge: How to preserve this physical experience, and get quick results at a reasonable price. There are a plethora of tools that are created for card sorting, but few come cheap.
When larger categories have been defined, use Qualtrics: Qualtrics is an experience management software that is primarily used as a survey tool. Their free offering allows a professional to activate one survey per time period and collect over 100 responses, more than enough for a card sorting activity.
Tips and Tricks:
- Pick, Group, (don’t) Rank: Qualtrics offers a variety of question types. For card sorting, choose Pick, Group, and Ranking. This allows one to define categories then prompt users to sort their items into those buckets. By default, this program also ranks the items in each group based on the order the user adds them. Ignore this input when synthesizing the data.
- Show Results Immediately: Qualtrics boasts a variety of visualizations that the service provides upon survey close. After this activity is done, I recommend closing the survey, and manipulating the visualization, while your participants are in their second activity or on a break. Manipulating visualizations can take as little as 3 minutes. Once these have been manipulated, export the data, or share your screen to announce the results.
When the larger categories have not been defined, use Google Sheets: When both categories and the items within them are up for debate use Google Sheets or the web version of Excel. Both of these platforms allow you to share one file with multiple users and grant them edit access.
Tips and Tricks:
- Set the File Up: This approach takes a bit more setup. While formatting the sheet, I will typically name each column “Category 1,” “Category 2’,” etc. And input the items in a random order within the sheet. During the activity, I prompt users to rename the columns, then use their computer’s cut and paste feature to categorize the items as they please.
- Divide and Conquer: If you have a large number of participants, duplicate the sheet into their own tabs, and assign one group per tab. Allow them to sort their sheets independently, for a set amount of time. Later, navigate between tabs, or pull screenshots of each sheet to guide the discussion around the card sorting activity. Granted, users can also look through each other’s sheets on their own, but we’ll use the honor system on this one.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are typically comprised of 6–8 people who are representative of a product’s user base. Moderators of focus groups rely on verbal as well as non-verbal cues from participants to derive insights that inform product development.
The Challenge: How to format a focus group virtually in a way that allows for all forms of expression to be seen and analyzed.
Use Zoom: Throughout the course of the pandemic, Zoom has become the leader in video communication. This platform allows dozens of users to join a meeting via a secure link. Users have the option to join via phone, video, or computer audio, and it boasts a range of features, such as breakout rooms, screen sharing, chats, and polling functionality.
Tips and Tricks:
- Video on, mute off: The goal of a focus group is to provide an environment where users can talk comfortably and organically. Extended periods of silence can introduce awkwardness, the kiss of death in this information gathering technique. I recommend asking your participants beforehand to join from a quiet space, and keep their microphones unmuted throughout the conversation. This will prevent pauses between speakers as they rush to unmute, or the obligatory “your mic is still muted!” (We’ve all done it). Assure your group that it’s okay if they talk over each other every once in a while — this is expected, and would also happen in a physical space. Setting the groundwork this way, assures participants that they are expected to speak when they feel compelled.
- Send out visual materials beforehand: Unless they work in a technology field, chances are your users don’t have access to state-of-the-art digital tools. Therefore, you can’t anticipate what size screen each participant will be joining with. Send out reference materials beforehand. This gives participants the chance to manipulate the materials and make them as accessible as possible from their screens.
- Record: Configure your settings to record your focus group automatically. This provides a record of your participant’s verbal and non-verbal cues, the latter of which you may miss as your eyes travel between digital squares.
Moderated User Testing
User tests give users the opportunity to provide feedback on early iterations of a design.
The Challenge: Picking a platform at an affordable price point that can be used to gather feedback on sketches, wireframes, and prototypes.
Use Figma: Even before the pandemic, our team used Figma to present design concepts, and collaborate between developers and designers.
Tips and Tricks:
- Frame it Up!: Take pictures of your sketches or low fidelity mockups and import them into a frame within Figma. This will make them behave as if they are a wireframe that was designed in the program.
- Use Zoom to Record: In order to gather the richest data, I recommend scheduling with each user and inviting them to a zoom session one at a time. Ensure that your settings are set to record, and ask your participants to share their screen as they navigate through your mockup, provide design critique, or model where they would click.
- Or just send the link: For unmoderated user testing, Figma provides a view-only link, that allows an individual to navigate through a design on their own. If you are not in the prototyping phase of your project, users can navigate the design via their left and right arrows on their keyboard, as they would a slide show. Ask them to use the “c” key on their keyboard to drop comments.
- Use Google Slides: If your company is deep within the throes of another design platform, share your designs with participants as a google slide, or PDF and follow the steps above.
Persona Generation
Personas are a representation of key users within a product’s user group. Before Corona, stakeholders would fill out physical worksheets with a faux individual’s goals, profession, etc., then glue on a sourced image.
The challenge: How to provide a rich experience, and gather the same information.
Use Social media: Creating a faux social media profile, forces a stakeholder to think through the same prompts as they would in a persona crafting exercise.
Tips and Tricks
- Set up: Sure, this could simply be a prompt, or fillable PDF, but I find that clients take it more seriously when they’re filling out the bio of a true profile. If you’re anything like me you have a couple of emails set aside just for spam. I create a Twitter or Facebook account with one of them and pass it off with a generic password to clients. In the email, I will prompt them to fill out the profile details of their prospective user, everything from their demographic details to their bio. Lastly, I’ll ask them to create a couple of posts in the voice of their user. A great way to put them into their user’s shoes and think through their needs, concerns, and daily actions.
All of the tools above are completely free to get started and can be accessed from the comfort of your home. Good luck using them as you gather insights for your next product or platform!
