User Testing wakes up
Friday 7 October 2011 - Filed under Usability News
Whilst the number of companies providing Usability Testing services keeps growing it isn’t getting any easier for clients to determine which Market Research is beneficial to them let alone which Usability Testing service is worthwhile.
Well we know User Testing, or Usability Testing whichever you prefer has been around for quite a while know. It started in the early 80′s when new blue chip corporations invested heavily into new computer based products which success depended heavily on how well the user could interact with it.
As more products flooded the market being a Usability expert became a job within itself. Many of these experts were academics themselves who at the beginning of the nineties published most of the Usability research we know today.
Of course in general the use of User Testing stayed with the large corporations. As you can probably imagine up until around 2005 Testing Users was a very expensive analysis to employ. Typically the advice at the time was that the only way to achieve meaningful results was to use controlled laboratory conditions. As I know from conducting studies around the time, the costs were in often in the Tens of thousands. Consultants would have to be drafted in from wherever because it was still rare for a corporation to have an in house Usability expert. Participants would have to paid and travel arrangements for them made. Rooms would have to be rented. Results would have to be extracted. The list went on.
Unfortunately these high cost perceptions have become the greatest barrier for most businesses to even experiment with User Testing. I mean up until about 5 years ago it was considered the only way to get any meaningful results. Then technology intervened to take Usability Testing out of the classroom and online.
The last couple of years in particular have seen enormous growth in Usability service providers particularly for remote User Testing products.
What would have previously cost thousands and taken weeks was now available quickly. By quick we mean anything between as little as 10 minutes all the way up to a few days.
In particular web based Survey Testing which has come a long way from a few years ago when its reputation was that in order to gain savings in time money you had to lose quality and quantity. Yes just a few years ago Survey Testing was seen as a lesser method which exposed you to everyday user mistakes and left you looking for more substantial feedback.
Today though this isn’t the case. The leap forward in recent of years of survey software has allowed for efficient data collection. Missing data, complicated reports and user abuse now are thing of the past.
Surveys can now be targeted towards specific investigations on a variety of topics. This gives your organization access to a User Testing panel that was previously unobtainable.
The presentation outlook has also changed dramatically. Clients can now expect in their Inbox a board room ready presentation that is cost effect to both small and large clients.
When we receive the data back from our panel it is extracted, analyzed and quantified. All so you don’t have to.
The system gives you the ability to choose your demographic, helping you to escape your product stereotypes if not required.
With regard to the cost remote technology is overall paperless, so you wont be burdened by the administration and set up fees of Usability consultancy.
The costs difference here are pretty immense as Remote UX testing comes in at about an average of $500 whereas the costs to set up a lab test can easily run to $20000. I’ve seen $60000 in some cases.
The problem with this method is that the results and conclusions are often similar to those obtained via remote methodology. So the price isn’t really justified.
So this is too important an area to miss and going the remote road will save you money and get you the results.
In a world where only 10-15% of project development budgets are actually spent on User Testing it seems the demand is there for a product which could bring really value for money for those who want to either experiment with Testing Users or those who already did and are looking for a more complete and competitive Usability solution.
It seems only logical though that we look for a product which can bring UX testing to a larger client base.
That’s where the Testing User analysis separates itself from the competition. It is dynamic and interactive and allows any client from an organization large or small to connect with their user base.
2011-10-07 » Sam
