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How to Design Apps People Actually Want to Use

A Quick-Start Guide to User Testing

V1.1, 2021 Edition

By Nick Foster & Amy Wood


Table of Contents

  • Introduction
    • Let's go
    • What is user testing?
    • Why should you conduct user testing
    • Who should conduct user testing
    • When should you conduct user testing
    • Is it worth the investment
    • Our five step framework
  • Step 1: Define what you’re testing and why
    • Decide what you are testing
    • Decide what you want to understand
    • Build out the foundations of your test
    • Action Items
  • Step 2: Identify and schedule your test participants
    • Determine your participant criteria
    • Find your user test participants
    • Schedule your tests
    • Action Items
  • Step 3: Build your user test and script
    • Make the experience as real as possible
    • Set the stage with a realistic scenario
    • Write your script
    • Don't forget the software usability scale
    • Test the test
    • Modify as you go
    • Action Items
  • Step 4: Conduct your user test
    • Set up your test
    • Facilitate like a pro
    • Action Items
  • Step 5: Analyze and prioritize your results
    • Rewatch your videos
    • Distill your learnings into solutions
    • Let the results speak for themselves
    • How to prioritize solutions
    • Celebrate and iterate
    • Action Items
  • Step 6: Scale up your new user testing skills
    • How to scale up user testing
    • Unmoderated user testing
    • UX surveys
    • Customer feedback software
    • The takeaways
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Appendix

Resources

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Templates

  • User test outline and script
  • Outreach email


Links

  • System Usability Score
  • How to avoid leading questions
  • The Five Whys technique


Books

  • Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights
  • UX for Lean Startups: Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design
  • Just Enough Research
  • Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests


Videos

  • How to do a user interview (from Google Ventures)
  • Effective user testing questions


Tools

  • Mr. Tappy


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