Test Questions To Help Improve Usability

When launching a new website or application, it is essential to know how well people can interact with it. When you conduct usability surveys or tests, you ask probing questions about a website or product to gauge its ease of use. And to collect effective data, you must ask the right usability test questions.

Save some time in thinking of good test questions by looking at the samples in this article. These questions cover common categories you will encounter when developing usability tests, and they will help make your tests much more effective.

What is Usability?

Usability measures how effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily a specific user can use a product or design to achieve a specific goal. Typically, designers measure the usability of a design throughout development-from wireframes to the final deliverable to ensure maximum usability.

Users should be able to navigate a user interface easily enough to accomplish their goals without outside or expert insight.

What Are Usability Tests For?

Usability tests help you understand the what, why, and how of your product and its user. They’re used to:

• Find errors or bugs
• Get feedback from real users
• Understand your target audience
• Understand whether the product works as expected
• Assess if a product is user-friendly

Benefits of Usability Testing

Usability testing is a trial-and-error process to understand the usability of a new website or application fully. It has four main benefits compared to other methods of gathering user feedback. 

• Usability testing provides an unbiased, accurate, and direct assessment of your website or product’s user experience. Most of your team’s internal debates can be resolved by testing its usability on a sample of actual users.
• Usability testing is convenient. To conduct your study, you only need a quiet room and portable recording equipment. If you don’t have recording equipment, you can take notes.
• Your users can learn about your site or product and why they need it.
• Testing for usability allows you to identify problems with your product before spending too much money and ending up with a poor design

Examples of Usability Test Questions

Screening questions

Only some people are good subjects for your test. Begin your test with a definition of your “subject” and list various criteria for what makes a subject ideal.

The following questions will ensure you have the right audience for your study:

• Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
• What are your current interests?
• What are your educational backgrounds?
• In what industry do you operate?
• How much do you earn?
• How much does your household earn annually?
• Have you used any products from the [industry]?
• What kind of device do you usually use to implement [solution]?

Pre-test questions

Now that you have your subjects, it’s time to establish their backgrounds. This will help you test the effectiveness of your methods and make adjustments to your testing plan as needed.

• What kind of device are you most commonly using?
• Are you familiar with our product?
• Do you use our competitors’ products?

Testing questions

Evaluate the usability of your product, service, or website using these questions. They cover a wide range of questions about usability problems.

• When you are unable to complete a task, what hinders you?
• What motivates you to take action?
• Which features are most valuable to you and why?
• What features do you find least useful, and why do you think so?
• How long did it take you to accomplish [goal]?
• What are your thoughts regarding the language you used?
• How would you find the information that you were looking for?
• What spurred you to take specific action while using our program?
• How would you describe the design and layout?
• Which features would you prefer to use most frequently?

Post-testing questions

Get a rounded view of your participant’s thoughts through these questions. They can also help you spot any recurring trends in your own testing.

• How easy or difficult was our product to use? (0-10)
• Would you recommend our product to a friend or colleague? (0-10)
• Is there a competitor’s offer that you would consider?
• What other features would you like to see added to our [product or service]?
• How frequently would you use our [product or service]?
• What is your overall opinion of the offer?

Tips for Choosing Usability Testing Questions

The best way to get the most accurate results from your usability test is to compile the appropriate questions. Here are some things you should remember:

• There is no limit to the number of questions you can ask. But remember that the more questions you ask, the more data your product team can work with.
• Observe the kind of data you want to capture through your usability testing questions: is it quantitative (e.g., scoring a feature from 10 to 10) or qualitative (e.g., open-ended questions)? It’s best to use a mix of both and potentially follow-up quantitative questions.

Final Thoughts

Usability test questions help you know what changes you need to implement to improve the usability of a product. They can also help you identify the parts of the website or product that are confusing, difficult to use, and lacking value. Through this, you’ll be able to make informed decisions about the overall structure and usability of your design.