Project
User testing workshop
Role
Research
Facilitation
Date
2022
Background
Advocating for user testing initiatives
The purpose of user testing
Humans notoriously behave in unexpected ways that defy our assumptions of them
Human testing is therefore a necessary step in validating design solutions and learning how our products function in real-world settings.
The Private Asset Platform is (one-of-a-kind) and therefore we must create unique design solutions while trying to create a product that is intuitive and simple for our users to navigate.
The importance of user experience
The less resistance there is between a user and our ‘desired action,’ the more likely they are to effectively complete that goal
Users will associate their experience (positive or negative) with the overall brand image.
Negative experiences are always the most memorable for users and can reflect poorly on a brand and their products.
Business value
Reducing tension between our desired user outcome and the user’s true experience of our product, they are more likely to complete one of the actions on our platform.
Create positive brand recognition and a memorable, simple experience which makes users more likely to return in the future.
Post-launch design iteration has the added value of incorporating real user data that we have collected to inform changes.
User experience methodology
Standard optimization techniques
Harnessing familiarity is one of the primary principles of strong user experience. If a standard interaction or component exists for the desired function, we should use it.
Examples of standard UI elements ↓
When a website is ‘intuitive’ that means that it feels familiar and natural to navigate and understand for the user.
There are countless methods we can use to inform these ‘new’ features, and user testing is the best way to validate their effectiveness.
Methods for creating intuitive new products
When a 1 to 1 standard does not exist, there are other methods we can use to replicate ‘familiarity’ with a product. A design is intuitive when a user immediately understands how to navigate or interact with it.
When devising digital components and interactions, the first place to look is at other digital products or components with similar or adjacent functionality.
When digital precedent does not exist (or is not widely adopted) another approach is to draw inspiration from other objects, visuals, or configurations that a user is likely accustomed to experiencing/ interacting with.
One of my favorite examples of skeumorphism ↓
Guiding users through an intended journey
The flow of information on the page is another way to control and anticipate the user’s interaction with your product.
The page flow should tell a desired story and if effective, lead your user to one or many desired outcomes or actions.
The action of scrolling inherently creates an information hierarchy of digital experiences.
Planning the user testing session
Preparing the session, questions, data points
Limitations
Participants were limited to other employees, not our 1-1 users.
Therefore we created personas, allowing our participants to better understand their role and 'archetype' for the exercise.
This concession still allows for a viable (although somewhat less than optimal) outcome, as our users don't have any significant information or experience gaps that would inform their experience or ability to complete this exercise.
We have to consider this when synthesizing the 'outcomes' of our workshop (where can we make assumptions, where can we not?)
Personas
To help our users navigate the workshop, we provided them with unique personas, representing archetypes from our different user segments
What is their age, location, occupation, industry experience
What primarily motivates their decision making?
What goals might they have in relation to your product?
What their relationship is to the company and the product?
What is their level of comfort with technology?
Developing the tasks and questions
What are the goals we have for our user as they navigate the platform?
What are the main functions of the Private Asset Platform?
What are all possible goals our user might have while navigating our platform?
Things we want to quantify
The ease of completing (x) task
The reason that the user felt (x) task was easy or difficult
Their intuitive behaviour or inclinations while navigating the platform (where they scrolled, where they stopped, how long, where they clicked, etc…)
Interpreting the feedback
How do we determine which pain points to correct based on our testing? What about pain points that are contradicting with another participant?
It’s not best practice to correct every issue users encounter, but your users are all unique and not every issue they encounter is a ‘flaw’ of the platform the best experience should accommodate the most people, but cannot ever accommodate everyone
If multiple people encounter the same issue, it is likely rooted in a miscalculation of the user’s behaviour and is worth being corrected
The imperative of human involvement in user testing
Standard interface components are predictable, but a new product requires special consideration to support its unique functionality
While we can use UX philosophies to try to make ‘optimized’ decisions, we can never fully predict how the user will act without giving them the opportunity to interact with the product.
