Usability Testing Techniques: What works? What doesn’t?

When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of your website, usability testing is one of the most eye-opening steps you can take. There are a growing number of tools and techniques that we at Beaconfire have used, including:

• web-based card sorting to learn how your audience groups and labels content
• tree testing to validate your navigation
• task-based “first click” testing to get insight into how people navigate your site
• usability testing on clickable prototypes, to evaluate a new site structure / IA

And there are new tools being introduced all the time.

So, which approach is best for your website? Are some more effective than others? Do low-cost, rapid methods produce the same results as traditional usability testing studies?

If you’ve found yourself asking these questions and would like to hear opinions from a range of experts, check out the panel I’m proposing for SXSW 2012: UX Smackdown! User testing techniques in the ring. After registering for the SXSW panelpicker, you can give a “thumbs up” vote and leave comments to help this panel become a reality.

The panel speakers are:

• Aviva Rosenstein is lead UX researcher at Salesforce.com — you may recognize her from UIE’s recent Web App Master’s Tour!
• John Whalen of Brilliant Experience has over ten years of user-centered design experience and has most recently presented on the topic of persuasive design
• Kyle Soucy of Usable Interface has created interfaces for everything from web sites to touch screen devices. You may have seen her speak at a past UPA or IA Summit conference, or read one of her articles at UX Matters.
• Michael Summers of SUMMERS Consulting has watched over 1000 consumers make real end-to-end purchases on the web. He was one of the earliest adopters of eyetracking technology for UX research.

I would love to have the opportunity to pick their brains and get some UX testing tips — if you would too, head on over to the Panel Picker to vote and comment before Friday’s deadline!

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