User Experience Design: on the skills of communication in usability testing

Article Description: how to quickly release user preparedness? --talking about the skills of communication in usability testing.

 

In general, in the process of product design and development, different user research methods are used in different stages. For example, usability testing is usually done before the product is officially released. Usability testing is to allow a group of representative users to try to perform typical operations on the product while observers and developers watch, listen, and record. The product may be a website, software, or any other product that it may have done well or may not have yet formed.

For a typical available row test, we can:
1. Find out the usability problem of the product by observing some problems in the process of using the product
2. Collect quantitative data from the performance of test participants
3. Determine the customer satisfaction of the product

However, as users will be invited to the company's experience room for testing, unfamiliar places and task-style testing methods, often give users a strange, uncomfortable feeling, cautious, treading on thin ice. Their mood, perhaps as in the picture:

Users may not be able to express their nervousness or unease, but if the task cannot be completed in the test, users will be more likely to blame the problem on themselves rather than the product's flaws. In order to allow users to enter the test status as quickly as possible, the initiative to identify and report problems, give more valuable feedback, we can use some small skills in the communication process to quickly release the user's psychological preparedness.

Environmental preparedness
Before the user arrives, may do some preparation work: for example, will experience the room decorate to be warm some, lets the user have at home the feeling; The table prepares some water, the small snack and so on, may ask the user who just arrived to drink some water, rests.

Warm
Just as you need to warm up before exercising, you need to warm up before usability testing, and the facilitator needs to be familiar with the user and try to motivate the user.

Can start from the user's basic situation, introduced to the use of habits, let users recall their usual use of the scene. In this process, try to use colloquial dialogue, such as "What do you usually have hobbies?" "What kind of software have you used?" "" In the use of time, there have been some problems? Wait

In the process of inquiry and dialogue, on the one hand the moderator can have a preliminary understanding of the user, on the other hand, the user began to communicate with the host, to help alleviate, eliminate unfamiliar feelings. "Chatterbox" one open, the user will be easy to express ideas, in the actual testing process to help the host to cross-examine the user's behavior and ideas.

Observation
After the test began, the host in addition to leading the test, but also at any time to pay attention to the user's expression, body movements and speech.

For example: When users frown and lip-biting, they say they have no confidence in the operation; When the user stares at the eyes, it shows that they are confused about the interface and so on. Similarly, users will have multiple expressions, action shows their nervousness, such as every action to complete an immediate release of the mouse, waiting for the next instructions, in the course of the operation of the face to see the expression of the host, or occasionally asked the host of their own operation is correct;

Hint This is not a test user
　　The user faces the equipment and the host, does the task test, it is easy psychologically to associate with the examination, examines and so on vocabulary, and produces the tense mood. At this time, the host to do is to try to prompt the user: We ask you to come, not to test you, but to ask you to help us find out the problem in the product. In terms of language, try to avoid using the words "please test", instead of "Please experience our products" will make it easier for users to accept, more relaxed, and help build up a trust relationship quickly.

The number of times prompted by the user's psychological quality of different levels: For more cheerful, willing to communicate, the original is not nervous users, at the beginning of the test, please users as far as possible in accordance with their usual state of use on it. For the more formal users, in addition to testing the beginning of the prompts, but also at any time to pay attention to the user's emotions, at any time to help them relieve psychological stress. For example, when the user in the test process for the first time problems, performance do not know how to do, you can ask users to relax, to show them that this is not good for our products, not the user's problem. Or when the user is frustrated by the inability to complete the task, ask the user not to blame themselves, stressing that this is the problem of the product itself.

Timely encouragement
In the testing process, if the user gives good advice and suggestions, should be timely encouragement praise, so that users feel that their value has been recognized. If users hesitate to give advice, they should be encouraged to speak out, even if the comments are not new, we should also express our gratitude to the users, emphasizing that these views give us an opportunity to improve.

The user's psychological preparedness gradually lifted, in the appropriate time we can also intentionally hoist the user's curiosity, so that users want to know, want to understand how our products to achieve the function, so that the test can be more focused.

Retell the user's words
The user has limited knowledge of the product's professional terms, so the nouns that are not known are used to refer to the words they use. At this point, the host may not fully understand the meaning of the user, of course, can not guess the meaning of the user. In order to verify, the moderator can repeat the user's words according to their own understanding, if the user agrees, the representative understands the correct, if the user does not agree, usually will repeat, and the narrative more clearly.

Note that it is best to repeat the use of the user familiar words, to avoid the use of professional nouns, not to try to correct the user's statement, otherwise easy to let users feel that they say the wrong thing, will be more cautious, and finally opened the "Chatterbox" may be closed.

To sum up, before testing should be fully warmed up, testing the time to take care of the user's emotions, give positive guidance and timely feedback, in order to quickly establish good relationships with users. Finally, when the user leaves the experience room, the feeling will be relaxed and comfortable.