Note: This blog on mobile app usability testing app has been updated for 2023 with the latest business insights. Happy reading!
Have you come across our mobile app performance testing guide using a smartphone?
Statistically, at least three out of every four of you did!
According to Quora Creative, 62% of users around the world access the internet using their smartphones. What’s more interesting, around 32% of these users check their mobile applications 1-10 times per day. No wonder why more and more entrepreneurs are investing their money in mobile app development and taking its usability testing process very seriously.
If you are also thinking of running a usability test of your mobile application, but are not sure how to go about it, keep reading this post. Techosquare will share guidelines for usability testing a mobile application.
Ready? Let’s go!
Irrespective of where you are with your mobile application, you plan to run mobile usability for a reason. That’s why we believe setting objectives is critical. Ask yourself what you’re looking for before creating tasks for users. Make sure you have some core objectives and some flexible ones.
Figured out the objectives? Great! Now it's time to design tasks that you will ask your users (testers) to do. Consider these guidelines while designing mobile app usability tasks:
Remove placeholder text used in app design and replace it with a draft of what is supposed to be in its place.
Provide clues in your instructions.
Check for ambiguity in your instructions.
There isn’t any best option when it comes to selecting between lab setting and remote testing. Each mobile application testing method has its pros and cons. In a lab setting, you will have the advantage of procuring extra observations. Even the testers’ hesitation and scrunched eyebrows can tell you a lot about their experience.
But the risks of muddling the results with the framing effect are super high. Remote testing, on the other hand, doesn’t ask you to schedule a time and place for hosting your users. The users can test the app anytime, and send you the results, which saves time for your team. Remote testing is a great way to prevent the framing effect.
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Objectives - determined
Application testing tasks - ready
Testing method and participants - set
So what are you waiting for? It's time to conduct the mobile app usability test! Think about which moderating technique is right for your test, set up your space and equipment, and make sure to do a pilot test before testing with actual participants (testers).
Some of the popular moderating techniques are:
Concurrent Think Aloud (CTA)
In Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA)
Concurrent Probing (CP)
Retrospective Probing (RP)
We suggest you do some research on these moderating techniques before conducting the application performance test.
After collecting mobile application usability data, organize and analyze it to draw meaningful conclusions. Review the testing sessions one after the other. Have a look at the materials provided by each participant (tester) including notes on recordings, transcripts, and other information you might have. Identify positive trends and patterns, as well as challenges and roadblocks that your users faced.
There you go!
We told you about the steps involved in mobile app usability testing. We know, right? Usability testing is a decisive point of your application development process and is not easy to implement and execute. But with some proper research, knowledge, and patience, you can gather the right information and create a highly functional and easy-to-use application for your users.
Got any queries to ask? Send them to info@techosquare.com and have them answered by our experts.
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