practical ux: the importance of user-testing

Practical UX Methods

@kylerackikyleracki.comOct 8th, 2013

Who am I...

Designer/DeveloperCo-founder of headspacedesign.caCo-founder of pitchperfectapp.com

Love SaaS startups

What is Pitch Perfect...

Not this

Proposal software

Where the idea came from

Who it’s for

What we’re up against

• Similar SaaS apps first to market• Difficult to raise capital

The road to get here.

• Prototype in 2012• Funded in Jan 2013• In beta since April 2013• Over 200 signups to-date• 3 paying customers (as of yesterday)

A passable alternative

The problem

• Usability testing should have begun earlier• System was not QA tested• Remote meant I couldn’t adapt test

Where we went wrong

• Limited customer research• Not knowing what users really want

We thought they were:• Advertising and marketing agencies

We thought they wanted• Complete design customization

Survey post-beta

“More kick-butt templates that make it easy for me to pop in my content and look like a pro. Simply put, make me look like a rockstar with the least amount of effort on my end.”

What they really want

1. Quick set up2. Pre-made design templates3. Ability to import their content3. Re-brandable

All of the above while at the same time being so easy to use...

These guys could use it

Tools

+

+

Back to the graph paper

High-fidelity version

What am I missing?

Step 1. Who are my user personas?

1. Account manager/Sales rep2. Entrepreneur/Small business owner

Step 2. Go where the people are.

ScreeningQuestions

AnalyzeResults

Step 3. Preparation

• What is the goal of the testing?• Scenarios• Line up user tasks with testing goals

Do a practice run with family

Step 4. Conducting the sessions

• Make participant comfortable• Record the screen (Screenflow)• They aren't being tested• Confirm recording• Give incentive up-front

Clarissa

• Good tester• Graphic designer by profession

Aaron

• Less web savvy

Anuj

• Not an ideal tester• Not verbally expressive• Computer science student

Compiling the results

Sharing with the team

Key usability issues

● Understanding sections vs pages, and how to save to library

● Understanding advanced settings vs themes● Knowing how to drag in/import sections from

library● Understanding how to edit page template,

add footer, cover page etc.

Design solutions

Product Evolution

Next steps

User test revised prototype

Test working version after QA but before release

Become this guy

Key Lessons

Test-early, test-often is not simply best practice or “ideal in a perfect world”. It’s critical to designing a successful product and can make or break a company.

User-testing is not beta-testing, QA-testing or sending a link with survey questions. Only user-testing will uncover key insights related to specific usability problems.

Key Lessons

Focus on the onboarding process first, and deliver the ‘wow’ moment the first time someone uses the software

You can’t test everything. Align the following:• Pain• Value Prop• Features <- test these first

Suggested reading.

Thank you.

@kyleracki

kyleracki.compitchperfectapp.comheadspacedesign.ca