Methods for testing the user experience of a product include:
1. Expert evaluation. In order to find potential usability issues and provide recommendations for improvements, a user experience expert reviews a product. There are several ways to execute this research:
A researcher examines the user interface and checks its compliance with recognized usability principles ("heuristics"). The goal is to discover a problem and find the best solution to fix it.
A researcher prepares a list of tasks that are possible to perform in a product. To determine the level of usability, the researcher goes through all the tasks. For each step, the usability of the product is validated against a set of questions.
2. Analytic data analysis.
Analytic data analysis shows the real usage of a solution. It enables you to track and collect user data plus information about their behavior and actions.
3. User testing.
In some cases, it is also possible and beneficial to run user testing sessions with target user groups.
A researcher creates a scenario of popular tasks that are performed, and during the testing session, each user is asked to work through the tasks. The researcher evaluates whether the product is intuitive, whether crucial actions are easy to perform and whether there are any problems along the way. This method gives an overview of how users interact with the product.
4. Content audit.
The goal of this kind of research is to analyze and evaluate the content and information of the product. A content audit helps to determine if the language used is understandable and relevant to the product’s target user group. It also helps to verify whether the content is SEO-friendly. A content audit can also be used as part of other methods that validate the user experience of a solution.
5. Persona value proposition analysis.
Based on available research and the client’s knowledge, a user experience expert creates personas for the product. These are fictional characters that represent the different user types that might use the product, and help with understanding the user’s needs, goals, and motivations.
6. Accessibility review.
The aim of this analysis is to check how the product meets the needs of disabled users. The review is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
Methods of verifying the business value of a solution and its performance on the market
1. Market research.
A researcher analyzes the target market and gathers information about customers. Market research can help to estimate the size of the market and market share, as well as learn about people’s attitudes towards a product. This method also helps to understand the solution in the context of market trends.
2.Competitor benchmarking and feature gap analysis.
This method aims to verify competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in relation to the client’s business and solution. It also helps to identify opportunities and threats.