The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testing

Quick start guide to guerrilla usability testingLily Dart Head of Service Design dxw

We use guerrilla testing because it’s cheap, simple and effective

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Quick start guide to guerrilla testing

“the art of pouncing on lone people in cafes and public spaces, [then] quickly filming them whilst they use a website for a couple of minutes”

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@MartinBelam


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Each 10-15 min session includes:

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Your introduction and explanation


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Gaining permission and written consent



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Questions about your participant



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Questions about your participant



2 or 3 tasks for the participant

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Evaluating usability

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Can they navigate the site?

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Can they understand your key messages?


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Can they understand your key messages?

Can they complete user journeys?



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Making feedback fairer

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Help to push back on poor usability decisions


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Feedback about design decisions less personal



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Feedback about design decisions less personal

Measure websites against real metrics



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Preparing a session


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Preparing a session

Venue

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Preparing a session

Where will you find your audience?

Venue

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Preparing a session

Can they stop for 10 minutes?


Venue

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Can they stop for 10 minutes?

Will you have internet access?


Venue

Preparing a session

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Preparing a session

Environment

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Preparing a session

What time of day is best?

Environment

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Preparing a session

Will people be distracted?


Environment

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Will people be distracted?

Will they be alone, or with family or friends?


Environment

Preparing a session

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Devices

Preparing a session

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Preparing a session

Which devices does your audience use?

Devices

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Can you record from that device?

Which devices does your audience use?

Devices

Preparing a session

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The script


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The script

Practised introduction

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The script

Who are you?


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The script

Why are you there?

Who are you?


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The script

Why are you there?

What do you want from them?

Who are you?


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The script

Hi, do you have a minute?

My name is Lily and I work for a web agency. I’m here asking people to take a look at a website and let me know what they think, and recording the answers. In return for your time, we’ll buy you a coffee or slice of cake to say thank you.

Do you have 10 minutes to spend with me?

Example introduction

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The script

Contextual questions

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The script


Are they part of your target audience?

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The script

“What is your residential status?”

“Do you live with anyone?”

“Where do you live?”

“Are you employed?”

Example questions

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The script


Which audience segment are they part of?


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The script


Which audience segment are they part of?

Are they aware of the product or service?


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The script

Scenarios

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The script

You have just moved to Holloway Road in North London and want to get your hair cut.

You’ve had bad experiences with hairdressers before and want to be sure the salon has a good reputation. Which salon would you go to, and why?

Example scenario

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The script

Scenarios

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The script

Scenarios

Which user need are you testing?

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The script

Scenarios

What might create that need?


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The script

What might create that need?

When has a user fulfilled that need?


Scenarios

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Anatomy of a scenario


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is easy for participants to relate to

A good scenario

Anatomy of a scenarioQuick start guide to guerrilla testing



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Example scenario


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A good scenario

describes a problem for participants to solve




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Example scenario


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A good scenario

has a realistic level of detail




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Example scenario


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A good scenario

doesn’t hint to the participant how to achieve the goal




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Example scenario


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Running a session


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Running a session

Making participants comfortable

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Running a session

You’re testing the site, not them


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Running a session

Set clear expectations about what will happen



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Running a session


Check-in with them regularly



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Running a session


Check-in with them regularly



Let them know they can stop at any time

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Running a session

Before a scenario

ask participants to describe their thoughts

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Running a session

“Is this what you expected to see?”

“What would you do next?”

“What are you thinking at the moment?”

Open prompts

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During a scenario

let participants identify success

Running a session

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After a scenario

get participants to tell you what they’d do next

Running a session

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In conclusion

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Pick a location where your audience is

In conclusion

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Focus your session on scenario based tasks


In conclusion

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Let participants decide success


In conclusion

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Let participants decide success


In conclusion

Understand what they’d do next

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Gives us the power to:

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Push back on bad decisions


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Stop designing against client opinions



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Stop designing against client opinions

Measure against real metrics



Thank you Any questions?

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The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testing

Data & Analytics

Transcript of The quick start guide to guerrilla usability testing