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Are you dismayed at how few conversions and many rejections you are recording on your website, service or app? Or do you want to check, even before implementing a project, whether it will meet your users' expectations? In both these cases, a UX tester can help you. He or she is like a scientist who will check to what extent your digital product finds its way into the hearts of your customers.
Who is a UX tester?
Can you imagine an IT specialist going through every nook and cranny of your website and scoring every bug encountered? After all, testers try out and evaluate products themselves, right? A UX tester is unique in this respect, because instead of sharing their experiences, they get to know the impressions of the users you are targeting.
It examines the usability of websites, services and applications, i.e. it checks whether and to what extent they are intuitive, convenient and attractive for internet users. It is your intermediary between the website and the user. It is able to conduct meaningful tests, collect and analyse their results, and draw conclusions from them regarding the state of your User Experience.
Main tasks of the UX tester
- Carries out UX tests with your potential customers.
- Reveals places on the site where users get lost.
- It gets to know the expectations of the people you are targeting.
- Measures how easy to use and user-friendly your digital product is.
- It checks what using it is like in reality.
- It uncovers what stops users from converting (e.g. making a purchase, filling in a contact form, signing up for a course).
- It presents opportunities to improve the overall experience of the user using your website.
Examples of research methods used by the UX tester
I will give here the most common tests that professionals use. You may find that your assignment and the information you want to know will require still other methods. There are quite a few to choose from, so don't be discouraged if you come to the conclusion that you need more.
Follow our Business Blog, as there will soon be a new article describing many more ways to study UX, their advantages and disadvantages.
Usability tests
The tester gives users specific tasks to complete on your website or app. As they perform them, internet users share their impressions with him in real time. By collating the results of several such tests, you can already see certain patterns and plan changes.
In-depth interviews with users
Through them, the researcher learns about the expectations, needs, emotions and motivations that users have when using digital products such as yours. The better you know your target group, the better solutions you will be able to offer them. Automatic, personal assumptions that come naturally to us may have little to do with reality.
Recordings of user behaviour
By seeing what the users hitting your website, app, service do one by one, you can map out their purchase paths and eliminate the weakest links in your design through which you lose the most conversions.
Iterative model
This approach involves several rounds of testing. After each of these, changes are made, so that each successive round of testing checks, on occasion, the effectiveness of the improvements already made.
A/B tests
They allow you to see which version of the design or functionality will be most useful to users and will retain them more effectively with your brand.
What business benefits can a UX tester provide you with?
The testers focus on real users, who often reveal problems that the creators of digital solutions never even dreamed of. How is this possible?
This is because designers and developers sit so deep in a project and are so fixated on specific functionalities that it is difficult for them to look at a service or application from the outside. When you know so much about a subject, it's hard for you to 'switch off' that knowledge and put yourself in the shoes of someone who has no idea about it. This is perfectly natural. That's what you have a tester for.
Here is what the data and analysis obtained from the UX tester will specifically enable you to do:
- Realising the UX potential of your digital product;
- Development of the website, application and service according to what your potential customers actually want;
- Saving time and budget needed to implement impractical solutions;
- Building even more positive associations around the brand and keeping users with it for longer;
- Increase the frequency of app use, increase sales in the online shop, multiply enquiries and other conversions you care about.
How much does UX testing cost?
The cost of UX testing depends on the specific methods the tester will use, how large a group they will be testing and how complex a website, page or application they will be dealing with. Expect costs in the region of £1,500 upwards.
Will such an investment pay off for you? Research shows that yes. If you spend 10% of your redesign budget on UX research, the usability of your digital product will increase on average by 135%. That's a tangible increase!
When is it worth using a UX tester?
In fact, if you have a company website, an online shop, are running a blog, a service or implementing an app, a UX tester has a lot of good things to offer you. The industry you're in doesn't really matter, and neither does the stage at which you're currently working on a digital product.
It is possible to carry out tests with just sketches of screens, although I recommend testing on more advanced material - mock-ups, prototypes or working products - you simply get more out of them.
Think about UX testing especially if you are in any of the following situations:
- You have several versions of the interface to choose from and don't know which one to implement to benefit the most;
- Your website, service or app is performing poorly;
- You feel that something in the project is not right, but you don't know what exactly;
- You want to improve your website or app to make it as profitable as possible;
- You don't want to waste money on solutions that you will later have to revise almost from scratch;
- Your digital product is outdated, too slow or not adapted to mobile devices;
- Few people use the functionalities that have been implemented, they are too difficult or so hidden in the structure of the site that getting to them requires considerable determination;
- You are recording a lot of traffic with disproportionately few enquiries.
What should you take care of before ordering a UX tester?
There is one thing you should take care of before stepping in as a UX tester - namely a UX audit. The audit is carried out by User Experience specialists who catch all deviations from UX assumptions. This way, the tests will consume less of your budget, because you will have eliminated basic errors before you even show the website to your target users.
Summary
You already know how much you can conquer with a good UX tester at your side, who will start working after implementing the improvements identified in the UX audit. You have also convinced yourself that such an investment is worthwhile. Do you have any more questions or would you like to know about a specific offer tailored to the needs of your business? Write to us. We will help you.
