Website Usability Testing Checklist

It is essential to know if your website is user-friendly at all stages. It doesn’t matter whether you’re developing, launching, or marketing your website. One of the best methods to evaluate websites is usability testing. What is website usability testing?

What is the usability?

The ease to use an object is the definition of usability. It can also be described as the ease with which users navigate your site and reach their goals.

Users want to be able find the information they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible. Users are not tolerant of sites that are slow or complicated. It takes them 10 second to leave a website and find one better. All these reasons make usability a key concept in interface design.

Testing website usability

It is crucial to assess the usability of interfaces in order to keep visitors on your site longer and encourage them to return. Website usability testing is a method of evaluating interfaces’ usability. Let’s first clarify why website usability matters before we move to testing.

Important importance of website usability

Websites are touchpoints that companies use to reach as many customers possible. The online experience customers have with the brand can influence their perceptions.

A website that is usable can:

Increase customer retention
boost customers’ satisfaction
Reduce customer churn rates
Increase sales

Also, think about businesses that are only online. Your website’s interface is crucial to their success. It makes sense to assess usability right now, doesn’t it?

How does usability get measured?

You can measure usability by choosing potential users and asking them to try the product. If you want to measure the usability and ease of use of a travel website, you might ask your testers to follow your instructions to book a vacation. Let’s get into the hows and whats of website usability testing.

Website usability tests

How do you conduct website usability testing

Usability testing, as mentioned above, consists of asking users to complete a task on your website. These tests can be done in many ways.

Moderated testing. An observer, also known as moderator, guides the users and makes notes. The observer and the participant are typically in a quiet area where they can have a conversation without interruptions.
Remote Moderated Testing. It is exactly the same as above, but it is done remotely. This means that observers and users are not at the same time but are on different screens via video calls. This type of testing can be done with many software.
Remote Testing. This allows users to test the website using online tools when it suits them best. There is no need to have a moderator as the results can only be analyzed later. This method allows for usability testing to be done with great flexibility.

What are the various types of website usability testing?

There are many methods for web usability testing, but we chose to highlight the most popular ones.

Heatmaps allow you to track users’ mouse movements.
A/B Testing is a way to compare the user’s experience with two versions of the same website.
Surveys allow you to quickly get feedback from your users about the usability of your website.
Paper prototyping allows developers to quickly test their websites during the development phase. This saves them a lot of time and effort.
Eye tracking devices can be used to track the eye movements of visitors while they navigate the site.

The 5-Second Usability Testing

The 5-second usability testing is also an option. This is a quick test that involves showing a website image to a participant for only five second. The participant then has to answer questions based on the information she remembers. Although it won’t give you an exact picture, this feedback is very useful. According to studies, users spend approximately five seconds rating your website’s quality. A 5-second test can provide valuable input. Here’s a video by Nielsen Morman Group, a well-known user experience consulting firm. Take their 5-second usability test!

What is Mobile App Testing?

Here’s a little note. Although it may seem obvious, mobile applications are essential for websites. Every year, web usage shifts from desktop to mobile. Websites must be accessible on all devices, desktop, mobile and tablet. It is obvious that mobile app testing is vital to website success when talking about usability testing.

Examples of usability testing for websites and questions about website usability

Here is an example with test questions to help you give real advice. Let’s say you are looking to test your ecommerce website (loveshoes.com), as you have noticed that your site is more popular than your competitors. People often visit your homepage and then go on to choose the size they want, but sometimes they abandon the site. This is a problem you want to look into.

Once your participant is ready, give her a task. Then ask a series questions.

Task:

Lovetshoes.com has the red shoes for sale in size 5.

Questions:

How easy was the purchase of the shoes on a scale of 1-10?
When were you experiencing difficulties?
Are you able to trust the website?
Are you happy with the interface design?

This test reveals that many users have difficulty selecting the right size shoe for them. This function is very difficult to use and plays an important role in user experience. You now know where to focus your efforts to make the website awesome!

Website testing checklist

Website testing checklists are a great way to get started and can help you find the right website. To give you a better idea, we’ll provide a checklist for ecommerce websites.

Checklist for website usability

This is a quick bullet point list that will guide you through the process of usability testing.

Identify which website pages/areas/features are you most interested in investigating: What goalsare you aiming for?
Identify potential participants. How do you target users on your website?
You will need to create a list of questions and tasks that you will present to your participants.
Check website usability Make sure to test your website’s usability on different resolutions and devices.
Keep your objectives in mind when analysing results.

This list can be used as a mobile app testing checklist.

E-commerce website testing checklist

We have already given an example of an e-commerce website, so we will use loveshoes.com for the testing checklist.

Identify pages and features that are most important. These pages are part of the purchase funnel. They contain the key buttons/clicks that allow users select the product, size and cart.
Identify potential customers. For example, users who shop online and use e-commerce sites. This could be someone who buys shoes often.
Create a list questions and tasks similar to those we have seen.
Check website usability Make sure to test your website’s usability on different resolutions and devices.
Analyze The results: Where did users encounter difficulties? Did the icon of the shopping cart not appear clearly enough? Or was the functionality to choose the size perceived as difficult to use by users?

The usability test website and the useability report

You can use a variety of online tools to perform usability testing on a website.

It has many different features.

In-app survey – A survey for website usability to assess the user experience. This survey also includes demographic and behavioral data, which gives you a comprehensive picture of your users and their expectations.
Feedback forum allows users to comment on bugs they have found and also to share cool ideas about the site.
Google Analytics Integration- It is always a great idea to combine data and get the most out of each tool you have at your disposal.
Professional reports – The intuitive report lets you analyze all data from the survey or feedback forum in real-time.

The web usability report: What do you do when website usability testing is done?

You did your best to conduct your usability testing. You have collected data, results and feedback. What’s next? What’s your next move? These are five steps to help you get through the post-testing phase.

Take the results that you have collected and organize it. You can reduce data by looking for commonalities between the answers. Next, intuitively display them and draw your conclusions.
You can create a list of top issues. Make sure to also include the less urgent. You will be able to create a clear plan.
Compare your objectives and the results of your test. Are the areas you want to examine needing improvement or sufficient? Are there other areas or features you found that could use improvement?
To communicate your findings to those involved in the design and development of your website, create a website user report.
Action: Start with the top priority issue, and make your website as user-friendly and effective as possible. It is possible to create a website testing checklist Excel sheet.

Excel Website Testing Checklist

It is important to be organized and keep track of all data, just like in everything else. An easy Excel sheet checklist can help you guide your website improvements. These properties can be used as columns in a website usability checklist.

The issues that result from the test
A brief description for each issue
The issues have affected pages and areas .
Solutions for the problem

Accessibility, quality assurance, and penetration

These terms are often misunderstood as usability. Website testing includes accessibility, quality assurance, and penetration. However, there are some key differences. To give you an overview of each type of website testing, we will provide a short checklist.

Website QA testing checklist

Quality Assurance (also known as QA) is a part of website testing. QA is a part of website testing that checks if the site works properly and if it conforms to organizational standards. It is not focused entirely on usability.

One simple way to check for quality assurance is to see if the product meets all requirements.

Broken links
Some contents are missing
Correct spelling of the words
Titles are missing from some pages

Checklist for website accessibility testing

Accessibility is the removal of all barriers that hinder individuals with disabilities from accessing websites. Deaf, blind, or have seizure disorders. As you can see, it is an important aspect. This is a list of categories that require special attention when it comes to accessibility.

Alt-text is required for images: A deaf person could use screen readers to read the contents of a webpage.
Navigation with the keyboard: A person who is unable to use either her right hand nor the mouse can navigate a page by using the arrow keys. This should be considered when a website is being built.
Audio and video content. It is crucial to ensure that your videos contain captions and audio. Anyone who is deaf or blind needs as much information as possible.
Text resizing. People with visual impairments may have to zoom in and enlarge pages. The text must still display correctly even in these cases.

Checklist for website penetration testing

Instead, penetration testing focuses on security. This allows website owners and webmasters to find vulnerabilities and security flaws in their website. This is a basic list of things that need attention:

Spam email filter
Firewall for network
Cookie testing
Application login page
Credential encryption

Penetration is a complex matter that takes time. This checklist is meant to provide an overview.