As an app developer with over 10 years of experience testing on thousands of browser and device combinations, I cannot stress enough the importance of rigorous user experience (UX) design testing. Catching issues late in development or after launch can set release schedules back months and require costly rework. Trust me, I’ve been there!
That‘s why in this guide, I’ll provide you a comprehensive look at UX testing—what it involves, why it’s invaluable, and specific techniques to leverage at each phase of design and development. My goal is to equip you with practical tips to make UX testing an integral part of your process from day one. Let’s get started!
What Exactly is UX Design Testing?
At a basic level, UX design testing refers to evaluating how real users interact with and perceive your application. But there are a variety of specific testing methods:
Usability Testing: Observing representative users complete common tasks to identify any pain points in the workflows.
Accessibility Testing: Confirming compliance with standards that facilitate usage for those with disabilities.
A/B Testing: Comparing two variants of a design to determine which performs better for target metrics.
Now that you know the core testing types, let’s examine the optimal times to leverage them…
Prototyping Phase
In the prototyping phase, you should focus on usability testing with a small sample set to uncover foundational issues early.
Start testing when you have initial wireframes, before pouring hours into high-fidelity mockups and development. Identify core problems at this stage before they cascade throughout the entire UX design system!
Conduct Testing with Low-Fidelity Prototypes
You can gain incredible insights even from non-interactive wireframes stitched together. And given the ease of amending things now, you want fast feedback.
Aim to test with around 5-8 participants initially. This will reveal a solid portion of minor-to-major issues in the proposed information architecture or workflows.
Pay attention to confusion around:
- Navigation and IA Structure
- Task completion difficulty
- Unclear terminology
Here is an example of an alarming prototype testing finding that impacted our entire UX strategy:
72% of users did not associate the main call-to-action button on our homepage with signing up for a free trial.
This prompted a complete re-evaluation of our onboarding path prior to engineering work kicking off. Phew!
Then Validate Interactive Prototypes
Once you have ideas structurally validated, uplevel fidelity with an interactive prototype in a tool like Figma or InVision. This brings to life clickable navigation between screens and component behavior.
Expand your test group to roughly 15 participants to sample feedback across more unique user types.
Observe how intuitive initial designs feel to new users and note where they struggle. Flags could include:
- Failure to locate buttons/features
- Confusion around input fields and data expectations
Stay focused on learning vs. validation—adapt and enhance the designs based on findings before development starts.
Development Phase
As engineers build out the application based on your now battle-tested designs, sustained UX testing remains critical during development:
Conduct Visual Regression Testing
Using automated visual regression testing, you can catch all kinds of minor UI issues before they ever make it in front of users:
- Spacing/sizing of elements
- Font changes
- Misalignment
Applitools is an excellent visual regression suite that performs pixel-by-pixel comparisons across browser and device combinations after every commit. This ensures a consistent and flawless UX over time.
Test On Real Mobile Devices Early
While still coding core flows, continually test directly on the native platforms your users will engage on: iOS, Android etc.
- Zooming and touch targets
- Orientation handling
- Responsiveness across screen sizes
Address the above common issues early when edits require changing only code vs. entire infrastructure.
According to recent research by Development Intelligence:
Companies who consistently test mobile app UX during development reduce post-launch rework costs by over 60% on average.
Wow! The data speaks for itself on adopting continuous testing cadences.
Pre-Launch Phase
With core functionality built out, now is the time for formal user acceptance testing:
Structure tests for all major user journeys
Collaborate with QA to define happy path scenarios, edge cases, exceptions, and errors to evaluate. Ensure every facet gets validated, including:
- Onboarding
- Key tasks
- Authentication
- Payments
- …and so on
Script out exact test cases ahead of time rather than improvising to prevent groupthink.
Recruit for diversity
Testing with at least 25 participants representative of your personas prevents biased findings. Seek variety across:
- Age
- Background
- Tech savviness
- Physical ability
Collect demographic data to segment findings based on user type.
Observe real first-time usage
Ideally conduct in-person moderated testing to gather direct feedback from participants. Not only listen to what users say about ease-of-use, but pay attention to:
- Where do they pause and think?
- What causes frustration?
- What delights them?
Adapt any designs based on trends prior to launch!
Post-Launch Phase
You’re live with your application—congratulations! But the work doesn’t end here…
Monitor analytics trends
Keep a close pulse by reviewing usage analytics to spot potential UX issues, such as:
- Spikes in errors
- High exit rates on pages
- Low task completion
Rapidly test updates to address problem areas identified by the data.
Regularly regression test
Each release, thoroughly regression test across:
- Legacy functionality
- New capabilities
- Integrations
Users expect stability from version to version. Breaking existing behaviors damages trust.
Checkback every 6 months
Set a reminder to re-evaluate UX/UI consistency twice a year. Are newer design patterns now available? Would users benefit from refreshes?
Significant paradigm shifts can gradually occur over months. It’s easy to get stuck relying on outdated approaches if you don’t self-audit.
We’ve covered quite a bit of ground when it comes to UX design testing best practices. Here are my key learnings over the years once more:
Prototype Phase: Confirm direction and assumptions are correct before investing heavily in design and dev work.
Development Phase: Maintain continuous testing cadences to detect issues early in lifecycle.
Pre-Launch: Rigorously validate readiness via user acceptance testing.
Post-Launch: Monitor analytics, regression test, and self-audit to stay cutting edge.
By instilling testing as an integral part of your team’s workflows from the start, rather than just at the end, you will release higher quality digital experiences to customers.
I hope this guide serves you well on your testing journey. As questions come up along the way, feel free to reach out! Here’s to building stellar products.
