Page contentsPage contents Purpose The purpose of usability testing is to test the usability and/or ease of use of a product or tool, and then make calculated changes and improvements guided by the test results. You should always test your website with real and representative users. Guidelines The most popular methods of usability testing areuser testingexpert reviewA/B and multivariate testingfirst click testUser testingUser testing is a method by which users are asked to perform certain tasks in order to measure a website's ease-of-use, task completion time and the user's perception of the experience.It is one of the best ways to find out what is or isn't working on a website.There are 2 types of user testing: in person testing (face to face) and remote user testing.in person user testing: during a face to face usability test, moderators are seated near the test participants, observing the users behaviour through given tasks, answering their questions and observing what is happening on the screen and their non-verbal behaviourremote user testing: in this type of testing the participants carry out tasks from their home or place of work and the usability tester observes their behaviour using screen sharing technologyThe following guidelines apply to both in person and remote testing.Plan the scope, issues, participants, location and budgetwhat are you going to test?what concerns do you have about the site that you want to test?which users should participate in the test?where will you conduct the test?what is your budget for testing?Develop scenariosselect relevant tasks for users to tryprepare, try out and refine scenarios for those tasks. Make sure the scenarios are clearly written and that they can be easily completed in the allotted test timeRecruit test participantsrecruit people who represent your current or potential user groupconsider using a firm that specialises in recruiting for usability testsif you do it yourself, build a database of users for future testsConduct the testingmake sure participants understand that it is the website which is being tested, not them – they are helping to show strengths and weaknesses of the current designget participants to describe their mental process aloud as they worklet participants express their reactionslisten, do not lead: be careful not to ask questions that may influence the participants' responsestake notes on actual behaviour rather than inferencesDocument and make good use of the test resultscompile data from all participantslist any problems that participants hadsort the problems by priority and frequencydevelop solutionstest the revised version to ensure you made the right design decisions Please find the supporting documents Usability test planning and reporting and the Record Consent, which will help you run your user tests in an efficient and effective way.Expert reviewAn expert review helps pinpoint usability problems in the design and interface of websites and software. It is used early in the design process, sometimes on paper mock-ups or prototypes, to ensure that design problems are not built in. Expert reviews can also be carried out on existing websites and pages.The expert doing the review gives a rating according to how well the website or prototype meets general usability guidelines, including readability, accessibility, information architecture and content quality.GuidelinesPreparing the reviewidentify the organisational goals of the website or prototypedefine key tasks that users are trying to complete based on input from the website/section manager, analytics, social media, trends and keywords and input from surveys and feedback formsdecide on the principles on which the review will be basedchoose 3-5 reviewers, who are briefed on the goals of the website and the main tasks beforehandConducting the expert revieweach reviewer works through the guideline checklist and records the problem, the page on which it occurs, and the relevant usability principlesreviewers can also choose to talk through their review with the leading usability expert taking notesthe process should not take more than an hour for each reviewer Please find the supporting document Usability Expert review, which will help you to evaluate your website in an efficient and effective way.A/B testing and multivariate testingA/B testing, also called split testing, is a form of user test comparing the strengths and weaknesses of 2 different design versions of a single page. A/B testing is a powerful tool but is limited in that only one change can be tested at a time.Multivariate testing, on the other hand, allows you to test multiple variations at once.Guidelineschoose exactly what you want to testdevelop a hypothetical situation decide how you are going to measure the successtest group and splituse randomisationdocument your methods and resultsPlease find the supporting document AB testing, which will help you to evaluate your design variations in an efficient and effective way.First click testFirst click testing looks at the first thing that website visitors click on, on a given page, in order to complete their intended task.It’s a useful tool to assess the effectiveness of the linking structure of your website, including navigation. It lets you see how users get around the website and complete their intended task.Guidelinesdefine and document the taskstrack each click the user makestime how long it takes the user to make this clickafter each task, use a scale to evaluate if users were happy with the information they foundassess the ease or difficulty of completing each taskdocument your test and resultsPlease find the supporting document First click test, which will help you to examine what a test participant would click on first on the interface in order to complete their intended task. Data protection Any personal data that is processed as part of any task relating to the development of the European Commission's web presence must be done so in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018.See data protection for more info. Contact and support Need further assistance on this topic? Please contact the team in charge of Europa Domain Management (EU Login required)