Sample Usability Test Plan

This sample provides a blueprint for conducting a site design usability test.

Usability Test Plan

[site name here]

Email Invitation to Participants

(personalize as appropriate)

Subject line: $75 Amazon card for 60-min study – are you interested?

Hi [name],

I’m working on a project to build online learning experiences to help [elevator pitch on site’s purpose here]

We’re seeking people to give us feedback on what we’ve developed so far.  The team asked me to recommend people who are really articulate, and I thought of you.

The study works like this

• We schedule a 60-minute webmeeting during which we’ll ask you to share your computer screen, log into the site, and give us your honest, immediate reactions
• No prep is necessary – just make sure you’re in a quiet place
• We send you a $75 Amazon gift card as a token of our thanks

These are the time slots we have available.  If you think you could participate, let me know which time works for you and I’ll see if it’s still open.  If it is, I’ll connect you to [name] from Intrepid Learning who will send you meeting details. (Please add [email address] to your safe senders list)

(A shared doc will be created for everyone who will send invitations)

Test Script

The following is written as a script for illustration purposes. However, the Intrepid consultant will deliver it in a conversational style and adapt it as needed.

1. Welcome and introductions

Thanks for joining the call. I’m <name>, and I’ll be leading today’s usability session. My colleague <name> is also with us to help take notes and ask a few questions. <Do brief introductions: name, employer, location, brief description of role.>

2. Introduction to the testing procedures

We’d like to ask you permission to record your screen activity and verbal feedback during the session, so we can make sure we’ve accurately captured your feedback. Is that alright?

Let’s start by re-capping the purpose of this session. We’re interested in your honest, in-the-moment feedback to an online learning experience called <program name>. The purpose of the site is <describe in a few words>. We are in the early stages of the project, and your feedback will help us identify improvements to site layout.

In this call, I’m going to ask you to log into a site; I’ll put the URL into the web meeting chat window in just a minute. I’ll ask you questions along the way and would appreciate your candid feedback. I’ll ask you to wait for my cue before clicking on anything in the site.

Most importantly, I’m going to ask you to think out loud, voicing the things that we often say to ourselves when we see a new website, such as:

• “Oh, I think I’ll click here.”
• “That’s not what I expected to happen.”
• “I don’t understand what this is supposed to mean.”
• “I’d use this, or I wouldn’t use this because…”

It’s our job to figure out what you need in this site, not your job to figure out how we designed the site. That’s why your “thinking out loud” reactions are so important. You can’t hurt our feelings; we need you to be completely honest with your feedback. If anything seems confusing, not useful, etc., please let us know!

3. Your role in the testing process

While we expect this to be fun, please don’t hesitate to let us know if you feel uncomfortable. You can skip any of the questions we ask or quit the session at any time. And there are no wrong answers! No pressure, we’re just interested in your honest reactions to what you see.

We are testing the website to find out what works and doesn’t work. We’ll be going through this same testing process with a number of folks like you and comparing the results. Our focus will be on trends that develop.

If something seems confusing, it probably indicates a problem with the design. As a result, we want you to point those things out because that’s exactly what we are trying to identify and improve.

When this happens, I won’t give you any guidance on what to click, because we're interested in listening to you describe what you are experiencing and what you’d like to do. At the end of the session, I'll ask you a few summary questions, and then we can talk about any remaining issues or concerns you have.

4. Test scenarios

Please click “share desktop” so we can watch your screen activity. We’ve posted the URL and a username and password in the web meeting chat window. Please click the URL to open the site. Then enter the username and password to login.

Home screen

[Capture what the participant is interested in and probe on what drives them toward it.]

What is your eye drawn to initially on this page?

Based on the options available to you on this page, what interests you the most? What would you be likely to explore?

What would you like to do next on this page?

What would you expect to find under each of the six panels:

• Panel 1
• Panel 2
• Panel 3
• Panel 4
• Panel 5
• Panel 6

Panel 1 <select those questions relevant for the panel>

“I’ll give you a few moments to browse the page. 

What is your eye drawn to on the page?

Is it clear what’s clickable?

Are the terms useful?  (if they don’t mention the buttons, ask if they noticed them)

When you click the ______, do you get what you expected?

• buttons/accordions
• learning path
• content tiles (try to check all content types at some point during the study)

When you click into the learning path, do you get what you expected?

Which of the titles look most interesting to you?

When you click the tiles, do you get what you expected?

Would you find these resources/activities useful?

<Repeat for each panel>

5. Open-ended Feedback

Do you have any issues or concerns we have not discussed?

What types of additional content would you like to see in this site?

6. Thank you and close

Thank you for making the time to talk to us. Your feedback has been extremely helpful. We really appreciate your contribution to this effort.