Usability testing is observing real people as they work with a website or application. It is not about gathering opinions, but about watching behaviour: the participant is given a specific task, for example finding the price of a service or completing an order, and the moderator observes where they hesitate, what they click on and what they read. A large sample is not needed – most significant problems are revealed by a handful of participants, because they recur. The key is not to give hints or defend the solution, which tends to be hardest for the person commissioning the test. Select participants from the target group, not from colleagues who already know the website. The test can also be done informally and cheaply, even on a prototype before any programming, and it is the most reliable way to end internal debates about what is understandable.
See also: Wireframe and prototype, Session recording, Friction in the conversion process.
