
Interviewing users is a way to glean valuable insights into a user’s needs, experiences, and expectations to help you create software that serves your target audience. While user interviews can be useful during any part of the product or software development process, they are most useful in the beginning stages and after the product has been released: depending on when you use it, this tool can help you brainstorm solutions to pain points identified by your interviewees, can offer feedback on a project already underway, and can help you understand how target users interact with your finished product. 

This guide will pertain to the early stages of product development, either before or after you have a prototype to present to your target users. 

## Prerequisites

Before jumping in, have the following in place.

* Know the goals of your research: what do you want to know about your target users? 
* Engage at least 5 participants to interview (this is a standard of usability testing) for each _type_ of user that may have different roles or needs from the software project
* Be sure to set aside an hour maximum for each interview
* If you have one already, have a prototype on hand for working through with users

With these in place, we are ready to begin.

## Step 1 — Write a list of interview questions

We first need a list of interview questions or a discussion guide. This set of questions or guide need not be comprehensive like a script; it can be loosely structured to foster engagement and direction from the users you are interviewing. 

A user interview begins with a brief explanation of the purpose of the interview. From there, you can begin with some general questions that contextualize how the interviewee uses related products or software, or what their needs are in relation to your product. You want to start with understanding the user’s background and their general use of technology. 

For example, you may include a set of preliminary questions like: 

* What apps and websites do you use on a regular basis? 
* What is your typical work day like? 
* How often do you use the internet/digital tools like…?

In this first set of questions you will likely include any other lifestyle-related prompts that would affect the use of your product.

Then start to include more specific questions that align with your product (or similar products) and the problem that it solves. 

* How do you currently [complete the task that your product addresses]?
* Are there any products or tools you have tried to help you complete this task more effectively? What are they?
* Are these digital tools or products meeting your current needs? Why or why not?
* Is there anything you wish were possible with this sort of tool?
* What would make the tasks you perform on this app easier?

In general, you can include questions on any topics that relate to something you need to ask your users directly. Do be careful about making assumptions and asking leading questions. For instance, if you are building a video chat app, avoid mentioning specific apps or assuming the participant is familiar with products like Zoom; instead ask how often the participant chats on video.

Finally, if you have a prototype, you should have a set of questions in place to ask as you walk your user through the flow of the program. You can start with these prompts:

* What do you think of this product? What’s your first impression? _Ask this when they are looking at the first screen._
* Can you see yourself using this tool? 
* How do you think this app may help you [complete tasks discussed earlier]?

Ask open-ended questions, and always ask _why_ or _why not_. Try to ask _why_ a few times in relation to the same question. The more you ask _why_, the more insight you could get into a user’s behavior and impressions of your product and what kind of solutions or tools would really help them. But it might take some digging into surface-level answers before you get to a more detailed understanding. 

A few more pointers on identifying and phrasing your interview questions:
 
* Read your questions out loud to make sure they are clear before the interview.
* Stick to clear, jargon-free language when possible.
* Keep your questions brief; it’s harder for people to focus on long-winded sentences.
* Ask questions in the present tense or about their current experience or preferences; people are not always accurate about predicting what they will want in some future, hypothetical scenario and may instead try to tell you what you want to hear.

Finally, it is recommended that you test the interview questions with a friend or colleague beforehand to see if they feel natural and comprehensive. Getting feedback prior to conducting interviews can ensure that you get valuable insights from users. 

## Step 2 — Prepare the right environment for your interviews

Creating an interview environment that feels good for your interviewees can help you get more accurate, natural responses. An interviewer with a warm and approachable demeanor and positive attitude can also put participants at ease. 

Try to conduct your interviews in a comfortable physical space so that participants don’t feel like they’re being tested or analyzed. It could be helpful to have two people facilitating the interviews in case there are responsibilities to distribute: someone to manage the actual interview and someone to manage the tech, for example. Two facilitators would also mean more insights from two different perspectives and approaches to asking questions. 

Be prepared to go off script: don’t just read the questions in order, treat it as a dialogue. The best user interviews mix structured questions and unstructured conversation, which allows a more natural flow with fluid topic changes, especially if the participant has some unexpected insight or question that could be useful to you later that you may not have thought about in advance. You may consider recording the interview — with the participants’ permission — so you can revisit it later for anything you might have missed in the moment.

## Step 3 — Start the interview with a welcoming introduction

Begin by greeting the participants by their names and asking them about themselves. For instance, ask about how their work is going and about their background. You want to help them feel comfortable talking about themselves and their opinions. 

Explain why you’re conducting this interview and express appreciation for their honest feedback. This helps them feel that they don’t need to offer responses that please you. Make it clear that this is not a test, that there are no wrong answers, and that the purpose of the interview is to assess the product or solution in question, so that the product can improve. 

## Step 4 — Use your discussion guide as a loose structure for your interview

Again, ask follow-up questions whenever it feels natural or productive to do so. If a participant’s answers seem vague or unclear in any way, ask for them to clarify. Restating what they said could also lead them to elaborate or recall specific incidents or scenarios performing similar tasks or using similar tools. These examples from their experience can lead to useful reflection on what worked and what didn’t for them. 

Make sure to keep making eye contact and being present. Avoid focusing too much on note taking or recording your observations, because it may make the participant self conscious and distracted. This is why it’s often helpful to have two people facilitating the interview.

When you wrap up the interview, it’s important to not end abruptly. After asking your last question or finishing your discussion, share with the participants how you plan to use their answers if they are curious (you can be as general or specific here as you would like). Also, ask them if they have any questions. Thank the participant for their time and help before they leave. 

## Step 5 — Analyze your results

As you conduct these interviews, you’ll naturally reflect on how they went and if there needs to be any adjustments in your interview questions or strategy. You’ll notice what questions led to more details and insights than others, what order it would be best to ask them, and other ideas specific to your individual software project. 

Collect all your notes, recordings, and impressions in one place before you start analyzing your results. Assess the most useful way to organize the data collected: you may want to use your interview questions as categories in which to compare findings, or use mind mapping or other visual ways to represent and chart your findings. This is also a good time to consider whether you want to use other user research tools like usability testing or A/B testing.

## Wrap up

User interviews are great tools that can be used throughout the product development process that allow you to directly talk to potential users about their needs and experiences. You can ideate and improve your software projects or solutions with a greater understanding of how your target user will interact with your product. 

In combination with other user research during the product development cycle, user interviews can be an efficient way to gather data and test your assumptions and hypotheses about how to best design your software project. 



User interviews for developers

Interviewing users can help software developers and design teams understand their users' needs; this tutorial will guide you through the steps you need to take to interview users about your product

How to conduct a user interview as part of software product development


Personas are composite profiles of your target users based on user research. They are tools that help you ask the right questions while designing your product. A persona helps you see your target user as an actual human being, not just a hypothetical situation, so it’s easier to imagine a real person using your software or product. 

Created after user surveys and other forms of user research, personas will be useful at every stage of product development because they help teams focus on the expectations, needs, goals, and behaviors of your users every step of the way. Designers and developers can then create software with the appropriate interactions and functions. Personas also play a role in helping stakeholders and others involved understand the concept and direction of your software project. 

To create personas, you’ll collect observations and information about real people who may theoretically use your product or tool and synthesize them into a single, thorough description of a hypothetical user for whom your product will provide a solution. You start with collecting user interviews, market research, and observations of others or your own experiences. This research is then mined for patterns and insights that are relevant to your software. Finally, you will write a description of each representative of a user group as if it were an actual person you were telling a story about; you’ll want to describe their motivations, needs, preferences, and more. 

## Prerequisites 

Before building user personas, you’ll want to have the following in place:

* User interviews (at least five per role or type of user you are designing your product for)
* Research about your target audience (user testing, polls, surveys, market research, metadata)

With these in hand, you are ready to begin.

## Step 1 — Look for patterns in your user research

First, gather your interview responses, notes, and observations. What do your users share in common? Are you developing a product for more than one type of user or role? If so, you’ll create a persona for each type of user. 

In general, you want to look for information on how your target users complete tasks and what digital tools or products they typically use, what solutions they are looking for, and what they want and expect from your product. Ideally, your research will include both qualitative and quantitative data: some combination of interviews, direct observation, polls, user testing, and metadata. Collect these insights in one place to begin drafting your persona.

## Step 2 — Create a layout for each persona
 
Personas don’t have a standard format, so you can decide how you’d like to organize your data and the patterns you identified earlier. You may want to use or review templates found on sites like [UXPressia](https://uxpressia.com/templates). 

Your personas should be detailed enough to understand the most relevant aspects of your target user’s life. Your persona sheet will at the minimum contain separate sections for the user’s goals, background, motivations or desires, and frustrations or pain points. 

In general, all personas include:

* User group name (often this is a role — a job title or identifier of some kind — like “college student”)
* Hypothetical user name (not a real name)
* Basic personal information
* Their social and physical environment
* Professional background and technology use
* Their goals, motivations, and typical behaviors or habits
* Pictures that represent them in some way
* Any quotes from your user research that help you have a better sense of this person’s needs

The following is an example of what your finished persona may look like. 

![User persona layout as described above](https://storage.googleapis.com/sourcegraph-assets/learn/tutorial-images/user-persona.jpg)

This will give you a foundation on which you’ll build your personas. 

## Step 3 — Include basic demographic information

You’ll begin populating your user personas with basic demographic information.

* Approximate age
* Location
* Job title or professional experience
* Education
* Income
* Marital or family status

Come up with a name for your user: it can be a general group name or a plausible name that’s non-specific to anyone in real life. It’s also useful to include any photos of this representative user if possible (stock photos, for example) as visual cues that help you imagine this as a real person. 

## Step 4 — Describe the representative user’s background and environment

This is the place to include details about the user’s daily schedule or what their day at work is like, how they use technology, their preferences and habits in using the internet or smartphone, and more. You can also list any of their typical skills or expertise and know-how. 

In one column or section, address how much work experience your user has and what their expertise and professional qualifications are. What kinds of work challenges do they encounter on a regular basis? Why might they be interested in your software? What kinds of products or services is the user already utilizing to address any issues or needs? What else helps them navigate these professional challenges? 

In the second, you’ll focus on the user’s technical experience. What digital tools or services and devices do they use? What is the extent of their knowledge of technology? What are they most familiar with? Which websites or programs do they frequent or use? How much time do they spend with these products? And so on.

In a third column or section, describe the user’s typical environment, including any relevant social or physical factors. Do they work alone or with others? Where do they spend most of their time? Are there any limitations in their environment that are relevant (such as time constraints, limited space, internet access, quality of devices)? 

## Step 5 — Describe the user’s goals, motivations, and frustrations

These sections of your persona are key because this information will help you understand how to target your product directly to their needs, concerns, and expectations. 

Any details or preferences that your user interviewees expressed would be useful here. For instance, a user may have expressed a desire for a more intuitive way to navigate a screen. You can also include any observations about their behaviors and assumptions you made during the user interviews and by observing them during their day-to-day tasks or using similar technology. 

Let's go through each section and questions to consider.

**User's goals**
* What does your user need?
* What are their expectations and typical behaviors (relevant to your project)?
* What problems do they encounter regularly?
* What kinds of solutions would help them better perform certain tasks?

**Motivations and desires**
* What do they express they wish they had?
* What do they need to be more efficient?
* What kinds of programs or services already help them?
* What kinds of tools, services, or websites do they enjoy using? (Anything comparable to your software project?)
* How do they like to perform certain work tasks? What are their habits and preferred methods?

**Pain points and frustrations**
* What’s an obstacle or challenge they face? At work, at home, in other situations?
* What annoys them about the products or services they use (that are relevant to your software project)?
* What do they feel is missing or lacking when they try to solve a problem?

Another way to paint a more accurate and specific picture of the types of challenges you want your software project to address: you can also include a description of a few scenarios or situations that the users might find themselves in where they need a software solution. This is another place to include notes on specific behaviors you noticed during interviews or observation periods.

## Step 6 — You’re ready to start using your persona

Distribute your personas to your team and other relevant colleagues so that you’re all on the same page and able to serve your target audience in the most specific, informed way possible. Your personas are utilized most effectively when they are used periodically during the full product development process as a way to check in and assess the direction of the project. It’s good to keep updating them as you design and reiterate and discover new insights about your users and their needs. 

## Wrap up

A persona is a great way to synthesize your user research in a way that can guide the entire software product development process. It ensures you are designing specifically for target users and creating solutions for real people instead of vague hypothetical situations. It is an efficient way of presenting quantitative and qualitative data into a cohesive picture that everyone involved can understand. 


User personas for developers

Creating and using personas enables you to serve the target users of your software more effectively

How to create and use personas of target users


A user flow diagram describes a sequence of actions a user takes from their first interaction with your software project to their last step using your product, app, or website. The user flow diagram helps developers break the overall design of the product down into specific interfaces as well as determine user requirements. 

It’s also useful for identifying gaps or errors in other products or versions of the software project. Having a complete user flow makes sure that all the actions a user might need to do are accounted for in the interfaces presented. It ensures a user is empowered with all the options, screens, and information they need to successfully complete the interaction, as well as the error pathways and ways to redirect the user to the appropriate screens or actions. 

While a user journey helps contextualize the use of your product by focusing on a user’s motivations and desires and overall product experience, a user flow is more technical: it’s specifically focused on physical actions once a user begins using your product. It’s good to have your user journey map and persona on hand, because they help you keep the big picture in mind while you imagine how a user might make decisions while they use your product. It also saves a lot of time and money if you can sort out the flow in a lo-fi way before beginning to design and code.

## Prerequisites

Before diagramming, you’ll want to have the following assets in hand or mapped out.

* User persona(s)
* Market research and competitor analysis
* User journey map
* [Wifeframes](/how-to-wireframe-a-software-product) — optional depending on where you are in the process

If you need to learn more about any of these, feel free to review our [UX tutorials](/tags/ux). 

## Step 1 — Identify a user scenario 

You can start your user flow diagram process by identifying a scenario where a user might use your software and determining what their goal is in using the product. 

There may be many ways a user could decide to use or find their way toward your product or website. So you want to ask yourself, how does this user find their way to your product or website, and what do they expect and want from the experience? What are they seeking to find out or hoping to accomplish by the end of the interaction? 

To use an example, a user on a job search app may be looking for a certain type of work, and that would influence what information they look for at first glance of the app or website. This situation is likely different from what someone posting jobs on that app would be expecting, they may be surfaced different information or options. Each user flow should represent one user group and one goal, since even one user may consider multiple options causing the flow to become overly complex and messy.

## Step 2 — Decide on how to represent each decision point

Next, you will decide on the symbols and colors you’ll use for each decision point in the flow. This will help you stay consistent on what elements mean what interactions or types of input. Try to be as precise and concise as you can when labeling each element. The elements you use will consist of shapes, lines, and colors. You will want to use some combination of shapes representing interactions, colors representing parts of the process or perhaps different paths within the flow diagram, and arrows that indicate the direction or the sequence of screens/interactions.

There are various [types of charts](https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/how-to-create-user-flows-in-an-easy-way-80ad394f5ad8) that you can use:

* Chart flow  — using the symbols and lines describe above
* Text flow  — describing the actions and decisions a user makes using words and arrows
* Wire flow — sketching wireframes of each interaction/decision point

The type of chart you draw depends on what is most practical for your project.

## Step 3 — Break down user goal into series of tasks

At this stage, you will work to break the user’s goal down into a series of tasks or steps toward completing a set of tasks. 

Find your entry point first. A user flow diagram begins with what brings your user to your project, and the first screen or touch point your user sees. 

Then, based on the goal you identified earlier, what are the next pieces of information and the next interactions the user needs to move from this screen to the next step, and then the next? What are different options this user considers? 

There are at least a few ways to sequence the steps, but for now all you need to do is write down the most obvious steps in the process or decisions a user makes at each screen to accomplish their goal, without worrying about the details right away. It may help to write it out in phrases or sentences before you begin sketching the flow. 

Here are some questions to help you identify and organize these steps without missing anything:

* What information does your user need at each screen to move forward?
* What does the user expect to find at each screen? Are there certain conventions that are helpful to follow, such as a common flow to user onboarding?
* What decisions are made at each screen or touchpoint? 
* Are there related or similar experiences in other software products you’ve come across that you can base this user flow on or use as a point of comparison?

Once you ask these questions, and break the steps down, you are ready to consider pathways that may lead to errors.

## Step 4 — Identify possible error pathways

In the previous step, we identified ways a user would successfully move toward their goal at each screen. What are the ways they may go off course? What other decisions could they make at each screen that would lead them to irrelevant pages for them? 

For instance, an option for one user group on one screen may not be relevant to another type of user, but they may select that option anyway. Include some pathways for them to be redirected toward the appropriate action, or a check-in message. For example, you can display `You left something in your cart` or a similar message that suggests that they didn’t finish completing a task.

Being able to troubleshoot the user flow in the diagramming stage can work to prevent creating errors during the more expensive development stage.

## Step 5 — Use a program to build a prototype you can share with your team

After you’ve sketched out your user flow, you could use a program that allows you to share it with your team so you can collectively work out the details of the user experience. Sometimes it’s more helpful to convey individual user flows for specific tasks instead of presenting the big picture right away so that you don’t get lost in the details. At other times, the big picture is needed. So you can use your judgement with this.

If you do need to create a big picture map of your user experience, there are many [programs and diagramming tools](https://ipsnews.net/business/2021/06/07/what-are-the-best-user-flow-tools-for-ux-design-in-2021/) that can make this easier for you. Below are a handful of options:
[Cacoo](https://cacoo.com/)
[Sketch’s User Flow plugin](https://abynim.github.io/UserFlows/) 
[Miro](https://miro.com/templates/user-flow/)
[Figma](https://www.figma.com/templates/flowchart-maker/)
[Overflow](https://overflow.io/)
[Lucidchart](https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/)

If you’ve already made some [wireframes](/how-to-wireframe-a-software-product), you can now combine them with your user flows to show how a user would move to each screen from beginning to end. [Wireflow](https://wireflow.co/) is an example of a program that helps you model this quickly. 

## Step 6 — Revise your user flow as you design, reiterate, and test your software project

As you start designing or testing your prototype, you’ll start collecting feedback that could help you clarify your user flow. Again, it’s not always necessary to have a large map of the user flows, especially if your software project involves long, complex interactions, so it may be best to focus on one goal at a time and use whatever style of user flow diagram is the most direct communication tool at the time. 

## Further reading

To learn more about user flow diagrams, you can review the following articles:
* [Bootcamp, How to create user flows in an easy way](https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/how-to-create-user-flows-in-an-easy-way-80ad394f5ad8)
* [Digital Natives, User Journey Vs User Flow](https://www.digitalnatives.hu/blog/user-journey-vs-user-flow/)
* [CareerFoundry, How to create a user flow](https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/how-to-create-a-user-flow/)
* [IPS News, What are the best user flow tools for UX design in 2021](https://ipsnews.net/business/2021/06/07/what-are-the-best-user-flow-tools-for-ux-design-in-2021/)

A user flow diagram is a useful communication tool that allows designers and developers to create a seamless user experience of their software product. It can be a general, lo-fi sketch, or it can be a more sophisticated visual map of how the user moves from one screen to another to reach their goal, all based on how complex your software project is and what needs to be communicated between team members. 


UX: Map out user flow diagrams

A UX primer for creating user flow diagrams for your app or website

How to create user flow diagrams for software products


User journey maps, like user personas, are useful for overall product development. They are a visual representation of user behavior from when your target users first decide to use your software product, through to the tasks they complete during its use, and finally what kind of solution the interaction provides to them. User journeys also illustrate the way a user views and uses the product over time and in different contexts. In mapping a user or customer’s experience, we factor in all the channels through which the software may be encountered for the first time and for regular use. We also consider which platforms, locations, or situations may best fit your product. 

Unlike a [user flow diagram](/how-to-create-user-flow-diagrams-for-software-products), this is a more holistic picture of the user’s experience with your app or website: a user journey map considers a user’s inner experience as they use your product, including their challenges and motivations or needs. They take into account the user’s overall satisfaction with the product experience and not simply their physical actions while using it. 

In short, a user journey offers a high-level look at the various scenarios where the user interacts with your product. This overview is useful to calibrate not only designers and developers but all other stakeholders and key business decision makers in driving forward your software project. 

## Prerequisites
 * User persona(s) and any other research/date on your user groups
 * Market research and competitor analysis

## Step 1 — Use your persona to understand what brings the user to your product

The first step is to identify whose journey you’re mapping and in what scenario or situation they are in. Revisit each user persona and define their goal or the problem the user hopes will be solved by using your software. Write the main points as bullets in the first section at the top.

It’s important to factor in the user’s context: what’s around them in their environment and what’s motivating them. Consider if there are any constraints or assumptions they hold about it, such as the time it will take or other external pressures, devices they use, and access to information or resources they may need to take the first step to use your product. 

Some questions to address in this first section:
* What are the situations and channels that bring them to your product? How do they discover it? 
* What expectations do they hold about the process? What are they hoping to get out of it?
* Is there any easy or obvious first step to draw them in, if they are on the fence or unsure in any way? What information do they need to know up front? 

With these questions in hand, we can move onto identifying phases.

## Step 2 — For each user group, identify the main parts of the process of using your software

The next step is to identify what the phases of the user’s journey are when using your product. By splitting these into columns, it allows you to see what the user thinks, feels, and does at each stage of interacting with your software. 

These phases will vary depending on what your software project is, so here are initial questions to consider:
* In terms of functionality, what does the software allow the user to do and what are the main steps of the process?
* What are the main decisions a user must make when using your product (in chronological order)?

Again, because this is more about the user’s overall experience in a specific context, the phases should account for more than just what happens when someone is using the product or the actions they perform. 

Let’s consider two examples. For a social media app, the phases may be 1) discovery of the app (through whom or what?), 2) evaluation of the app, 3) adoption, 4) engagement (or posting or sharing content), and 5) retention (what keeps them coming back?). For a job applicant using a job search website, the phases may be 1) discovery, 2) search, 3) application, and 5) response.  

## Step 3 — For each phase, write down what the user thinks, feels, and does in each column

This step is where you identify a user’s actions and motivations as they use your product or software. The purpose of this work is to anticipate a user’s frustrations, challenges, or pain points and make your product experience a more intuitive process. 

For each phase of the user’s journey, identify: 
* What actions does the user perform? 
* What might your user be thinking and feeling when they use your software?
* What questions are they asking as they move from one step to the next? 
* What might they be saying to themselves and what decisions might they make in each stage? Include little snippets of this internal dialogue as quotes. 

Once you have each column populated, you can bring this knowledge to your product. 

## Step 4 — Use this map to identify next steps in designing your product with this user’s journey in mind

Now that you have a better picture of the user’s journey, you can start to refine your software project with this information. For example, you may get an idea for a new feature based on what you discover about your user as you put yourself in their shoes. 

In the section below the phases, add some ideas for clarification or refinement of your project under an **Opportunities** header. This will document what you can bring back to the product design team. 

## Step 5 — Collect data and user feedback to revise your user journey map

Like the persona, a user journey map is most useful if you keep it updated with what you learn as you design and iterate on your product. It’s important to keep validating your findings. 

If you conduct usability testing, more user interviews, or observation of people using your product or similar ones, that may inform how you understand this journey and can help guide future development.

# Where to go from here

A user journey map is meant to guide your product development process and to be a tool to communicate your software project to stakeholders and others involved in product development. Although there are other UX tools like empathy maps, this method is helpful for understanding the big picture in a chart format. 

You can read more about user journey maps from the following resources:

 * [Digital Natives, User Journey VS User Flow](​​https://www.digitalnatives.hu/blog/user-journey-vs-user-flow/)
 * [UX Mentor, User Journey Beginner’s Guide](https://uxmentor.me/user-journeys-beginners-guide/)
 * [Neilsen Norman Group, Customer Journey Map Template (PDF)](https://media.nngroup.com/media/articles/attachments/JMTemplate.pdf)

From here, you can also take this same information and organize it into a narrative or a more visual representation. In [this CXL blog post](https://cxl.com/blog/customer-journey-mapping-examples/), you can find more varied examples of how experts have mapped out their user journeys.  



User journey maps for developers

User journey maps can inform and calibrate a software development process, this tutorial will guide you through the steps you need to take to develop a user journey map for your product

How to create user journey maps for software products


Usability testing helps a team observe, understand, and draw insights from a user’s ability to complete a key set of tasks on their software product. It helps teams figure out if their target user can use their product, if users can navigate the key steps and processes involved, and if the user experience is accessible and seamless. Most importantly, through testing, developers and designers can identify usability issues and determine how to fix them. 

Usability testing is ideally conducted as part of the design phase while the prototype is still being tested and reiterated. This is a different process than User Acceptance Testing (UAT), which occurs near the end of development or shortly before deployment, and is a final check not often conducted on real users. 

This tutorial will focus on how to design and conduct an in-person usability test using a qualitative approach. This approach is relatively inexpensive and is more accessible for those who haven’t had training in formal scientific methods. In-person testing helps you find out whether the prototype works as intended, and it allows you to watch and talk to a user as they navigate the prototype. This method also provides considerable data to inform design and to translate these findings into improvements that address usability issues. 

## What you need

To begin the process, you’ll need the following:
* A prototype with a process that a user can test (this can be anything from a paper prototype to a full-fledged app)
* A target user group which we will describe in more detail below 
* A location to conduct usability testing 

In terms of materials, you should have the following:
* Recording equipment (either audio or video)
* Release forms
* Materials to take notes and synthesize results
* Compensation for participants

With these addressed, you are ready to continue.

## Step 1 — Identifying the project goals and users

First, you need to identify your goal by selecting a design or process that you want to test. 

For example, if you’re testing an image-sharing social media website that allows users to search, pin, and share content from other websites, a goal may be to identify whether users can easily navigate the homepage and search features. If you’re testing a mobile application like a rideshare app, your goal may be to find out whether users can successfully book a ride on an app. 

Next, you need to determine the target audience that your application serves and what problems it solves for them. For projects that may appeal to diverse audiences, focus on the type of person who may most benefit from your software. 

For instance, to test a rideshare app, you can try to find the type of user who fits a profile similar to the following:
* Does not own a car
* Lives in a city
* Tends to rely on public transportation often or daily

These users may have specific insights or problems you wouldn’t have known about had you only tested the general public without considering these parameters.

With our goals and users identified, we can continue to the planning stage.

## Step 2 — Planning the test

Now that you have narrowed down the scope of your test in terms of goals and users, you can move onto planning exactly what tasks you’ll ask the users to complete on your application design. The tasks should be relevant to a user’s needs and desires when using your app. 

If it’s a webapp, you can start by asking the testers to review the homepage and answer the following questions:
1. What are your thoughts?
1. What are you looking at?
1. What do you think you can do on this webapp?
1. What is the purpose of this webapp?

Next, you can ask the testers to walk through a task that best corresponds to your objective. Make sure you have planned for alternate paths and pages if a user goes in a different direction than intended. 

To return to the social media example: if you’re testing the search features, have participants search for content they’re interested in. If you’re interested in finding out if the content is easily shared, ask them to create, upload, and share a particular post or image. 

Consider coming up with a scenario or context to help guide the user if your website requires navigating complex information, such as a healthcare provider website or a process with many requirements: “You are a U.S. citizen looking for a marketplace health insurance plan, you’re single and live on your own, and you make $40,000 a year. Navigate this quiz to identify which plan best suits you.” Providing contextual information can help you standardize the results of the user test. 

To assess the success or failure of a task, decide on a number of tries or prompts before it’s marked as an issue. This will help you analyze the results later.

## Step 3 — Recruiting participants and setting up

Make a list of the characteristics of your target users for your usability test that you have identified in [Step 1](#step-1--identifying-the-project-goals-and-users). Then, translate these characteristics into specific, measurable criteria to use to identify those people. For example, if your aim is to test your design with “frequent social media users,” you may decide that this means they share content on a particular platform at least twice daily. 

Based on your target audience, create a screener questionnaire so that you can quickly figure out whether potential participants are a good fit for your test. Write questions that address each point in your criteria, without being overly specific. For example, a good question may be to ask about other social media platforms, such as “How often do you share content on TikTok or Instagram?” If there are any people who don’t fit your audience, identify their qualities (such as their age range, occupation, or if they don’t work in the discipline that the site is designed for) and write questions that help you filter out these individuals. 

Find at least five users (per test group, if you have more than one target user group). You can search for participants in industry-specific groups or online posting platforms like Craigslist or Facebook. Be clear and upfront about the time commitment. Consider testing with colleagues and friends first to see if there are any major issues before refining the test. Then, schedule testing sessions with all participants and collect their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. 

Choose a form of compensation or incentive for participants: for instance, you can offer payment or gift cards, a discounted rate for your product or service, or access to a premium service. 

Finally, decide on where to conduct the tests. You can do guerilla usability testing in high-traffic locations like shopping malls, or you can do more planned tests in a conference room or office, or another relaxed setting where you would naturally find users of your application. Make sure there are no distractions, and that you can sit with participants while they test out the prototype. To record the tests, make arrangements for any audio or video equipment needed. 

## Step 4 — Writing a discussion guide 

It’s important to write both an interview script for the test facilitator and a set of instructions for the participants so that everyone receives the same test. You will also need to write a consent form to record participants, which you should distribute before the test. 

The interview script starts with asking background questions, then walks the participant through the tasks, and ends the test with some wrap-up questions to understand the user’s overall experience of the task, their satisfaction level and sources of confusion or frustration. The instructions for the participants take the participants through the tasks step by step. Below is a template with some questions to ask for each part of the test session. 

---
**Introduction**
1. Introduce yourself. 
2. Ask basic questions and chat to get to know a participant. 
3. Assure the participant that this is just an informal feedback session, that there are no right answers, and that they can’t do anything wrong. 
4. “Are you familiar with [a relevant topic, project, or tool]?” 

**Introduce the prototype.**
1. Ask what they think this app is for, whether they have background knowledge on related topics. 
2. Optionally ask other more specific questions about apps they use, the value they find in those tools, or about any experiences they’ve had using similar tools.
3. “Do you have any questions before we begin?”

**Walk-through of the prototype**
1. “What do you think of the layout or design of this app or page?”
2. Encourage them to think out loud as they go through the test so that you can understand every step in their thought process. 
3. Ask them to consider the first task, “What would you click on first?”
4. If you notice any unexpected behavior, you can observe this out loud and say, “That’s interesting. Can you tell me why you clicked on X or chose Y?”
5. If they ask questions or seem unsure about a task, ask them to articulate why. “What do you think you would do if you were to use this app in real life?”
6. If there are multiple ways of completing the task, ask if they see any other ways of doing so.

**Wrap-up**
1. Tell the participant that they’ve finished the test, and thank them for their very helpful feedback. 
2. Ask about what they enjoyed or disliked about the design and overall prototype. Alternatively, you could offer a short survey asking them to rate their level of satisfaction and frustration with the prototype. You may ask participants to rate statements on a scale of 1-5; for example, “The task was easy to complete” or “The task was too complicated.”
3. Follow up with a thank you email and their compensation or gift. 
---

This script will allow you and any other testers to have a standardized approach, and for participants to have a standardized experience. 

When writing a script, following the following guidance can help it be effective:
- Be concise and specific. Don’t use extra wording, because it may make the process seem intimidating or off-putting to the participants. 
- Reassure participants that you are testing the product and not their skills or intelligence.
- Remain neutral and don’t try to direct them or offer hints. 

For an example of a discussion guide, review this [conversational script](https://audioweb.sitehost.iu.edu/T284/krug_questions.html) from Steve Krug.

## Step 5 — Facilitating the test

A facilitator of a usability test observes the participant for any insights while remaining as non-interfering as possible. During the test, remind participants to verbalize their thought process if they fall silent; tell them that it’s important to know their thoughts as they go through the tasks to understand their perspective. 

The key things to observe during the test are: 
- How successfully a user can complete a task
- How often participants ask questions or seem hesitant or confused
- How satisfied the user seems with the experience 

Begin recording the test before you start the introduction portion, and take notes on what users say during and at the end of the test. You may want to collect these statements if you need to create a report — these are like abbreviated case studies that help you justify a redesign, if one is needed. 

If your prototype breaks some conventions in its text or design elements (such as an unusual menu icon or a different phrase for the “About” page), notice if users find this confusing or unclear. 

## Step 6 — Analyzing the results

Once you have your data from the test in the form of notes and/or recordings, it’s time to synthesize your findings. 

Start by reviewing the recordings and notes: all the positive feedback and user frustrations, their questions and hesitations, suggestions or comments. What went as expected and what didn’t? Try not to be too attached to any ideas of how you think the prototype should work. 

Then, record how many of the 5 test participants understood the design, clicked on the appropriate things, and completed the entire process. Write each piece of feedback or specific error onto individual sticky notes. Also write down any issues that came up, the type of error it was, any workarounds, and whether the issue is a serious obstacle in user satisfaction. 

Next, sort the sticky notes into groups based on similarity or theme in order to create a visual organization of your results. If you’re presenting your findings, you can also write a summary of key points or organize this information into a chart, bar graph, or another medium so that you can identify relevant patterns. 

Finally, discuss the most important themes you observed with your team. Identify a few key things to change in your next iteration.  

---
**A note on prioritizing issues:**

Evaluating the errors and the feedback you get depends on the type of application and what a user’s priorities are while using it. If some features could have serious consequences (affecting sales of a product, or leading to specific health outcomes due to your project being a healthcare app), make sure to mark any user frustrations or confusion that arise while testing. 

---

To return to our earlier examples — if you’re testing a state healthcare website, the tasks that are confusing or difficult to complete could have serious consequences for people, so it’s best to focus on making the website as clear and simple to use as possible. But if you’re testing a social media platform, it may be easy for users to complete a task, but because it’s not the only platform available, the design elements and seamlessness of the experience are just as important to become more widely adopted. So in this case, it’s better to focus on what testers find appealing or unpleasant about the design rather than just functionality.

## Step 7 — Making recommendations and improvements

To brainstorm potential improvements to your prototype, start with reviewing your team’s list of things to address from the previous step. Write down all the ways you might change your design, and don’t censor your ideas: at this stage, the point is to generate as many options as possible. 

If you get stuck, search for inspiration for potential solutions by researching other successful applications; what are their user flows or functionality that’s relevant to your app, even if it’s for a totally different service or product. 

Then, outline or sketch out new user flows to help you visualize the changes. 

In our Pinterest example, one issue could be that the search function only allows users to find content that’s tagged with the exact same search term they used, and not also related search content that other users may search for. The user could find it difficult to search for and share content widely, because the search results could be too narrow or limited. As a result, you may consider creating a tagging function that would help you expand your search results. You could also take inspiration from websites that display related searches of other users.

Lastly, assess which solutions generated best fit your original objectives for the test. Keep in mind that good changes resolve multiple issues when possible, are actionable and easy to understand, and use clear and concise language. Try to ensure that all the people who could potentially use your software will be satisfied with the changes. 

After implementing your changes, conduct another round of research to figure out if other issues were hiding under old issues or new issues were created by the new design. You may need to do this process a few times before you’re happy with the changes. 

## Conclusion

This tutorial outlined the main steps for creating and implementing an in-person usability test, along with key criteria and points of consideration to help you generate a test that works for your unique product and your project objectives. While the tools and programs used by user experience designers may change, a usability test is a rewarding practice that ensures your application is made with your target user’s needs in mind.



UX research for developers

User research and usability testing are important aspects of the software development process, this tutorial will guide you through the steps you need to take for a usability test on your software

User Testing

How to conduct a user interview as part of software product development

How to create user flow diagrams for software products

How to create user journey maps for software products