A talk about the importance of the right test user profile. This talk was held at the Last Thursday Event of ux-schweiz.ch.

1. Blind Dates –
Or the right choice of test users
Last Thursday Talk - UX Schweiz - February 2015
Reto Lämmler @rlaemmler

2. • BS Computer Science
• Lived and worked in San Francisco, CA
• VP Product Management at Doodle.com
• MAS Human Computer Interaction Design
• RememberTheName App
About me
Every product should put a smile on your face.

5. Easy and affordable user research

6. About the topic

8. Test Subject
Collaboration platform for architects, naval engineers etc.

9. Test 1

10. Test 2

11. Findings
3x 5min peek tests with Random Users
1. Page is received as professional and serious
2. «Features» is missing in main navigation and could be
potentially missed when no vertical scrolling is used.
3. Feature icons are expected to be clickable but aren’t

12. Hallway Testing

13. Extreme User Interviews
IDEO Method Cards

14. “There are some times when it’s important to test your
product with your exact market, and other times when
users from any demographic can give you the feedback
you need.”
Source: www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/02/09/demographics
Testing with Exact Demographics
When to Use Them and When to Lose Them

15. So, what does Jacob think?

16. Jacob Nielsen
About simplified User Testing
The three main rules:
1. Get representative users
2. Ask them to perform representative tasks with the design
3. Shut up and let the users do the talking.

17. The last thing you want to hear during a usability study
session is a participant saying,
“I don’t use this kind of [system],” or “I never do that
[task] for my job.” That person cannot help you discover
the problems with that system or how well the system
supports users’ tasks.
Jacob Nielsen
About representative Users

18. Now what?

20. Experience from
1000+ recruitments.

22. Simple Orders
Ordered via TestingTime
5 People – 45min – Remote / In-House
Any age, any gender, any device

23. Extensive Orders
Ordered from TestingTime
German speaking immigrants
Who moved to Switzerland within the past 12 months,
who are employed (no students) and have a family.
No Printer @ Home
People who don’t have a printer at home none accessible
at friends places.

24. Pregnant women
Mix of early stage, medium stage and late stage pregnancy.
Industrial Buyers
Who are responsible to purchase packaging material.
University Graduates
Interested in alarm systems.
Extensive Orders
Ordered from TestingTime

25. Your Turn
What test users do you need?

26. Recruit Test Users by
Categorie

27. Test Users by Categorie
Consumers vs Experts
Consumers
• Shopping
• News
• Travel
• Social
• Entertainment
• …
Experts
• Medical
• Engineering
• Architecture
• Finance
• Legal
• …

28. Experts are also Consumers
But Consumers are not always Experts.
Expert
Consumer
Everyone can be potentially recruited to test a
consumer application.
E.g. A neuro scientist uses www.travel.ch
Only Experts from the field can be recruited to
test an Expert application.
E.g. A neuro scientist uses NemoDevices.

32. Recruit Test Users by
Personas & Scenarios

33. Test Users by Personas
Primary vs. Secondary vs. Other Personas
Primary Secondary
or
Supportive Non-
Personas

35. Primary and Secodary Personas
With some example scenarios in mind
Primary
• Experienced Kiter who wants to purchase a new Kite
• Newbie Kiter who wants to find a beginners course
• …
Secondary
• A worried parent who wants to learn about the sport
• Godfather who wants to find a gift for a godchild
• …

36. Supportive and Non-Personas
With some example scenarios in mind
Supportive
• Site Manager who maintains the inventory
• Human Resources maintaining job listings
• …
Non-Personas
• …?

37. Recruit Test Users by
Test Object

38. Website / App
Test objects
Website /
App
Navigation
Content
Accessibility
Task Completion

39. Documents / Manual
Test objects
Documents
Navigation
Content
Accessibility
Task Completion

41. …
…
Service
Others
Test objects
Food
…
Device
…

43. My Learnings
And recommendations
• It’s still better to test with anyone, than no testing at all
There is always something you can learn.
• Choose smaller tests over extensive studies
But iterate as often as necessary
• UX is not a project, it’s an ongoing process
So don’t excuse it with «I’m not ready yet.»

45. Let‘s discuss

46. Understand your
user‘s needs.
www.testingtime.com