{"id":647,"date":"2025-12-11T12:19:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/?p=647"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:21:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:21:45","slug":"5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Cascade Waddell, Product Operations Analyst, ICT<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Usability testing is the process of testing your product with customers to uncover key insights into user goals, behaviours, and pain points, offering a deeper understanding of how real users interact with your product.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important for product teams to test their products qualitatively and quantitatively to see how a user interacts with a product, so you make product decisions based on facts rather than feelings.<\/p>\n<p>The benefits of usability testing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Helps product teams understand real user needs and pain points, leading to solutions that truly meet their needs.<\/li>\n<li>It allows you to identify and resolve issues early, ensuring a smoother and more intuitive experience for users.<\/li>\n<li>Provides actionable insights and data to guide design and development choices.<\/li>\n<li>Encourages iterative development, keeping your product aligned with evolving user needs.<\/li>\n<li>Offers concrete findings to support discussions and secure buy-in from stakeholders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to design a usability test<\/h2>\n<h3>Step 1 &#8211; Creating the test<\/h3>\n<p>Define the test goal and ensure it aligns with your product, company, and organisation goals. Choose a prototype or existing website to test. Prepare a test script you can use to ensure you have a structure with around 4 tasks.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 2 &#8211; Recruit your participants<\/h3>\n<p>Find 5-8 participants you want to test with. Offering a reward such as gift vouchers can incentivise people to participate in the test. Start recruiting early and expect some cancellations. Build a pool of users you can rely on.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 3 &#8211; Plan sessions<\/h3>\n<p>Plan for a 60-minute session overall. A good format to follow is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>10-minute introduction<\/li>\n<li>40 minutes of tasks for participants to complete<\/li>\n<li>10-minute summary and feedback session.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to keep an eye on the time to ensure there is sufficient time to summarise at the end.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 4 &#8211; Conduct the test<\/h3>\n<p>Before you start, ask for the test to be recorded. \u202fExplain the purpose of the test, encouraging thinking aloud. Guide the participants through the tasks and observe. \u202fFeel free to ask follow-up questions where necessary, but active listening is the most important skill you need to demonstrate during the test. Ask them how the test went after you\u2019ve finished to improve for next time.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 5 &#8211; Analyse the data<\/h3>\n<p>Use an AI tool to analyse the transcript of the test looking for said pain points, mental models, positives, and negatives. Create a report with the key findings to be used to inform product leaders. This data will ultimately be used to inform the product roadmap.<\/p>\n<h2><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Conclusion<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Usability testing is a vital step in creating products that truly meet user needs.\u00a0By following these steps\u00a0ensures\u00a0that\u00a0you\u00a0are creating\u00a0products\u00a0based on evidence rather than on gut feel.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Further reading<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nngroup.com\/articles\/usability-testing-101\/\">Usability (User) Testing 101 &#8211; NN\/G<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Just-Enough-Research-Erika-Hall\/dp\/1937557103\">Just Enough Research: Hall, Erika [Amazon.co.uk]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more about this and other UX-related areas, join Imperial&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/team\/19%3Az9KfROOqRvx-WYwwcSfSYx8VFluxlGkl_yDcw_R4euc1%40thread.tacv2\/conversations?groupId=0723cf1a-72fa-458e-b065-3fc279d0835f&amp;tenantId=2b897507-ee8c-4575-830b-4f8267c3d307\">Digital Products UX Community of Practice Teams site<\/a>. Sessions are run on areas of interest to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Cascade Waddell, Product Operations Analyst, ICT Usability testing is the process of testing your product with customers to uncover key insights into user goals, behaviours, and pain points, offering a deeper understanding of how real users interact with your product. It\u2019s important for product teams to test their products qualitatively and quantitatively to see [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1696,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Cascade Waddell, Product Operations Analyst, ICT Usability testing is the process of testing your product with customers to uncover key insights into user goals, behaviours, and pain points, offering a deeper understanding of how real users interact with your product. It\u2019s important for product teams to test their products qualitatively and quantitatively to see [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Realising our digital ambitions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ata Rahman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ata Rahman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ata Rahman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f\"},\"headline\":\"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/\",\"name\":\"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/11\\\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/\",\"name\":\"Realising our digital ambitions\",\"description\":\"ICT success stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f\",\"name\":\"Ata Rahman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ata Rahman\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/ict-success-stories\\\/author\\\/ar1208\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions","og_description":"by Cascade Waddell, Product Operations Analyst, ICT Usability testing is the process of testing your product with customers to uncover key insights into user goals, behaviours, and pain points, offering a deeper understanding of how real users interact with your product. It\u2019s important for product teams to test their products qualitatively and quantitatively to see [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/","og_site_name":"Realising our digital ambitions","article_published_time":"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00","author":"Ata Rahman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ata Rahman","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/"},"author":{"name":"Ata Rahman","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f"},"headline":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/"},"wordCount":509,"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/","name":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0 - Realising our digital ambitions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-11T12:19:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-11T12:21:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/2025\/12\/11\/5-steps-to-designing-a-usability-test-that-gives-you-actionable-insights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5\u00a0steps to\u00a0designing a usability test\u00a0that\u00a0gives you actionable insights\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/","name":"Realising our digital ambitions","description":"ICT success stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/bfbf45182a76d46f51c4ac6f58a2e09f","name":"Ata Rahman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/095a636714249797c2a605eda6bd77dc819380b84b16724ad768e85014d68341?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ata Rahman"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/author\/ar1208\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1696"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ict-success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}