Choosing a method for collecting feedback

September 05, 2024 19:38

Use these guidelines to help you understand which method to use at each stage of your process.

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Determine where you are in the project timeline
We haven't designed anything yet. Or, we have an existing design but we're thinking of redesigning it.
We are early in the ideation and design phase, but we haven't yet settled on a single solution.
We are iterating on our design and building the version to launch.
We just launched a new design and we want to know how it's performing.

Determine where you are in the project timeline

Every project requires insights from the people who will be using the product or service that the project is creating.
The first step in deciding the right method to collecting those insights is to determine where you are in the project timeline.
From there, you'll select the method to help you answer the questions you have based on your project's objectives.

Note: What follows is a list of timeline scenarios (in bold) you may find yourself in and the type of UserTesting tests that would best fulfill your testing needs at that particular juncture.

We haven’t designed anything yet. Or, we have an existing design, but we're thinking of redesigning it.

This is a great opportunity to gather information about people’s needs, behaviors, and requests so you can provide an experience that meets their expectations.
Do some discovery work, using any of the following methods for asking target users about their behaviors, preferences, attitudes, and opinions:

Discovery interviews	Surveys	Unmoderated tests	Card sort
To more deeply understand your users.	To get a baseline understanding of who your audience is—or to validate the information you learned in your discovery interviews.	To observe how people accomplish their tasks today (even if they use a competitor's website to accomplish it).	To understand how users would organize the features and content you are providing.

Other methods for collecting feedback at this stage include:

Competitor studies	Benchmark studies	Tree tests
Understand what competitors are doing and people's experiences with those competitors and the products and services they provide.	Run this type of longitudinal study to get a pulse on what users think of your current product or service, to measure baseline metrics when you iterate the design, and to identify opportunities for improvement.	This type of test is useful for evaluating the navigation of your website or app; it demonstrates whether users are able to find the features and content you are providing.

We are early in the ideation and design phase, but we haven't yet settled on a single solution.

As soon as you have some sketches or wireframes, put them in front of your target audience and get feedback on them by conducting:

Moderated usability tests	Unmoderated usability tests	Preference tests
If your sketches are very exploratory, you can ask follow-up questions with the participant in real time.	To quickly understand the parts of the wireframes that are clear and which parts need more work.	To get feedback on various early design ideas. This allows you to combine the best aspects from each of the different designs before too much effort has been put into any one solution.

We are iterating on our design and building the version to launch.

As you refine your design ideas based on early feedback, build a prototype and get feedback on the prototype's look and feel, its content, and what interactions users have with it.
The earlier you identify issues with your design, the cheaper it is to fix them.
With that in mind, conduct:

Prototype tests	Usability tests	Preference tests
To get feedback as the designs become more and more interactive.	With the same tasks and metrics as the benchmark test you previously ran.	To ensure the content is easy to understand and communicates your intended message.

We just launched a new design and we want to know how it's performing.

Collect quick feedback from your target audience.
Measure whether the design meets the expectations of users by running:

Benchmark study	A/B test	Analysis of data
A benchmark study to measure whether the design is outperforming the metrics from your previous benchmark.	An A/B test to determine if the new design is outperforming the old design.	An analysis of your web metrics to see how the qualitative and quantitative data of your test are working together.


Want to learn more? Check out these Knowledge Base articles... What is Usability testing for remote moderated and remote unmoderated tests? Card sorting What is Competitive comparison? Messaging comprehension	Interested in growing your skills? Check out our University courses... Approaches to testing: Discovery interviews Build a survey with UserTesting Approaches to testing: Benchmarking Approaches to testing: Tree testing Usability testing: Prototypes

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