Can your users in fact use your product and how satisfied are they with it? If there are issues with it, what are they and should be done to resolve them?

How it works

Actual users are recruited from the general population and are directly observed while interacting with the product. Users complete tasks that represent the critical success factors for the product and any issues that they run into during that process are highlighted and captured. A User Researcher analyses the results of all of the test sessions and recommends resolutions for each identified issue.

Pros:

• Over decades of use, Formative Usability Testing has been shown to identify most of the user issues present in a product experience even though it requires only a small number of participants to do it. Since the participants are the actual eventual users of the product, there is ample opportunity to capture rich satisfaction data and qualitative responses like verbatim comments on their experiences with the product.

Cons:

• Formative Testing takes a longer to do than discount methods; participants have to be located, screened, and recruited. A location for the sessions must also be secured.