Practical tips for a powerful usability test session
3 ways to be a better moderator
One of the essential ingredients of moderating usability tests is minimizing confirmation bias as much as possible. But how do you do that, really?
1 — Be neutral
When people can read how you feel (from what you say through words, facial expressions, body language, or tone of voice), they react to the emotion triggered in them by you, rather than thinking aloud while performing the test tasks.
Ways to be neutral are:
- Sticking to the same filler words: "u-hum", "ok", "I see"
- Avoiding filler words such as: "right", "correct", "oh", "hmmm"
- Replying to participants' questions with reverse questions
- Taking notes from other usability tests available on YouTube. My favorite is the classic Steve Krug's usability test demo
2 — Don't label the users
It’s not our job to pass judgment on the way users interact with products. Sure, it can be frustrating when participants don’t get when something works after you spent hours bringing an idea to life — but hey, that’s precisely why usability tests exist in the first place!
If they struggle, that’s valuable information for you to tackle usability issues. Our job is to observe them and understand why they find something easy or difficult to use.
If they don’t struggle, you learn from the user what made the interaction with the product easy — otherwise, you’re at risk of falling into a confirmation trap that doesn’t provide further information to go on with your project.
Whenever I’m conducting a usability test session and I feel frustrated (“how have you not figured this out yet?”) or amazed (“this person is so smart”) by the participant actions, I take a step back, reframe my own thoughts and ask: “Can you walk me through the steps you are taking right now?”
3 — Be comfortable with pauses
It's tempting to jump in when the user doesn’t reply promptly, or to move right ahead to our next question as soon as they finish a sentence. However, that most efficient thing is quite the opposite. In the words of Kate Kaplan, “deliberately staying silent for longer than it feels comfortable will often prod users into saying more.”
Frequently, the user’s silence is part of the recall and encoding processes, so allowing for pauses creates an opportunity for you to hear more in-depth information on what the user already shared.
The pause spurs the user to reflect on what they just said, consequently allowing them to say that out loud. When the participant in the session is quieter, it might even help them to talk more if you don’t try to fill in the silence.
