54: UX Testing Tips from the PDX Airport
*I’m trying something new with this episode; check out the video version below!
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[00:00:00] Have you ever looked at a word for so long that you're convinced you misspelled it? You're convinced that something about it just looks a little off. Well, that can happen to your website, too. When you're staring at the screen day after day creating a new design or a new layout concept or an entirely new website, Things can start to look a little bit funny and that's one of the many reasons that it's incredibly important to test your website before you launch it.
[00:00:25] Very recently, I got to do a real life user experience test at the Portland Airport and I've got some key takeaways from this experience that can help you make sure your website is ready for launch.
[00:00:37] Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you create a website that you're proud of. I'm your host, Becca Harpain, Squarespace expert and educator and creator of InsideTheSquare.
[00:00:47] co. In this episode, I'm sharing three important things that you need to think about before you do your next user experience. These tips will help you confidently launch your new content. For a transcript of this episode, along with the links [00:01:00] to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:01:04] the term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace, Inc. This content is not affiliated with Squarespace, Inc.
[00:01:10] Portland International Airport has been working on a new terminal for years. Literally years. And over the weekend, they asked for a few hundred volunteers to spend a couple hours testing it. I was one of those volunteers. And trust me, this does have to do with your website. Stick with me here. I showed up on a Saturday, and after waiting in the first of many lines that day, I was handed a script.
[00:01:33] My job was to be Hunter Gleason, a Southwest traveler who needed to speak with an agent. I was led into the new terminal and I had to find my way to the counter. Leaning into the role. I looked at the agent across from me at the counter and I said,
[00:01:46] my name is Hunter, and I really need to speak with someone, and I have no idea what this is about. We both chuckled about it. They checked out my script, and they gave me a boarding pass, and I was on my way to test the TSA line. I've got more to [00:02:00] this story, but this right here is your first takeaway for your own user experience testing.
[00:02:04] I had a script, a specific job that I needed to do, and you should give one to the people that are testing your website for you.
[00:02:12] Task oriented testing is so much more effective. If you send someone to your new website and say, Hey, check this out. What do you think? You're not going to get the kind of quality feedback that you need. Here are a few ideas for your own user experience test.
[00:02:26] Ask someone to sign up for a specific service on your website. Send them to the homepage and see if they know exactly what to do. Have them record their screen while they do it. Another thing that you can ask them to do is place an order of a very specific item. If you have a blog, give someone the task to find the answer to a specific question that a post in your blog will answer and make it fun.
[00:02:48] Give them a name, a goal, enough direction that they know where to start and see where they end up.
[00:02:54] After I left the Southwest counter and I made my way to TSA, I was standing in a long line, but it was still kind of [00:03:00] interesting. The Portland Airport did a really good job of redesigning this terminal so that it was entertaining to see what was happening. There were big screens going on with different animated videos, but I very quickly realized that those videos were on a loop.
[00:03:14] There really wasn't enough to keep it interesting. So that was a bit of a bummer. Luckily the line didn't last too long and I made it all the way through TSA. And that is when the trouble started.
[00:03:25] Things got messy and they got messy fast.
[00:03:28] They had created a new design on the part of the TSA process where you take off your backpack or your purse and your shoes and you send them through the security line. Unfortunately, the way that they had designed this was around curves. It seemed like a good idea.
[00:03:42] I'm sure it was great on paper. I'm sure it was great in a board meeting. They had different areas where you could hop into the open window, grab a bin from their automated system and keep the ball rolling. Unfortunately Not everyone would finish this process at the same time, and very quickly, almost all of us had [00:04:00] no idea who was next in line.
[00:04:02] Everyone wasn't sure if it was their turn, if they should go to the open window or wait for the one right in front of them. The lines were not funneled into the right place. And when you're doing this on paper, I'm sure it looked great. If everything is processed at once, the data would look amazing. But when you put real people in that scenario, it was very, very confusing.
[00:04:22] Now here's the kicker and the part that has to do with your website testing. I did this test on August 3rd. The new terminal opens on August 15th. That is not enough time to fix the problem, my friend. That is not enough time at all. So let this be your key takeaway. When you're doing testing on your website, you need to make sure that you've got enough time to fix it before you launch it to the world.
[00:04:45] Make sure that you set your user experience testing at least a few weeks out before your launch. And to that point, Test it before you're ready. You might be super compelled to make sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed, but it's okay to share a [00:05:00] link before it's absolutely perfect. Maybe there will be a few placeholder images.
[00:05:04] Maybe the product that you want someone to test purchasing isn't quite ready to go yet. That's okay. Have the users test the experience so you have time to adapt your design to fit their needs.
[00:05:17] So the first key takeaway is to give someone an actionable thing to do. Give them a specific goal on your website. The second takeaway is to make sure that you do your test with enough time to correct any of the problems that people encounter. And the third takeaway that I want you to learn from this is what I call the two degree test.
[00:05:35] Once I made my way through TSA, I was there at the end of the experience. I had a little QR code to scan and a form to fill out about my experience. Then I had the opportunity to take the test again. They had a few hundred people there and they wanted everyone to do the test at least twice. And I do think that's something you can incorporate into your own user experience testing for your website.
[00:05:56] Have people do more than one test. Give them multiple [00:06:00] goals. Maybe just 23. If you have someone who's very generous with their time. But one thing I want to mention while we're at this point in the testing experience is where you find the people to make this test. Obviously, for the Portland airport, that was easy.
[00:06:14] They've got a ton of locals here who want to experience the airport. We've had years of anticipation and all of us were eager to see what the new terminal looked like. Finding people to take the test was not the difficult part, but for you as the small business owner, the website designer, the website creator.
[00:06:31] Where do you find people to test your website? I was listening to a podcast recently who recommended something that I'm going to recommend to you, and that is is the two degree test. Now, the first time I built a website, honestly, the first three times I built websites, I would send out links to all of my friends and I would send a link to my mom and I would have everyone look at this website and say, "Hey, tell me what you think!"
[00:06:55] First off, that's an open ended question, and I really didn't get any helpful information from [00:07:00] that user experience test. It wasn't a task oriented test, which was your first takeaway from this episode.
[00:07:06] But I was also contacting people who wanted to support me, who wanted to give me good feedback. And while that's really nice for my self esteem, that's really not that helpful for getting quality feedback about the content you're creating. So I want to encourage you to send that link and those specific tasks to your friends.
[00:07:24] So they can send it to their friends. Two degrees of connection is what you're going for here. Now, hopefully, you've got a friend group of nice people who are willing to help you out. If you have to, offer to send them a 5 Starbucks gift card or something you can do to incentivize them to participate in the test.
[00:07:41] But the goal here is that you want people who aren't on your side to take a look at what you've created. So when you're doing your next user experience test, here's what you're going to do. You're going to set up at least five specific tasks that you want people to do on this new website experience.
[00:07:58] You are going to reach out to your [00:08:00] friends and have them send that task to their friend, have that person do the actual goal oriented task and record their screen while they're doing it. And last but not least, you're going to do this early. Okay. If your launch date is on the first of the month, I want you to run this test on the 10th of the month beforehand.
[00:08:18] Okay? Give yourself 20 days to catch up. Maybe that's a little too much time, but you're with me on this one. Test early, test with people that don't know you and make sure you have task oriented tests. How many times did I say test in this episode? Doesn't matter. I know it was a lot. But anyway, we made it through the recap, my friend, and I hope that you're inspired to create a more constructive feedback experience.
[00:08:41] The next time you're ready to release new content on your website that you might be curious as to when I recommend doing this user experience testing. And the truth is, I recommend doing it as often as you're creating a new layout experience. You might not need to do this for every single blog post you create.
[00:08:58] But if you've got a new [00:09:00] sales page or, of course, a brand new website, you're going to want people to test the experience and give you feedback. And again, I strongly recommend that you ask them to record their screen. It's very easy to do on a lot of mobile devices. That's a feature built right into there.
[00:09:15] And I'll include some links in the show notes that you can send to people to give them information on how to record their screen for free. So they can send you that feedback. All right. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Think Inside the Square. I truly hope you enjoyed it. If you did, be sure to subscribe to my podcast.
[00:09:30] I post a brand new episode every Thursday and I'd love to have you listen to the next one and check out some of the archives available at insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:09:40] Thanks again for tuning in and most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website. Bye for now.
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How to record your iPhone or iPad screen
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102653How to record your Android screen
https://support.google.com/android/answer/9075928?hl=enA quick link to a google search "how to record your desktop for free" because there were so many results and I wasn't sure which one I should share 😅
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+record+my+desktop+for+free
EPISODE SUMMARY
I recently had a wild experience at the airport that opened my eyes to the importance of user testing for websites. Turns out, designing something on paper and seeing it in action with real people are two completely different things.
Task-Oriented Testing: Forget vague questions like "What do you think?" Give your testers a specific goal. Want to see if people can easily find your contact page? Ask them to do just that. This focused approach gives you actionable insights.
Test Early, Test Often: Don't wait until your website is 100% finished to start testing. Get feedback early in the process and make adjustments along the way. It might feel scary to share something imperfect, but trust me, it's worth it.
Expand Your Testing Circle: Reach beyond your friends and family for unbiased opinions. Consider offering a small incentive to encourage participation. The more diverse your testers, the better.
Remember, user testing isn't about finding flaws; it's about uncovering opportunities for improvement. By investing time in testing, you'll create a website that truly delights your users.
So, the next time you're about to hit that publish button, do this instead:
Create at least 5 task oriented tests that people can complete on your site.
Send it to your friends and ask them to forward it to people you don’t know.
Test a few weeks in advance so that you have time to act on their feedback.
Bonus: have people record their screen so you can see where they get lost on their way to complete the task!
