The key to a successful new product
is engaging with the right audience.
Audience engagement comes naturally when a product is easy and seamless to use. To ensure success products should be tested before development, at the prototyping stage. This practice prevents significant costs incurred by user journey fixes, interaction design modifications, and interface changes to a product that is in development or already developed.
Usability testing is at the heart of user-centric interaction design, guaranteeing that the final product will satisfy its target audience. It tells you whether your product is intuitive, user-friendly and functional, and can even provide new perspectives that profoundly impact the very essence of your product. This upstream functional validation accelerates Time to Market by averting waste on unnecessary features, correcting any flaws in essential features before implementation (thus eliminating the need to redevelop later), and focusing development time on features proven critical to the application’s success.
The test phase consists of observing how real users use the system under controlled conditions. When test users encounter problems on the path towards their objective, or have questions, the prototype is adjusted to address the issue, and then re-tested. Various tools can be used to build the prototype (software or paper) and to collect information on its use (surveys, interviews, video captures, eye-tracking, etc.). These tools can be complemented by qualitative tests to gain a better understanding of the motivations, feelings, and perceptions of users beyond their actions.
A usability testing phase is a smart investment for anyone who wants to reduce risk, finish a development project on time and on budget, and come away with a final product that fully meets you and your users’ expectations. Spiria’s dedicated experts can help you develop and implement the best testing strategy to achieve your business goals.
When it comes to adapting Web sites to go mobile for smart phones or tablets, there are two radically different technical solutions. Neither one is inherently superior to the other; they both have advantages and disadvantages. The nature of your Web project should guide your choice. The buzz over the last years has been all about responsive design, leaving dynamic serving far behind; but this solution is a significant asset in some situations.
