User Testing for Websites: Five People, One Hour, and What You Will Learn
You do not need a laboratory to find out why visitors give up. A small, well-run test reveals problems your team has stopped being able to see.
User testing for websites has a reputation for being costly and formal, which is a shame, because the most valuable version is cheap and informal. Watch a handful of people try to do something on your site, say nothing and take notes. You will learn more in an hour than in a month of meetings, because the people who built and run a site have lost the ability to see it fresh. Here is how to do it properly with very little equipment.
Why five is a useful number
Researcher Jakob Nielsen published a widely cited finding that testing with around five participants uncovers most of the major usability problems, and that you learn more from running several small rounds than one large one. The principle is sound for a practical reason: the same serious issues appear again and again. Once you have watched three people fail at the same step, you do not need a fourth to know it needs fixing.
Recruit people who resemble your customers
Colleagues and relatives know too much and want to be kind. Look for people who match your real audience: recent customers, people who enquired but did not buy, or members of a local community group you serve. Offer a small thank-you, such as a voucher, and be clear that you are testing the site, not them. Include at least one person who is less comfortable with technology, and, where you can, someone who uses assistive technology.
Write tasks, not questions
Give each participant realistic jobs: "You need a quote for a boiler service next week. Find out how to arrange it." Avoid naming the buttons or the pages, since leading words give the answer away. Three to five tasks per session is plenty. Include one on a phone if many of your visitors use them.
Ask them to think aloud, then stay quiet
Explain that you want them to say what they are looking at and what they expect to happen next. When they get stuck, resist the urge to help. Silence feels uncomfortable, but the moments when someone hesitates, scrolls up and down or clicks the wrong thing are the data you came for. If they ask whether they are doing it right, say you are interested in what they would do on their own. With permission, record the screen and voice.
What to watch for
Note where people hesitate, misread a label, click something that is not a link or ignore something important. Pay attention to words they use for things, because those are the words your headings should use. Track whether they complete each task, how long it takes and how they feel. A short list of quotations, such as "I thought this was already booked", is often more persuasive in a meeting than any chart.
Turn findings into changes
After the sessions, list every problem and mark how many people met it and how badly it hurt. Fix the severe and common ones first. Often the answer is small: rename a button, move a price, remove a step. Resist redesigning everything; change a few things, then test again to confirm the fix worked.
Keep it going
Testing prototypes saves the most money
You do not need a finished site to learn something. Sketches on paper, or clickable mock-ups made in a design tool, can be tested in exactly the same way, and changes at that stage cost almost nothing. A single afternoon with a rough prototype can prevent weeks of rework. Show people two options for a confusing page and ask which they would expect to use. Their reasoning often reveals vocabulary, expectations and worries that the team had never considered.
Do not forget the analytics
Observation tells you why; analytics tells you how often. Look at where visitors leave, which searches on your own site return nothing and which pages are visited just before a form is abandoned. Together, a handful of recorded sessions and a few numbers give a rounded picture. Be careful to respect privacy, to ask for consent where it is required and to avoid recording anything sensitive.
Make testing a habit, a session every quarter or before any significant change. Remote tools make it easy to run sessions with people across the country, and they can be done over a video call. If you would like help running a first round, or a fresh pair of eyes on the results, we do this regularly for firms in Northamptonshire and beyond.