5 Tips to Make the Most out of UsabilityHub

UsabilityHub is a great tool to quickly test your application UI and flows before writing a single line of code. Here are some tips from my own experience using this tool:

1 Use variations

When you’re testing various versions of the same design - use the “add variation” feature on an existing test instead of creating a new test. This will ensure that users who did the previous version of the test will not do the next version of the test. You don’t want the same people testing different version of a design because they’re already familiar with your design and so may be biased.

2 Start with 5 responses, then add

When publishing a test - start with the minimal amount of responses (that’s five). You can always add more later if you want. Once you asked for a larger number but don’t want to use them all (for example if you already identified a serious problem with the design after just a few responses) - the credits are deducted from your balance and you can’t stop a test and retrieve the unused credits.

3 Make your flow tests short

Don’t create flow tests longer than 5 steps. If you create longer tests - you will have very low response numbers on the steps that are closer to the end of the flow.
If you do have a flow that is longer than 5 steps - break it down into parts and use an explanation to set up the second part of the test.

4 Make your clickable areas forgiving

When creating flow tests - you can make your “hit zones” a bit larger than the actual button/link/area that the users need to click in the actual system. People are doing your tests quickly and you don’t want to see a “failure” just because the user clicked 5 pixels away from the button.

5 Consider the results carefully

Take the results with a grain of salt. Remember: this isn’t the real system and results will not exactly correspond to the eventual behavior you will see in the live system. Try to think through the results and identify what is a real conclusion about the design and what “problems” just stem from the fact that these are only mock designs.