How to Write Effective Usability Test Scripts

A well-written usability test script is an important element for organizing and facilitating the conduction of user testing. It provides a clear path to follow during the testing and helps you not miss anything important, such as participant rights.

We’ve asked Aurelien Delval, Senior Usability Specialist at EPAM, to walk us through the best practices for creating and running a usability test script. Whether you’re a UX designer, developer or product manager, this guide will help you create a solid usability test script template for your next project.

How to write a usability testing script

Writing a usability test script is a crucial step in ensuring that your product aligns with the mental models and requirements of its users. Here are steps to guide you through the process:

Establishing study objectives and identifying tasks for evaluation

First, engage your clients, stakeholders and team members in defining the objectives and determining the tasks to be analyzed. This keeps you aligned with business goals and enables you to gather hypotheses from your colleagues for examination during the test. Prioritize and select a limited number of tasks and hypotheses to be tested to keep sessions under one hour. These tasks should be the ones that provide the most value to your product and are most likely to have issues.

Creating tasks and unbiased questions

In the next phase of your preparation, define the instructions for every task that participants will complete. It's crucial to provide any necessary context in a concise and comprehensible manner.

Example:

• “You are looking to purchase a mobile phone for yourself online. You find the one you want on an ecommerce website and you want to add it to your cart. How would you proceed?”

Additionally, remember to prepare some prompts to assist participants if they encounter any difficulties in performing the tasks. However, use them with caution as users should be given time to attempt the tasks on their own.

For each task, formulate open-ended questions which encourage participants to express their thoughts on the interface and overall flow. Be cautious while crafting questions to avoid introducing any bias. Questions should be neutral and shouldn't direct the participant's responses towards a particular viewpoint.

Example:

• Avoid: “Do you like the cart page?”
• Preferred: “How do you find the cart page?”

Setting the context for your session with an introduction

While describing the tasks, simultaneously develop your introduction. This is a crucial part as it establishes the session's context and provides an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and the study's purpose, among other things. Here are the elements to mention:

1. Briefly introduce yourself.
2. Present the goal of the study.
3. Explain how the test session is organized.
4. Explain that you were not involved in the design and encourage the participant to speak freely and provide honest feedback.
5. Clarify that it is the product, not the participant, being judged.
6. Confirm with the participant that they have signed the consent form and non-disclosure agreement.
7. Confirm with the participant if they are comfortable with the session being recorded (audio and video).
8. Explain that the session can be stopped at any time should the participant feel uncomfortable.
9. Encourage the participant to voice their thoughts. 
10. Ask if there are any questions before starting the session. 

Gathering sociodemographic data and wrapping up with feedback

After the introduction, formulate questions to collect some sociodemographic information and habits of your participant. The aim of this is to enhance your understanding of your participants and establish a baseline for interpreting task results. Depending on your objectives, you might ask for the participant's age or their experience or preference regarding a specific product.

Conclude your script with questions that will collect feedback about the participant’s overall experience.

Testing your script

Finally, test the script with your peers to identify any potential issues and make necessary adjustments based on their feedback. Next, conduct the usability test according to the script either in person or remotely via screen sharing. Afterwards, analyze the results to identify areas for improvement and recommendations to support design decisions.

By following these steps, you can create a comprehensive usability test script that will help you assess your product, identify solutions and improve the overall user experience.

Key takeaways

1. A well-written script provides a clear strategy for conducting your sessions, ensuring that important points are mentioned and that the session runs smoothly.
   
2. Involving stakeholders in choosing objectives and tasks for evaluation ensures alignment with business goals and assists in identifying potential areas of concern in your product.
   
3. Asking neutral questions allows participants to provide unbiased feedback about your product.
   
4. Starting the session with questions about the participant's background (sociodemographic, habits, etc.), helps gain a deeper understanding of your participants and facilitates result interpretation.
   
5. Reviewing and testing the script with peers helps to identify potential issues and make necessary adjustments.

Ready to apply these best practices at EPAM? Explore our UX designer job openings worldwide and apply.