The must-ask user testing questions

We all know that user testing is important, but what’s the right approach with questioning your users? With the user test, you want to understand your users’ wants and needs, but how do you make sure you get the right information from them? In this story we give you some tips and tricks about setting up user testing questions. Although these questions may not be a recipe for success, they are a great base to build your user testing plan on. 

So at the end of this article you know:

✓ What’s the best way to get the right information from your users 

✓ What are the must-ask user testing questions 

Have an open conversation

To get the right information from your users, it is important to build some trust between yourself and the people you want to learn from. You want to get their honest opinion! This requires an equal approach, so make sure your users feel comfortable. The best way to do this, is to have an open conversation with them, for example with semi-structured interviews. In a semi structured-interview you refer to a question, but also improvise to let a user talk as much as possible and maybe even go off-topic to create a comfortable environment for the user. This is the first step in gathering the right information. 

The must-ask user testing questions 

Before you start with setting up the questions, there are a few tips to keep in mind: ask open ended questions, preferably ‘why’-questions, ask to compare things and don’t ask them what they want, but try to understand their underlying motivations and needs. We will discuss some must-ask user testing questions here below: 

#1 What is the product for? What is the purpose of the product? 

This question is essential because the design of your website or app has to match with your actual product or service. The answers you’ll get, will tell you more about how consistent and clear your product is. With this question you can identify everything that can mislead users, for example design elements that don’t fit in or the use of specific colors that don’t match with your product. 

#2 Could you describe the product in your own words?

After working for quite some time on an online product, you can get stuck in a loop. You’ll see the product in a certain way and assume that others do too, but this is a serious mistake. That’s why it’s important break through this loop. The best way to do this, is with this question. It will probably give you a new vision on how customers and users see your product and this will help you with the design! 

#3 Who do you know that would like this product? 

Most of the time users don’t feel comfortable enough to tell you that they don’t like the product, even during user testing sessions. That’s why it’s so important to give them a comfortable feeling. Another way to find out if the user would use the product, is to ask them about their friends and/or family. For example, ask them if their brother or sister would enjoy the use of the product. Maybe this isn’t your target group, but it does tell you a lot about how the user perceives the product. And to make it complete, ask them what their brother/sister is like. Their description will tell you more about how they see your product. 

#4 Why didn’t your use X feature?

When testing your product, it’s also important to give your users some time to explore and play around with the website or app. When the user is free to explore the product on his own, it will probably ignore certain aspects or features of the product. With this question you can find out why they missed/ignored it. For example, maybe you are offering too many features that the users don’t need. And if the feature doesn’t add any value, it will only costs you money. 

It’s also interesting to find out if the user is missing a certain feature. So after the user had some time to explore the product, you can also ask what kind of features the user are missing and should be added. 

#5 On what device do you see yourself using this product?

It’s essential to know on what kind of device your users use your product, especially because mobile devices are becoming more important. Take your time to find out which device is most popular with your target users and adapt your design on it.  

#6 Can you think of another product that resembles this one? 

This question can be useful for different reasons. Not only is it insightful to hear from the users what products really matches yours, but it can also be useful in finding possible competitors you may have overlooked. You can probably learn a thing or two from these competitors. This is an opportunity to see how different details of your website or app stack up against your competitors in the eyes of users. 

Coming up with the right user testing questions can be a challenge, but just keep in mind that you really want to gather an insight into the mind of the user! And if you are unsure about setting up the user test on your own, we are happy to help with our different services