Sometimes we all have to deal with strange, weird and non intuitive apps, which features and way of working are not well-defined. After such a negative experience with the program the user refuses to work with it anymore but begins to look for its more successful analogues.

Really good and popular software apps should not only perform their functions correctly but they must also be user friendly. Easy-to-use digital products are pleasant to deal with, as they save the users’ time and money for learning about the product and its performance. Thus, usability testing helps to create more effective software and is an integral part of a testing process.

Usability testing is a process that makes it possible to find out whether a mass product, prototype or conception is appropriate for use or not. The testing allows you to know how the product will behave in user environment, basing on involvement of its users as testers and analysis of their feedbacks. There are many different IT products which usability is commonly tested, among them are foodstuffs, customer commodities, websites and bet apps, computer interfaces, documents and devices.

In order to verify performance, usability, security of web apps, people resort to ecommerce testing. The service helps to improve customer engagement and increase conversion on ecommerce software.

There are two types of usability testing: dynamic testing and static testing.
Dynamic testing involves creating a scenario or realistic situation, where a tester (or a person taking part in the testing procedure) checks the behavior of the product by running it, while the observers monitor the process and make notes.

Static testing does not require execution of the code – it may only include walk-through, examinations, reviews, and data flow analysis. This is a technique in which several other testing tools are used such as scenario instructions, prototypes and papered survey before and after testing.

For instance, in order to verify the functionality of photo printer, the script creates situation in which the user needs to print a picture, and asks the person to perform this task.

The goal is to watch people using the functionality of the product in real-time mode so that the developers can identify the issues and understand what the users really like in the product.

Usability testing is based on black-box testing. It includes the four major areas:

efficiency;
accuracy;
recall;
emotional response.