Although“quality”is a widely used term, it rarely means exactly the same thing to everyone. The attribute that definesthe qualityof a product or service varies from person to person: for some, it’s durability; for others, it’s reliability. In the software industry, we pursue a highly valued attribute: “pleasure to use.” To achieve this, whether in the development of new digital products or inapplication modernization projects, we conduct user experienceteststo verify what “feeling” the system conveys when we use it.

Every day, we interact with manyapplicationson our computers,smartphones, and tablets. In addition to their ability to quickly process large volumes of data with virtually no errors and their processing speed, they are truly useful tools if we can easily understand their interface and behavior.

User experience testing, like all other types of testing, is a crucial step in applicationqualitymanagement. Read on to learn how user experience testing works in the context of quality engineering and how we conduct it.

Experience tests: defining what it is (and what it isn't)

In the post abouttestingthat we published here onthe Inmetrics blog, we divided them into two broad categories. The first refers to who performs them: automated tests are performed by robots, while manual tests are performed by people. The second refers to "what" is tested: if it is a part of the application, we perform unittests; if it is the relationship between them, we perform integration tests.

Beyond these dimensions, we can categorizetestsin different ways. From one perspective, we can group usability, accessibility, and experience tests under the umbrella of user-centeredqualitytesting.

In future posts, we will detail all of them. At this point, to define experiencetests, the most important thing is to differentiate them from usability tests. Therefore, we will quickly explain these to clarify the difference.

Usability testsfocus on interfaces, seeking to assess how easy an application is to use. Throughout the usabilitytests, the layout of the elements, the clarity of the information presented, the navigation flow, and the user's overall behavior on the screen are inspected.

Experience testsgo beyond that. They seek to verify how users perceive—or "feel"—theapplications. The use of the verb “feel” is not accidental: the purpose of experiencetestingis to verify the user’s sensations and even emotions when faced with interfaces. More than just checking layouts and navigation flows, experiencetestingaims to verify whether the user can accomplish what they need to, at the expected time and in the expected manner, all with fluidity.

In other words, usabilitytestinganalyzes the entire user journey to determine whether it is logical, intuitive, and efficient. In the development of digital products orapplication modernization projects, the goal isto create a sense of ease—or even pleasure and enjoyment—when using them, and it is usabilitytestingthat will verify this perception.

Automated and, mainly, manual

Although they are completely focused on human perception, there areautomationroutines that help with experiencetesting. Currently, some of them are executed byapplicationsstructured inartificial neural networks, that is, systems that function asartificial intelligence agents. There are alreadyapproaches that use AI systems that seek to infer the performance of future increments of an application based on user behavior with the interface.

In addition to these, there are tools, also used in usability tests, that are applied in experience tests: timing tasks, recording sessions, interface heat maps, among others. All of them also provide data for the final experiencequalityreports.

However, although useful, automation and tools alone do not provide conclusive data. Experiencetestsare fundamentally manual, i.e., performed by people while they use the interfaces.

In order forapplicationsto be more quickly accepted and fully utilized by the users for whom they were developed, it is highly recommended that experiencetestsbe conducted throughout the entire product cycle—from the MVP to the "final" version of the system. If, throughout development, the data collected in experiencetestsis analyzed in conjunction with data extracted from other user-centeredqualitytests, the chances of a positive user experience increase.

Here at Inmetrics, we have evolved to a working method that eliminates the boundaries between testing, development, and operations to increase deployment speed, reduce time to market, and ensure the highest possible ROI for yourapplications. We capture data extracted fromtestssince the proof of concept, so that the "final" version of the application is as close as possible to user expectations.

All this becausequalityis a determining factor in our work. It is no coincidence that we were identified as a leading company in Continuous Testing in ISG Provider Lens™ Next-Gen ADM Services Brazil 2022, as well as being highlighted in the Product Challenger quadrant in Application Quality Assurance.

If your company needs to improve the user experience when using applications,contact us and talk to one of our specialists! From proof of concept to partial and "final" deliveries, we will design and develop your application completely geared towards generating positive feelings in the user.