Covid-19 has changed the landscape of work, forcing almost everyone to either work remotely or do remote “parties” with friends. Even my parents have been doing Zoom calls as a means to socialize. This makes it a great time to do remote usability testing, since “Zoom” has become a household name. In this post, I’ll cover the logistics of how to set up remote user tests during Covid-19.
Determine Who to Test With
The pool of less tech savvy candidates that you can do user tests with has immensely grown, in the sense that many more people are now used to getting on a Zoom call. This is especially important if your target market that you need to test with is not super tech savvy. Now you can share a calendar invite with a Zoom link, or just a Zoom link with someone, and they’ll know how to hop on without much trouble. Chances are that it won’t be their first time using Zoom.
Recruit Users
This is the hardest step for any user test, and it gets harder the more specific your users are, which is usually the case when you are testing B2B enterprise product. For enterprise apps, a user’s job title, years in the industry, as well as indicators of their technology skills, such as age, matter greatly. LinkedIn as well as some specialized websites that dedicate themselves to finding and recruiting these people for research purposes can also be used. If it’s an existing product, existing users can be used to test new features, or existing users’ referrals can be used to test old features on new eyes.
For B2C consumer products typically demographic information such as age, sex, hobbies are what’s important. These candidates are easier to recruit, SubReddits for special hobbies, even Craigslist can be used. And if it’s an existing product, your current users can be tested for new features, and they can be incentivized to invite their friends to test old features on new pairs of eyes.
Schedule Events with a Zoom Link
Send a calendar invite with a Zoom link in it, including any instructions for what they need to prepare. For example, if you expect them to go through a certain prototype, send them the link so they have it open beforehand, but instruct them to not go any further.
Compensate
$20 - $50 Amazon gift card is on the lower end of compensating someone for an hour of their time for a user test. Lotteries and draws can be done, or free credit to your service. This is the key to making the recruitment piece easier.