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Once you’ve recruited your users, create an experience for them that puts the prototype into a context as close to real life use as possible, whether it’s before a workout like SoulCycle or testing in a hotel like Savioke. You want your users to react to the experience, not to an explanation of the prototype. The more real-life it feels, the more natural these reactions will be.
It’s also important to show, not tell. Once your user is set up with the experience, prototype in hand, don’t explain everything right away. Give them a chance to figure things out, and observe how they use the product. Is it intuitive, or are your users confused or frustrated? What kind of questions do they have? Look for smiles or frowns as they work with the prototype.
Finally, remember in the Ideate phase where you came up with several ideas to test? It can be helpful to bring multiple prototypes to a testing session. This will give users more fodder to react to and compare against (e.g. “the version of the SoulCycle app that introduced the trainer with a video was great, but I really just need to book my session as quickly as possible, so I’m more inclined to use the version without it because it’s faster.”)
Capturing video and audio of your users in action with the prototype will be helpful in the next step. You don’t need anything fancy—just use the equipment you have at hand (smartphones and screen recording software will work just fine). Michael Margolis at Google Ventures outlines a slightly more elaborate setup, which can be handy if you’re testing mobile prototypes.
Reviewing and synthesizing observations
After you’re done with testing sessions, it’s important to take the time to review and synthesize your findings. Again, Just Enough Research is a great resource for this. In her section on analyzing the data from user research, Erika Hall outlines how to structure the session (summarize goals, pull quotes and observations), the space and supplies you’ll need (sticky notes and sharpies!), and the types of data to look for (user goals and priorities).
Another great resource for debriefing and synthesizing is from Brendan Mulligan at Cluster. Mulligan outlines some great tips and techniques for holding a viewing party and capturing insights from your team, and identifying and bucketing patterns as a group.
Once you’ve had a chance to synthesize the data and group patterns, take a look at how they support or contradict your original POVs. This is an iterative process. Testing your prototypes should give you a chance to refine your original hypotheses and make the product that much better in the next round.
