Boost your product's UX in 2025 with proven usability test methods. Explore expert A/B testing, heuristic evaluation, and more!
February 21, 2026
Ivan S
Lead Marketing Designer @Scribe, Founder @bookmarkify
Want to create user-friendly products that truly resonate with your target audience? Understanding how people interact with your design is key.
User research is a broad term that includes any method used to understand users — interviews, surveys, field studies, and more. Usability testing is a specific subset of user research focused on observing people using a product to complete tasks. While user research might explore motivations and needs, usability testing reveals specific friction points in an existing design.
Remote unmoderated testing tools like Maze, UsabilityHub, or Lookback make it possible to run tests for under $50. You can recruit participants via social media, Reddit communities, or your own user base. Even informal hallway tests with 5 people using a prototype can surface actionable insights. The key is having clear tasks and measurable success criteria.
Tasks should reflect real user goals — not instructions to find specific UI elements. Instead of 'click the signup button,' use 'show me how you'd create an account.' Realistic, scenario-based tasks reveal how users actually think and navigate, rather than just whether they can find what you deliberately pointed them toward.
Key usability metrics include task completion rate (did users finish the task?), time-on-task (how long did it take?), error rate (how many mistakes?), and satisfaction scores (how confident did users feel?). Combining these with qualitative notes from think-aloud sessions gives you a complete picture of where your design works and where it breaks down.
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