Here’s Why Usability Testing Is So Important

No matter who you talk to, almost everyone will agree that having a website or mobile app that is user-friendly and functional is essential to success. And yet, too few people put in the time and effort to accomplish that. They skip over things such as usability testing, believing it’s a time/cost sink.

But usability testing is a vital component to producing a high-quality website or app. Here, we discuss exactly why you should invest in usability testing:

UX issues will cost you more the later you are in production

User experience (UX) issues will cost you dearly, but the exact price will depend on which phase of production you are in. According to IBM, the cost to correct an error that is discovered after product release is four to five times higher than if you discovered it during the design phase, and up to 100 times more expensive than if you discovered it in the maintenance phase.

You will always have UX issues, and you will always find them and fix them. But the time and money you spend to fix those issues will continue to grow the longer it takes for your team to find them. Without usability testing, you won’t be able to find those issues soon enough, and you’ll be spending more money fixing them than you would have by simply performing a few usability tests.

Usability testing ensures a better product at launch

First impressions are crucial. If your website or app has even one noticeable bug, customers will leave and never come back. Usability testing will ensure that your product is easy to use, intuitive, and user-friendly. And frankly, these are qualities that you should never sacrifice. As eager as you may be to get your product launched, it’s better to spend a little extra time ensuring near perfection than sending out a product that is poor quality.

Usability testing will save you time later on

Many people say they don’t perform usability testing because it “takes up too much time.” However, what they don’t realize is that they will spend even more time later on if they don’t perform usability testing. This occurs for the same reason we discussed earlier—UX bugs and issues will occur no matter what, and it’s just a matter of time before you (or a user) find them. The later this happens, the more time it will take for your team to fix it. And in the meantime, you will have many angry users who cannot use your product because you didn’t take the time earlier to properly test your website or app.

So, don’t take a chance. If you’re developing a website or mobile app, make sure you perform usability testing to ensure your product’s success. Contact Beta Breakers today to learn more.