User experience testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it with representative users in order to improve its usability. The secret to successful user experience testing is recruiting the right users: by increasing the quality of your recruiting and ensuring you find the right people, there’ll be an immediate improvement in the quality of your results. To put it simply, without the right participants, you won’t get the data you need. But how exactly do you recruit for a user experience testing study? Read on to find out…

When it comes to user experience testing, there are two ways to do it: either with a moderator or without. Both have their pros and cons, but generally speaking, talking with a user on a one-to-one basis will unveil detailed insight into usability of your website or mobile app that a user following instructions on their own often won’t be able to replicate.

Effective moderation can be tricky though, and a good moderator should understand how the nature and timing of questions can influence the outcome and therefore be able to make critical decisions about what to ask and when to ask it. Don’t worry though – although moderating user experience tests might seem a bit daunting, practice really does make perfect – and along with our top tips below, you’ll be a master of moderation in no time!