Usability testing has been part of product development for decades. What began as researchers studying how people interact with machines, controls, and physical environments has evolved rapidly since the 1990s. With roots in human factors and ergonomics, the growing complexity of personal computers and electronics in the 1970s and 1980s helped the ideas coalesce into a new philosophy—user-centered design—laying the groundwork for modern user experience (UX) practices.
The basic problem has remained the same: the people who design products are rarely the people who will use them. Put simply, engineers’ and designers’ knowledge hits a blind spot when it comes to how consumers interact with a product to accomplish tasks. Yet a product’s success or failure can rest on this. Indeed, world-class companies today are well advised to track usability metrics with the same rigor they apply to engineering, supply chain, and finance requirements.
Usability testing brings users into the development process to uncover gaps before a product reaches the market. Typically, it uncovers flaws in a product or service’s design, identifies opportunities for improvement, and reveals the target user’s behavior and preferences. To do this, researchers observe people using prototypes, software, vehicles, consumer electronics, or industrial equipment to identify confusion, errors, physical difficulties, and other friction points. Today, usability testing research methods range from face-to-face interviews and focus groups to eye tracking, driving simulations, and real-world field tests.
Usability testing research methods
The right usability testing research method varies depending on the specific needs of the researchers and the type of product. As products become more complex, usability research increasingly combines what users say with what researchers can observe and measure using a variety of complementary methods.
Face-to-face interviews
Even in today’s remote-enabled world, face-to-face interviews (F2F) still add value to usability testing because they capture what users say while using a product, along with a researcher’s observations. The method involves direct, in-person interactions where a researcher observes and speaks with a single participant to evaluate how they interact with a product. It is best at uncovering user needs, experiences, mental models, and frustrations.
Focus groups
Focus groups, on the other hand, are about understanding how a group of target users thinks and talks about a product. A traditional approach to focus groups involves a moderator leading a small group through a structured discussion, often using product concepts, prototypes, or existing products to prompt conversation. However, because there is often a distinction between what people say they do and how they actually behave when using a product, focus groups are typically most valuable when used alongside other usability testing methods.
Eye tracking
Integrating eye tracking into usability testing transforms subjective feedback into objective visual data. Using specialized cameras and sensors, researchers can track eye movements and record where users look, how long they focus on an area, and the sequence in which different elements attract their attention. Still, simply understanding where a user looked does not reveal what they understood. For this reason, eye tracking is even more valuable when combined with interviews and behavioral observations.
Automotive driving tests
One specialized form of usability testing is automotive driving tests. By bringing usability research into an environment where visual attention affects performance and safety, researchers can uncover a wealth of information to support product development. For example, researchers can evaluate how users interact with vehicle controls, displays, and other features while performing real driving tests.
Automotive driving tests can take place on instrumented vehicles on public roads, closed test tracks, and in driving simulators. They can combine driver observations with measures such as task completion, reaction time, and the amount of time a driver looks away from the road. Together, these methods can tell automakers not only whether drivers understand a feature, but whether they can use it effectively while managing the demands of driving.
Usability testing around the world
Usability testing varies by region, but one thing doesn’t change: the focus on learning what happens when a human actually tries to use a product or service.
Some of the characteristic differences by region are as follows:
- United States. Well-known for its mature lab and mixed-method ecosystem, the US is exceptionally open to F2F methods and on-site testing.
- APAC. Since the 1980s, the region has distinguished itself for usability testing of consumer electronics.
- Europe. The EU has a strong tradition of automotive usability research, particularly among German manufacturers, who use drive simulators and test tracks.
- Latin America. Latin America specializes in usability testing of agricultural machinery. Researchers in the region can determine whether equipment designed for global markets fits local operators’ characteristics and working conditions.
- Middle East. Has specialized in focus groups paired with contextual methods, such as in-store observation in retail environments, to help companies understand cultural expectations and local shopping behavior.
Sony BRAVIA Theatre Quad
One example of the power of usability testing in the APAC region comes from Sony BRAVIA Theatre Quad, a home theater system consisting of four speakers. Because the speakers are wireless and can be arranged in an almost infinite number of positions in real-world conditions, users needed a new experience to help them optimize their sound field.
While working on Bravia, the technology and UX development teams iterated and tested multiple prototypes. One tricky setup step asked users to hold their smartphone upside down. After multiple attempts, the company settled on a 3D visualization, which overcame the limitations of other proposals and avoided launching technology that would have left many users confused and frustrated.
Developing BMW’s iDrive
Another example demonstrating Europe’s specialization in automotive driving tests comes from BMW. BMW pioneered its iDrive system in 2001, but when it developed its second generation of this groundbreaking technology, it relied heavily on extensive automotive testing to arrive at the optimal design.
The car maker evaluated four interface concepts using mobile driving simulators, cockpit models, and prototype-equipped concept cars. It ultimately tested 500 representative participants across Europe, America, and Asia, including having participants perform controls during typical driving situations. The result is a system sold in more than two million cars that has become as important to many motorists as the mouse is to a computer user.
AI’s emerging impact
AI is changing the usability testing landscape in a few important ways. First, it is accelerating the research cycle. From helping researchers develop test plans and interview questions to transcribing sessions and coding qualitative feedback, AI lets researchers spend less time on data processing. In doing so, it allows researchers to conduct more studies in the same amount of time. AI is also beginning to automate parts of participant interactions, which may ultimately make qualitative research methods more scalable.
Beyond speeding up research processes, AI is also making synthetic users possible. Instead of recruiting consumers, researchers could potentially ask a large language model (LLM) to simulate a particular user profile in response to concepts, questions, and prototypes. The appeal is obvious: by digitally creating participants rather than recruiting them, research becomes almost instantaneous and dramatically less expensive. However, the effectiveness of synthetic users remains highly debatable.
Next steps
Modern business leaders need solid usability testing research to understand the gap between what designers and engineers know about their products and how users interact with them and accomplish tasks. The challenge is that as products become more complex, companies have more opportunities to get usability right, and wrong.
SIS International helps companies answer questions about how target users interact with a product, where they encounter friction, and which improvements will have the greatest impact before those problems become costly.
From face-to-face interviews and focus groups to prototype testing, ethnographic research, and other qualitative and quantitative methods, SIS can recruit target users and uncover insights that inform better product decisions. With research capabilities spanning more than 135 countries, SIS can also help organizations understand how usability changes across markets, cultures, and customer groups.
