The mobile industry has grown considerably in recent years; more and more people are using smart phones and tablets, and every day many mobile apps and mobile-oriented websites are launched. Thus, having so many options, users are increasingly demanding. If a user has to spend too much time understanding how to use an application or navigate into a website, he or she will not use it and will search for another one that is easier to use. This is where usability testing or UX testing becomes so important. The experience of attempting realistic tasks on actual mobile devices makes it possible to identify issues generally unanticipated during the design process.

How can we test mobile UX?

As the usability testing standard, mobile usability testing tries to predict user behavior and improve user experience the most, identifying which parts of the application or website work well for users and which ones cause trouble or are not intuitive.

We can define usability testing in three words: “Thinking like a user .” The person in charge of the testing must be as demanding as the user, and creative enough to consider all the possible real-life situations in which our app or website will be involved most of the time. It may look like subjective work, but there are a few things that can be considered in order to cover the most important aspects of usability:

Making the purpose of the app or website clear:

• Who are our customers?
  It is important to identify the user group for which the product is intended. It will help to define users' interests and limit the type of interaction they will have with our app or website.
• Why would they use our application or visit our website?
  What is the purpose of our application or website? The purpose should be clear for users; they should be able to discern easily and quickly what they can do with our app or website. The usability testing engineer must ensure that the app gets the user's attention and keeps him interested enough to continue using our product.
• What are the frequent tasks that users want to complete?
  The product may offer several features, so it is advisable to list all possible tasks the user may need to perform and place a higher priority on testing those most frequently used. These prioritized tasks must be the most quickly found and understood; the process to complete their tasks must be the easiest and fastest to really help the user.

Testing navigability, efficacy and efficiency of our app or website :

Once the app or website purpose is clarified, it is necessary to verify whether it achieves this purpose in the best way; thus, we can formulate the following questions during the testing process:

• How easy are the features to find?
  Our product probably provides all the functionalities that the user needs and works correctly, but the user may not be able to figure out how to access them. The ability to be found refers to how the information is organized and categorized; the user will not spend time learning how the application is structured, so it must be intuitive, the categorization must be clear and consistent, and the most used options cannot be hidden.
• Can the tasks be accomplished successfully?
  It is important to evaluate how easy it is for users to reach their goals. If the user fails in completing a task, the process is probably not clear enough.
• How many steps must users complete to accomplish a task?
  If the process to accomplish a task takes too much time or the user has to complete a lot of steps, he will feel frustrated and will abandon the application. Any process must have only the necessary steps. The fewer the steps, the faster the process, and the user is happier when his goals are reached quickly.
• Is the labeling clear and useful?
  The user does not want to read; he wants the information clear and concise. When reviewing labeling and texts, the usability testing engineer must make sure that all labels and texts are really necessary and do not display more information than necessary; he must also assess text length. The shorter and clearer the text, the better, on the one hand because of the space of the device. Some devices will not have enough space to display too much information, and on the other hand the user prefers clean space without too many distractions; he wants to see only the essential.
• Is there any standard violated?
  There are some UI standards for mobile applications to facilitate theiruse;the applications must adhere to the standards set according to the technology. The user will behave based on experiences with another apps or websites and will try to use any new applicationthe way he is accustomed to.

These are some points to keep in mind during the usability testing process, but the most important premise is maximizing the user experience. A successful mobile application or website treasures usability; this is the critical factor to ensure users' satisfaction. We can work together to help you test and improve the UX of your application. So please feel free to reach us and we’ll glad to discuss your needs in detail.