How to Conduct Usability Testing

Moderated or unmoderated, 5 users or 50 - the usability testing format that finds the bugs before launch.

Usability testing is the cheapest form of quality assurance for product design. Finding that users can't complete a core flow in a 45-minute session costs nothing compared to finding it after launch. This guide covers the testing format, task design, and analysis process that produces actionable findings.

No fluff. Real craft from designers who ship products people love using.

Moderated vs Unmoderated: Which to Use

Moderated usability testing: researcher is present, asks follow-up questions, can probe deeper into unexpected behavior. Best for complex flows, early-stage concepts, or when you need to understand why users behave a certain way. Unmoderated usability testing: participants complete tasks independently with recorded screen and audio. Best for validating specific interaction patterns at scale, when you need 20+ participants, or when you want to test across timezones without scheduling overhead. Tools: Maze, Lookback, UserTesting.

At Valletta Software, we focus on:

Task design: give realistic tasks not feature descriptions - find the cheapest flight not test the search

Success criteria: define task success before the session - not after observing what happens

Task count: 3-5 tasks per session - more than 5 and participants fatigue and data quality drops

Think-aloud: ask participants to narrate while doing - the narration reveals the mental model

Probe questions: after each task - what would you do next was anything confusing or surprising

Observation: watch for hesitation retry behavior and workarounds - more revealing than words

Note-taking: behavior observations only - no interpretations during the session

The Analysis Process That Produces Decisions

Raw session recordings are data. Synthesized findings are decisions.

We give you more than just people. We give you top performers who drive results.

Watch all sessions before analyzing - patterns only emerge after seeing all data

Behavior tagging: timestamp specific moments (confusion hesitation success failure) across all sessions

Severity rating: critical (blocks task) major (causes significant difficulty) minor (annoyance) - prioritize fixes

Affinity mapping: group observations by UI element or user goal - not by session order

Top 5 findings: the findings that appeared in 3+ sessions - the rest are nice-to-fix not blockers

Design implications: for each finding specify the UI change that would fix it - not just the problem

Report format: findings plus video clips plus design recommendations - actionable not academic

You lead the work. We handle the rest. From EUR 45/h.

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How to Conduct Usability Testing - With Designers Who Act on What They Find

Lets keep it simple.

Our designers use AI to move faster without cutting corners - Figma AI, Midjourney for moodboarding, automated accessibility checks, and AI-generated copy starters - so the creative energy goes into decisions, not busywork.

Lets keep it simple.

Our UX designers conduct usability tests and translate findings into concrete design changes - in the same sprint

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