Whenever you create or make a change to your website, to your blog, or even to a landing page, it’s always a good idea to put that resource through usability testing. This type of testing will really determine just how “user friendly” your site is, as well as answer any questions as to whether or not your website is working for your business the way it should be (i.e. to increase conversion rates, to boost your email marketing list, etc.)

Before you conduct usability testing, it’s important that you have a set of questions that you need to have answered so that you’ll get the best and most effective results possible. When conducting the test, ask yourself:

What Do Users Do On This Site?

A shocking number of businesses have no idea what it is that visitors do when they get to their web page. What are people looking at? How do they get there? Is it through a social media link? An organic search result? From a landing page?

You’ll also want to look at how visitors are navigating through your site, from start to finish. Look at how they got there, what path they took, and what sort of information they’re trying to find. What’s important to observe here is the path that they’re taking, and whether or not that path is the one you expected or envisioned when you crafted your site.

 

What Do Those Using Your Site Want to Achieve?

This is where you have to really look at what you hope your site will help you achieve. Start off by writing down a list of goals that you think are important for the success of your site. Are you trying to encourage people to buy your product? Are you trying to educate them on a service that you offer? Or are you trying to obtain their contact information for lead nurturing purposes?

Then examine how long your site takes for people to “achieve” these goals. In a world where we can get information almost instantly, the longer that it may take for a visitor to complete a task on your site, the less likely it is that they’ll do it.

Really look at how you can craft your site so that you can “ask” your visitors to do what you want them to do in the shortest amount of time possible. This will improve visitor engagement, and vastly improve your conversions.