Testing Digital Products the RITE Way

2. Create a Prototype

The prototypes of the features you need to test can take many forms—from low-fidelity sketches on paper or wireframes to high-fidelity mockups, depending on the stage of your project and the problems you need to solve. I usually prefer to test high-fidelity design deliverables because they closely resemble the final product in terms of their design, interactions, and functionality and provide an experience that seems real to users. The realism of high-fidelity prototypes helps users engage with the prototype as they would with the actual product, resulting in more accurate feedback. High-fidelity prototypes can also reveal subtle usability issues that you might miss when testing low-fidelity prototypes.

Your team should always test your prototypes before testing them with participants to ensure that everything works as it should. This can also help you ensure that the test tasks align with the capabilities of the prototype. I wouldn’t recommend testing with a fully implemented version of the product because creating it would be too time-consuming. Plus, it’s easier to change the design of a prototype.

3. Find the Right Participants

Every product has a target audience. To test a product, you need a sample of your target user population. Sampling is the act of selecting a representative population. According to Saunders, [1] the primary premise of sampling is that, by choosing a subset of a user population, we can infer information about the entire population.

A common question is: how many participants do I need to test? Results from an ongoing study [2] indicate that, by evaluating between three and 19 participants, you can discover 80% of the usability problems; and between four and 28 participants, you can find 90% of the problems. To participate in the testing, the participants must meet the recruiting criteria for experience, job role, and product usage. For instance, if you are working on an app to aid people with finding and renting apartments, your participants should comprise neither people belonging to older generations who are homeowners or kids who still live with their parents.

4. Observe Participants and Identify Issues

Depending on a project’s objectives, teams can explore different methods to observe and identify usability issues. The two main types of testing to consider are moderated and unmoderated usability testing. In an unmoderated test, participants go through the test independently, without the direct guidance of a moderator; moderated testing involves having a researcher or design expert guide the participants through the test sessions.

Considering the goals of RITE testing—finding usability issues, rapid design iteration, and deep understanding of user interactions—moderated testing is typically the best choice. How does this work? The researchers give each of the participants a scenario and ask them to perform specific tasks, observe the participant’s actions, and listen for the comments participants make while they complete each task. [3] You can record the test sessions with participants’ permission and take notes. At the end of the sessions, interview the participants, allowing them to provide feedback expressing what they liked and didn’t like about the site or app.

5. Make Quick Changes

The whole point of the RITE evaluation technique is making quick design changes after each test session. For example, after a test session, transcribe the recording, analyze your findings, and make changes that are based on the session’s insights. It’s not necessary to redesign everything a participant spots that has usability issues, but you should address the usability issues with the highest severity. Being able to iterate designs quickly reduces the fear of failure because you can experiment with design ideas. Then, if your ideas don’t work, you can always try again.

6. Test Again

A continuous improvement mentality brings you closer to your ideal product one step at a time. When should you stop testing? Using the cumulative binomial–probability formula, If you stop testing after one session, you can be confident only that you’ve identified some issues that affect 80% of your target audience. What happens if you test with six users? You’ve likely caught any issues that affect about 25% or more of your target audience. Stopping after six users is a good balance between catching most problems and not wasting resources. Once you and your team are happy with the outcome of the testing, it is time to finalize your research. Make sure that you document all the changes the UX designers have made, and note any lessons you’ve learned to avoid repeating the same mistakes in your next study!

Why You Should Consider RITE Testing

A major reason to consider RITE testing is how fast you can get feedback from users. In traditional usability testing, a predefined number of participants evaluate a product before you make any changes to the design. Using the RITE method, you and your team can quickly get insights into which features of your product work and don’t work from the very first participant.

While, in principle, it makes sense to make design changes rapidly, in practice, rapidly fixing design issues can be challenging. RITE testing lets you iterate on your designs to address the issues you’ve discovered and implement your changes immediately after each usability-test session. Thus, you can fix the problems right away, instead of waiting until the end of a long testing cycle.

Most companies and agencies have little or no budget for usability testing—or even development as a whole. Because using the RITE testing method lets you make design changes as you go, you can avoid spending lots of time and money on something that doesn’t work.

Users should be at the center of your design process. When using this method, you focus on the experiences of real users. This helps make your product better for the people who will use it.

Using the RITE testing method reduces risk. Finding and fixing issues early during the development process means there’s less risk of discovering big problems later on—as you might on design projects that employ conventional usability testing.

Who Should Adopt RITE?

Anyone whose goal is building a great product for users can benefit from using the RITE method—usually UX designers and product teams who want to improve a product quickly. The RITE method is especially useful for those who want to make rapid, iterative changes that are based on real user feedback throughout the development process.

When Should You Adopt RITE?

RITE testing is the perfect user-centric approach if you’re working in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines and need to quickly identify and fix usability issues. This testing method works best when your design or product is still at a stage when you can easily make changes. If you’re committed to making improvements based on user feedback, RITE testing lets you do that in real-time.

In What Contexts Does RITE Work Well?

Use RITE testing to test the concept for a new product or optimize an existing feature or product. Companies that have already used or are planning to use another method to test innovative products should consider employing RITE testing.

You can employ RITE testing within large corporations, agencies, and startups. Teams that like dynamic, close collaboration and intensity appreciate the efficiency and effectiveness of RITE testing. 

Endnotes

[1] Mark N.K. Saunders, Philip Lewis, and Adrian Thornhill. Research Methods for Business Students. 7th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson, 2015.

[2] Wonil Hwang and Gavriel Salvendy. “What Makes Evaluators Find More Usability Problems? A Meta-analysis for Individual Detection Rates.” In Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Design and Usability. 12th International Conference: HCI International 2007 Proceedings Part 1. Julie A. Jacko, ed. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2007.

[3] Kate Moran. “Usability (User) Testing 101.” Nielsen Norman Group, December 1, 2019.