1. You have a specific objective or task you want to enable, and the task has a clear measure of success.
2. Your objective has to do with the way users visually process a website or software interface. For example, you want them to notice and read the lead article, or browse more of the products on a catalog page.
3. You have already determined that the content is of interest to users, conducted interview-based usability testing and A/B testing (See Chapter 16 for more on A/B testing.), and optimized your page design based on the results, and you have not seen the improvements you seek.


When to conduct eye-tracking studies

There are some aspects of computer-human interaction that happen too quickly, and the user is typically not aware that they are occurring. The eye track technology helps to track even tiny movements of the user’s eyes.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A full usability test takes at least 3 weeks to plan, execute, and analyze. 

How to do usability test

Goodman, E., Kuniavsky, M., & Moed, A. (2012). Observing the user experience: A practitioner's guide to user research. Elsevier.

Observing the user experience: A practitioner's guide to user research

1. Recruiting: recruiting is the most crucial piece to start early. Finding the right people and matching their schedules to yours takes time and effort
2. Choosing feature: determine which features to test. Give yourself enough lead time to fine-tune the procedure. A 60 to 90-minute interview can cover five features (or feature clusters). Typical tests range from one to two hours.
3. Creating Tasks: tasks need to be representative of typical user activities and sufficiently isolated to focus attention on a single feature (or feature cluster) of the product. Good tasks should be reasonable, described in terms of end goals, specific, doable, in a realistic sequence, domain neutral, and a reasonable length.
4. Writing a script: the script is a list of instructions for the moderator to follow so that the interviews are consistent and everything gets done. It generally has three parts: the introduction and preliminary interview, the tasks, and the wrap-up.


Preparation for usability tests

1. There are two goals in conducting usability testing: getting the most natural responses from evaluators and getting the most complete responses. Everything that goes into a test, from the physical space to how moderators ask questions, supports these two goals.
2. Physical space: the test site should resemble the kind of space where people will use your product.
3. Moderation: the moderator needs to make the user feel comfortable and elicit useful responses at appropriate times without drastically interrupting the flow of the user’s own narration or altering his or her perspec- tive. 
4. Managing Observers: getting as many members of the development team to observe the tests is one of the fastest ways to relate the findings of the test and win them over.

Conducting the interview

The initial tasks of remote usability, such as choosing tasks and writing a protocol, generally resemble those of in-person testing. 
A remote usability protocol will have more up front explanations of the study, any incentive payments, how to use the screen sharing tool, and the necessity for clear verbal communication at all times.

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