Usability Evaluation

A usability evaluation, also known as a heuristic evaluation or the discount usability inspection method, discovers problems that are likely to be encountered by any user at a fraction of the cost of traditional usability studies. Evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles.

The process of usability testing nearly always begins with a heuristic evaluation. A heuristic evaluation is an assessment of your website against industry standards, established usability principles, and known human limitations by our team of experienced usability professionals. A typical evaluation also compares your website to your competitors' websites, establishing shortfalls and strengths, while allowing you to see trending patterns in your industry.

At Normal Modes, our usability evaluations are based on the objective research-based web design usability guidelines published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Usability Evaluation Key Heuristics Areas

  • Homepage
  • User experience
  • Navigation
  • Scrolling and paging
  • Hyperlinks
  • Page layout
  • Text appearance
  • Content organization
  • Data entry
  • Search
  • Hardware and software
  • Accessibility

What are the advantages of a heuristic evaluation?

  • Quick and cost-effective means of determining your website's strengths and weaknesses.
  • Prioritized recommendations for the most meaningful changes to your website.
  • Documented conformity to industry standards, established usability principles, and known human limitations.
  • Can be performed at any time during the design process.
  • A great first step towards improving your site's usability.

Normal Modes's recommendations provided insight into Acuity for the customer's enjoyment and the business benefit. It was the combination of business savvy, thorough competitive analysis, and usability ideas that set them apart. This exposed several easy ways to immediately improve customer experience and major changes we could work on in the long term. We were even more impressed when all this was completed and delivered in under a month!

We've seen an increase in paid signups (but stable free signups) after the smoother inline upgrade notifications. Also, support emails have decreased!
—Gavin Zuchlinski, Acuity Innovation, LLC

Let us help you decide

Unsure if a usability evaluation, or heuristic evaluation, is right for your situation? Let our seasoned usability team help you decide.

Contact us today for more information about how a heuristic evaluation might help your company increase customer satisfaction, while reducing costs and meeting business objectives.