How quality assurance for website can influence User Experience?

The quality aspect of website development is something you must have come across before. There are no doubts that an organized and mistake-free platform encourages to dive deep into the content more than a messy and erratic one. Quality assurance for a website is nothing more than detecting possible errors, weaknesses, and potential breakages so that major failures can be prevented.

According to quality assurance methods, there are three main factors that can influence User Experience, which consist of: usability, content, and user testing.

Usability testing

The idea of usability is simply an assumption that everything a person can interact with should be usable. It assesses how easy it is for users to accomplish specific tasks on a website. What’s more, usability may differ widely. Every website can be usable in its unique way. You cannot compare an e-commerce dedicated platform to a blog, which covers traveling content only. Each website has its characteristics, so the approach to improve it should be tailored specifically to its arising needs.

To perform a usability test, you can ask your readers how much time it takes to execute a task on your website and if it’s even possible. Do they require any guidance to finish it? If they have to read a three-page complicated instruction manual to perform a simple task, you should do something about it. Check if they are satisfied with your offer or need any additional support.

Brevity is profound in usability testing. Unless you explore philosophical thoughts on your website, you should always keep your content as substantive as possible. Nowadays, everybody is in a rush and doesn’t want to waste time on unnecessary baloney. People require short and sweet pieces and less waffle.

The next aspect that may negatively influence how your website is perceived are overly aggressive pop-ups, like invites to subscribe to your newsletter, appearing just after opening the landing page. You should think of the best strategic moment to display the question, once you’re sure that the particular reader is interested in your content, and the pop-up won’t scare him away.

Content testing

Simply speaking, content testing checks if the context of your website resonates with your users in every aspect. If you decide to write about a specific topic on your blog, you must stick with it. You cannot just change the main subject area of what you post every two weeks. Readers expect you to consequently follow the topics that encouraged them to visit your website at the beginning. In order to test that aspect of content, you can check which sites gain minor traffic. If the site is not willingly opened, there’s a high chance that it doesn’t comply with your audience. Review the text in this respect again and change it accordingly.

The website’s content has to cover specific subject areas, but it also has to be consistent with the website’s primary goal. The objective lying behind the whole platform has to be visible in each content piece. Otherwise, it will lack purpose and meaning, which potential users will detect easily.

When it comes to content, its appearance cannot be omitted. Is your text visibly divided into smaller parts, or is it just a wall of words? The usage of headings is also often underestimated. It is a great way to introduce the next thought and navigate users, but it also impacts traffic on your website significantly. You can start by breaking down your content into smaller, thematic pieces. Then, you can assign a proper heading to each fragment and see how much more readable content becomes.

Ok, so let’s assume the content covers the specific subject area, its keynote complies with the website objective and the text is perfectly divided into smaller parts. You may ask if that’s all we need? Well, not yet. The cohesiveness applies to more features, such as writing style, graphics, fonts, and even the way information is provided (tone). Although the mentioned aspects seem to be just minor details, these are no less important to the general perception of content than the ones listed before.

Also, users should not be confused with differentiation between your content and advertisements. They cannot be forced to endlessly speculate on what part of the website is the actual content of yours and what are paid ads. Thus, the white space, which is an empty space between elements of the site, must always be kept. But imagine that all you want is to read the small piece of information, but you cannot distinguish the right part of the text from the sea of commercials.

User testing

And finally here! We’ve reached the last aspect of quality assurance for a website, which aims to improve User Experience – user testing. It aims to acknowledge how readers feel about the site and measure their satisfaction level. You can hire someone to test your platform using dedicated tools, or do it yourself by simply getting into your readers’ shoes. Let’s see what features you should care about the most!

The general appearance of a website makes a huge difference in its perception. The main factor that influences it is color. The one that you choose has to comply with your brand’s image. Color is not made out of words, but it sends a powerful, psychological message. It is the part of communication between you and users. Don’t take it for granted! Check the color of your fonts, graphics, buttons, pictures, and main background. Perhaps you will have to change the whole template of your website. Well, I promise you, these procedures will pay off in the future.

Are there any graphics, GIFs, or pictures that can make reading more enjoyable? If yes, is their size appropriate or huge enough to make the reader scroll two times to get to the next paragraph? What’s next is line-wrapping. The text has to be adjusted to the other parts of the content, e.g., multimedia should always be framed by a blank space, which makes the website readable and clear.

Navigation of the website is crucial in terms of user testing. It enables smooth moving along your website pages by ensuring that everything works as it was meant to. The first thing you have to consider is to check if every site of your platform contains a “go back” button, sending users directly to where they’ve been before. It is not good if they have to get back to the homepage and start their search from the beginning. Next, ensure that all the buttons and links redirect to the sites they’re supposed to. Finally, always name each site according to its dedication. You don’t want to leave your users uncertain about what button to choose.

To say goodbye

The absence of errors makes each website more convenient and user-friendly. Due to the quality assurance testing, you can expect the number of mistakes to decrease. Thanks to that, users will probably visit your website more willingly and stay there for a more extended period of time. This inevitably leads to an increase in the number of page views. And from this point, it’s a lot easier to retain readers. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Performing quality assurance of your website can be a substantial competitive advantage over other publishers. Additionally, it may simply improve the image of your website brand. You can start by introducing the changes mentioned in this article and then check what other factors of your website can be improved by means of quality assurance. Don’t wait, take matters into your own hands!