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Remote Usability Testing

Nate Bolt

Nate Bolt

El Presidente, Bolt | Peters

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This seminar shows you what you need to know to make remote testing work
and what you need to avoid, and best of all, to be confident each step of the way.

Usability testing is not new, but remote usability testing absolutely is. It's a unique and useful way to watch people use your design. The more time spent watching people use your design, the better your design will be.

Remote testing also happens to be a little scary. We've asked Nate Bolt to clear away some of the misconceptions, the controversy, and the voodoo. When remote usability testing is right for your organization, you'll conduct that research with confidence.

When remote usability testing is done right the information you capture will inspire innovation. Can it really work? Is it easy to make mistakes? Will you be successful? Nate shows you how to make remote testing work and what you need to avoid.

What You’ll Learn

  • Checkmark How you can effectively interact with your users without being in the same room.
  • Checkmark When remote testing can draw in observers and stakeholders.
  • Checkmark Why remote tools aren't always expensive and difficult to use.
  • Checkmark What you need to know to conduct remote usability testing with confidence.

Nate Bolt, co-author of Remote Research, will show you how to design and conduct remote research studies with little more than a phone and a laptop. Nate will walk you through several real-life examples, where remote testing worked, and a couple where it didn't go as planned. You'll see the pros and cons of using this method in useful examples of remote testing from Nate's work with Habbo, Intuit, Blurb, and Sony.

With remote usability studies, you can interact with your users quickly, cheaply, and immediately. You get the opportunity to observe users in an authentic context: at their computers, using their devices, doing their work. And here's one of the hidden gems in this seminar—Nate shows you his ideas on intercepting participants. You'll observe users at the exact moment they're actually doing the tasks you're interested in observing.

So ditch your tried and true lab testing techniques? Absolutely not! Nate will show you hybrid approaches that combine remote testing with your traditional methods.

There are plenty of remote tools available in the marketplace, all of which promise easy and effective usability testing. So how do you know which ones deliver on that promise? And how do you choose? Choosing the wrong tool will assuredly make your work a lot harder. Nate played a big role in creating the first moderated remote user research software, Ethnio, but he knows 'em all! Nate will talk about Usabilla, Loop11, Verify, and PlainFrame just to name a few. He'll help you confidently choose the right tools for your organization, and even mix 'n' match with current practices you already use.

Nate will answer your questions and offer some strategies to consider. This seminar is sure to give you valuable tips to use right away. Sign up today, and learn from one of the experts in remote research practices!

Why Nate Bolt?

Nate Bolt has been our go-to expert on remote testing techniques for years. He's been involved with remote testing since the beginning. He was involved in the design of the first tools and has been exploring every possible way to get value from the tool. Nate documented everything he knows in Remote Research and now he's sharing his wisdom with us.

He's super smart, and is thinking lots about remote practices that will make current user testing methods seem archaic. The approaches Nate shares are new and exciting, ones that you'll want to consider for your own user research.

We've asked Nate to share his experiences managing hundreds of usability tests for organizations like Sony, Oracle, HP, Greenpeace, and Electronic Arts. He is El Presidente of Bolt | Peters.


Purchase Recording $149

Get Lifetime Access
for your entire
organization!

The UIE Virtual Seminars I’ve viewed have been great. Accessible format, informal delivery and excellent content. I’ve always liked UIE’s approach to and delivery of user experience research.

Glenn S.

Purchase a copy of Remote Research at Rosenfeld Media.

Additional Resources
On This Topic
Seminar: Conducting Usability Tests in the Wild
Podcast: SpoolCast, Conducting Usability Tests in the Wild
Article: Quick and Dirty Usability Testing: Step Away from the Book
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