How to test your prototype with real users

User testing in the prototyping phase is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to improve your product.

You can test almost everything – clickable PDFs, single images of a page, wireframes or interactive click dummies. Below are some tips on getting the most out of your prototype tests.

• Not everything has to work in your prototype. Focus on the most important use case of your product and start with just this one.
• Even if not everything works in your prototype, you can ask your test participants what they expect from things that aren’t ready yet. Thus, you can find out if your solution would match their expectations.
• Explain to your test participants right from the start that they’re using an unfinished prototype where some things aren’t working yet.
• Make sure that your pages are linked correctly to each other and that these links are present on every page in your prototype, because otherwise your test participants might “get stuck” on a page when testing.
• Don’t include links outside the prototype, because other- wise your test participants will get lost on other pages and may not find their way back to your prototype.
• Use real data and real names and no wildcards like Lorem Ipsum – your test participants will treat any text in your prototype as if it were final. Make sure your content is consistent on the different pages –for example, if the logged-in user on one page is called “John”, it should be the same on all other pages.