Choosing Right Usability Testing Questions for Better UX Results

Usability testing is one of the most powerful tools in a UX designer’s toolkit. It helps uncover how real users interact with your product, where they encounter difficulties, and how those issues can be resolved. But simply conducting usability tests isn’t enough—you need the right set of usability questions to gather valuable insight deeper into the user’s experience, prompting them to articulate specific challenges, preferences, and expectations.

This blog will guide you through how to choose the right Usability Testing Questions to ensure you get actionable UX insights from users. Whether you’re testing a prototype, an existing product, or preparing for a redesign, asking the right questions for a usability test is key to enhancing the overall user experience. 

Why is it important to choose the right Usability Testing Questions?

Usability testing isn’t just about watching users interact with your product; it’s about understanding why they behave the way they do. The quality of your usability studies is directly tied to the quality of your user experience research questions. If you ask poorly framed questions, the feedback you receive will likely be vague and fail to address key issues. In contrast, well-crafted questions can prompt participants to share detailed insights that directly contribute to improving your design.

Here’s why choosing the right usability test research questions is crucial:

• Uncover Genuine User Pain Points: By asking clear and open-ended questions, you can better understand where users struggle, what confuses them, or what aspects they find intuitive. Without these insights, you risk focusing on problems that aren’t critical while missing those that truly affect the user experience.
• Gain Actionable Insights: Well-targeted questions generate specific feedback that can directly inform design decisions. For example, instead of general comments like “This feels difficult,” you’ll receive more precise input such as “I didn’t know which button to click because they all looked the same.”
• Avoid Biased Responses: Poorly phrased or leading questions often unintentionally influence participants, distorting the results and leading to misleading conclusions. To avoid this, using neutral and non-suggestive questions is essential, as they help capture genuine user behavior and provide unbiased feedback.
• Improve Test Efficiency: When you focus on the right questions, you make the most of each session, ensuring that the limited time spent with participants results in high-quality feedback. This approach saves both time and resources while leading to better design outcomes.

Types of Usability Testing Questions

1. Questions to ask before the Usability Test

Before starting Usability Testing, it’s important to choose the right participants. While it might seem easier to invite anyone willing to join, not everyone can provide useful feedback. To get better results, it’s best to recruit people who are similar to your actual users or users of a similar existing product. This way, you can understand how real users will interact with your product and what improvements are needed.

To recruit the right participants, you can ask two types of research questions before the test:

1.1. Demographic questions

Demographic questions are screening questions that typically focus on aspects such as age, gender, or background to help you understand who your participants are. However, these questions should be asked carefully, as they may involve sensitive topics. Using clear and respectful language is key to making participants feel comfortable.

Here are a few usability testing questions examples of good demographics:

• What is your age group? (e.g., 18-24, 25-30, 31-40)
• How would you describe your gender?
• What is your occupation/ role?
• What is your relationship status? (If relevant)
• What is your household income range? (If relevant)
• How would you describe your ethnicity? (If relevant)

1.2. Background questions

Background questions are broad, foundational questions designed to gather context and insights about participants. In usability testing, they serve as standard usability questions that gauge participants’ familiarity with the product or similar ones. These questions help gather context about their previous experience, typical usage patterns, and overall comfort with specific features. This insight proves valuable when analyzing feedback, allowing you to explain unexpected results and refine your design for broader usability. 

Here are some sample usability test questions to know about participants’ context:

• How often do you use this product?
• Which features do you use the most?
• How comfortable are you with using [X feature] to complete tasks?
• Have you used other products in the same industry?
• What device do you usually use for [X task]?

2. Questions to ask during the Usability Test

When conducting a usability test, the main goal is to observe how users interact with your product naturally. It’s tempting to ask many questions during the test, but this can interrupt the user’s flow and affect their genuine responses. Instead, it’s important to ask fewer but well-thought-out questions that encourage users to share their honest thoughts. 

Depending on your testing approach, you may need to ask different types of questions. These questions can be divided into two categories: 

2.1. Moderated Usability Testing Questions 

In a moderated usability test, the researcher is present to observe and interact with the participant. This approach allows you to ask follow-up questions based on what the user is doing or saying. The best practice is to observe first and ask only when necessary. Probe the user if you get the sense that they might be stuck at any point of time. Make sure your questions are clear and encourage users to express their thoughts freely.

Examples of moderated usability testing questions include:

• I noticed you [describe user action]. Can you explain why you did that?
• Did you notice there was another way to do [X]? Why did you choose this method?
• You seemed unsure during this step. What were you thinking at that moment?

2.2. Unmoderated Usability Testing Questions 

In an unmoderated usability test, participants complete tasks independently, without a facilitator. Given the absence of real-time guidance, the questions play a crucial role in guiding participants through the test. Since you won’t be present during the test to clarify anything, your questions need to be clear, concise, and easy to understand. To avoid confusion, it’s a good idea to test your questions with a few people and do a dry run before running the actual test.

For unmoderated tests, it’s often helpful to include a mix of open-ended and multiple-choice questions followed by asking ‘why’ for questions where further insight is needed. Open-ended questions encourage participants to share their opinions in detail, while multiple-choice questions provide structured responses that are easier to analyze.

Here are some examples of unmoderated usability testing questions:

• Which of these two methods did you prefer for completing the task? (Multiple choice) 
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how easy was it to complete the task? (Likert-scale questions)
• How would you describe your experience using this feature? (Open-ended)

You may want to know more about: Moderated vs Unmoderated Usability Testing: Which is Better?

3. Questions to ask after the Usability Test

Participants often have additional feedback or thoughts they haven’t shared during the session, making the post-usability test an ideal time for follow-up questions. Gathering this feedback offers deeper insights into the overall user experience. It helps you identify areas for improvement that might not have been immediately obvious during the test.

Here are some examples of post-test questions:

• How would you describe your overall experience with the product?
• Were there any tasks that were difficult or confusing?
• How would you rate the difficulty of the tasks on a scale from 1 to 10?
• If you had a magic wand to change anything about this product to make the user experience better, what would you change?
• Do you have any additional comments or suggestions?

Read more: How to Write a Good Usability Testing Script? 

Tips for asking the right Usability Test Questions

Now that we’ve covered the types of usability test questions to ask, It’s time to explore some best practices for usability testing questions, which help you communicate effectively with participants and collect meaningful insights that truly reflect the user experience. Here’s a quick guide on what you should and shouldn’t do when asking usability interview questions.

1. Do’s

• Use “Think-Aloud” Prompts: Encouraging participants to verbalize their thoughts as they navigate your product helps you understand the reasoning behind each action and the thought process behind their behavior. This approach not only reveals what users are doing but also why they’re doing it, which leads to gaining a better understanding. 
• Ask open-ended questions: Open-ended questions invite detailed feedback and give participants the freedom to express their genuine thoughts. Instead of framing your questions in a way that leads to simple “yes” or “no” answers, use phrases like “What did you think about…?” or “How would you describe…?” to foster more comprehensive responses.
• Test Questions in Advance: Before conducting the usability test, run a pilot session with a small group to evaluate the clarity and effectiveness of your questions. This helps identify any confusing or ambiguous phrasing and ensures your questions guide participants toward giving you accurate and relevant responses. Adjust the wording based on their input to ensure the final test runs smoothly and yields actionable insights.

2. Don’ts

• Ask leading questions: Leading questions can bias the results by influencing participants to respond in a specific way. Instead of asking something like “Did you find this feature helpful?” try a neutral alternative such as “How was your experience with this feature?” The goal is to gather unbiased, honest feedback.
• ​​Ask Multiple Questions at Once: Don’t combine several questions into one, as it can confuse participants and result in incomplete answers. Break down complex inquiries into individual, focused questions to get clear and actionable feedback.
• Make Assumptions: Avoid assuming participants have prior knowledge or experience with your product. Asking questions based on assumptions can alienate users or lead to inaccurate feedback. Instead, ask open-ended questions to gauge their familiarity, such as “Have you used similar products before? If so, can you tell me about your experience?” This ensures you gather context without unintentionally influencing their responses. 

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Conclusion

Great usability tests are essential for creating better user experiences, but they require careful preparation and effort to be effective. Crafting thoughtful usability testing task questions and curating an effective discussion guide in advance ensures you make the most of your time, budget, and the insights gathered during the process.

When you plan your questions in stages—before, during, and after the test—you can uncover potential issues early, understand whether your product meets user needs, and gather feedback that may even spark new ideas. With the right approach, usability tests become a powerful tool not just for solving problems, but also for driving innovation and delivering a product that truly resonates with users.

If you’re looking for a UX Audit service provider or exploring reliable usability testing companies to evaluate and enhance your digital product, our team of usability experts is ready to conduct thorough product usability tests, providing a detailed evaluation report tailored to your unique needs.

As a leading UI/UX design studio, Lollypop specializes in delivering comprehensive product development from UX Research, Product Design, and Development across various digital platforms. 

Contact us today to schedule a FREE consultation and explore how we can implement usability testing standards to enhance your product’s user experience!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are usability testing questions?

Usability testing questions are the questions you ask participants by using usability testing tools to understand how they interact with your product and what issues they encounter. These questions can be asked before, during, or after the test to gather a complete picture of the user’s experience. The goal is to collect insights that help improve the product’s usability, functionality, and overall user satisfaction.

2. When to use open-ended vs. closed-ended questions?

Open-ended questions are best when you want detailed feedback or opinions. They allow participants to share their thoughts freely, understand why they think in a particular way, and provide rich insights into their experiences.

Yes OR No questions, on the other hand, are better suited for collecting specific, measurable responses, making them useful for quantifiable data or quick decision-making.

3. What if participants ask you a question during a usability test?

If a participant asks you a question during a usability test, it’s important to stay neutral and avoid influencing their behavior. Rather than giving direct answers, encourage them to continue exploring on their own by responding with phrases like “Please show your best guess as to how you would do the [task]”. “There are no right or wrong answers”. The goal is to let users navigate the product independently, as this reveals more about how intuitive your design is. In the case where the user is curious to know something, reassure them that their questions will be answered post-test.