Usability testing template: moderated session script
Where do people get stuck?
This template is a session guide for a moderated usability test, where a researcher watches someone use the product and asks questions as they go. It follows the Great Question "Moderated Usability Test" guide: an introduction, warm-up questions, setting up screen sharing, the tasks, follow-up questions and a conclusion. Swap in your own product and tasks.
Questions it can answer
- How easy is our product to use?
- How long will it take someone to use our product?
- What parts of our product will confuse people?
What is moderated usability testing?
Moderated usability testing involves the research participant using the product or service (or have seen prototypes or mockups) to complete realistic activities or tasks as if they were using the product for real. The researcher observes the participant in real time as they use the product, capturing details of their behavior and listening for feedback. An advantage of moderated usability testing is that the researcher can ask the participant questions in real time as they are using the product. This enables a deep understanding to be achieved around why a participant is behaving in a certain way.
When to use it. Usability testing is generally used once the product concept has been defined and the detailed user interface is being developed. The aim is to uncover potential issues with the product design and discover opportunities to improve the product before it’s released. It’s also a valuable tool when a product is live and you want to optimize aspects of it.
Moderated usability testing specifically should be used when interaction and conversation between the researcher and participant is required. This is generally used to collect qualitative information around why a participant has behaved in a certain way, why they think something or where clarification on a subject is required.
Related guide: For planning, recruiting and reporting, see our usability testing guide.
Do it faster with a Claude skill: Discussion guide builder. Builds a first draft of this study in Claude that you can edit before you send it.
The questions in this template
These are the questions in the Great Question Moderated Usability Test template. Replace the text in curly brackets with your own.
Introduction
Hi {name}, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me today, I really appreciate it.
For background, my name is {your name} and I'm a {your role} at {your company name}. The purpose of today's call is to ask you to try using our {product or website} that we're working on so we can see whether it works as intended.
Before we get started I have a few pieces of housekeeping:
- We're testing the {product or website}, not you. You can't do anything wrong here.
- As you use the {product or website}, I'm going to ask you as much as possible to think out loud. To say what you're looking at, what you're trying to do, and what you're doing. This will be a big help to me.
- Don't worry about hurting our feelings. We're doing this to improve the site, so we need to hear your honest reactions.
- If you have questions along the way, just ask them. I may not be able to answer them right away since we're interested in what people do when we're not there to help, but I'll answer them at some time.
- Lastly, I'd like to record this call so we can focus on what you're saying and take our notes formally later. Do you mind if we record?
<HIT RECORD>
Warm-up questions
To kick things off, I'd love to learn a little more about you generally:
What company do you work for?
What business are they in?
What's your role?
What are your primary responsibilities?
Setup screen sharing
OK, great. We're done with the questions, and we can start looking at things. The first thing I'd like you to do is share your screen. You can do that by {share screen instructions}. Before you share, make sure to close anything you don't want recorded.
Great. Please click on the URL link I shared {however you shared it}. To start, please look at this page and tell me what you make of it: What are your first impressions? What is this site for? You can scroll if you want to, but don't click on anything just yet.
Task completion
Thanks. Now I'm going to ask you to respond to the following few scenarios. I'm going to read each scenario out loud, and I'll also share the text of the scenario via chat.
Example: Imagine you're working on a collaborative training application that will help employees at your agency identify and plan to attend conferences together. Someone on your team worries that because your application collects and maintains personally identifiable information you might need to complete a privacy impact assessment. Using this website, show me how you would identify whether or not your system will require completing a privacy impact assessment.
Task 1
Scenario: {write a task scenario}
Link: URL for user to click through
{Add additional tasks as needed}
Follow-up
Great, we're finished with the bulk of the test. You mentioned [something they said out loud] earlier and I didn't want to jump in at that time. Can you say more about that?
What are your thoughts about this, generally?
Conclusion
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, I really appreciate it. Before we finish, what did we forget to ask?
Would you be open to speaking with us again in the future?
Who else should we talk to?
{if incentivized, describe instructions on how to redeem incentive}
Questions you might add
These are our suggestions, not part of the Great Question template. Add them only if you will use the answers.
After each task: Overall, how difficult or easy was that task to complete? 7-point scale: Very difficult to Very easy. (The Single Ease Question, from Jeff Sauro at MeasuringU.)
After each task: Was anything different from what you expected? Open.
After all tasks: the 10-item System Usability Scale (see the SUS template), given before the closing discussion.
Warm-up, for consumer products: How do you currently handle [the job the product does]? Open.
How to run it
When to run it. Once you have something people can use: a clickable prototype, a staging build or the live product. Moderated testing is the right choice when you need to hear why people do what they do, or when the tasks are complex enough that participants may need a nudge to keep going.
Write the scenarios. The guide leaves a "Scenario: {write a task scenario}" slot for each task. Write each one as a realistic goal, not instructions. For example: "You've just joined a new team and need to invite two colleagues. Show me how you would do that." Avoid words that appear on the button or link you are testing, and give each task a clear point at which it is done.
Session length. Plan 45 to 60 minutes, with three to six tasks. Do a pilot session with a colleague first to check timings and task wording.
How many participants. Jakob Nielsen's widely cited guidance is about five participants per round for qualitative usability testing, then fix what you find and test again. Test more if you have distinct user groups, roughly that number per group.
How to analyse. After each session, log every issue with the task, what happened, how many participants hit it and a severity (for example: blocks the task, causes delay, minor annoyance). Count task success per task. Group issues by screen or step, and prioritise by severity and frequency. Pull short clips of the most common issues to share with the team.
Running it in Great Question. Run it as an interview study: scheduling, observer rooms with unlimited observer seats, and highlight reels are all on the self-serve plan.
Advantages
- Evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of your product
- Identify likely issues with your product design
- Understand how people are likely to use your product
Limitations
- Time intensive to conduct
- Participants can behave differently in a research environment to their real one
- Sample size will be small
Frequently asked questions
What should a usability testing template include?
An introduction that sets expectations and asks for consent to record, warm-up questions, a first-impressions question once screen sharing starts, the task scenarios, follow-up questions and a short close. This template has all of these in 11 prompts.
How many participants do I need for a moderated usability test?
About five per round is the widely cited guidance from Jakob Nielsen for finding the main problems, with further rounds after you make changes. If you have clearly different user groups, test a few from each.
What is the difference between moderated and unmoderated usability testing?
In a moderated test a researcher is present, live, and can ask follow-up questions. In an unmoderated test participants work alone with software that records what they do. Moderated tells you why; unmoderated gets you more sessions faster. See the unmoderated usability testing template.
How long should a usability test session be?
45 to 60 minutes is typical for a moderated session with three to six tasks. Longer sessions tire participants and the later tasks suffer.
Should I tell participants which buttons to click?
No. Describe the goal and let them find the way. If a task uses the same words as the interface, you are testing whether they can match words, not whether the design makes sense.