NEGLECTING USER TESTING — ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MISTAKES: THE CASE OF AN ATM MACHINE
I stepped into a banking complex to make a withdrawal from an ATM and what I experienced got me thinking about the implementation of the application. So many questions ran through my mind, like: Why did they allow this kind of preventable mistake to happen? Could it be that there was no design before the implementation, or the interaction design was not duly followed? Why did they not test this application before deployment? … and so on. All these questions beg for answer.
The Experience on the ATM
I inserted my card and the validation process started. While interacting with the machine to Personal Identification Number (PIN) stage, I suspected I entered the wrong PIN while pressing the numbers on the keypad of the machine since I was in a haste. Obviously, I expected the machine to stop me out or prevent me from going to the next stage if the PIN was wrong, but the machine did not prompt me for that. I continued with the notion that “maybe the PIN was correct”, that’s why the machine allowed me to the next stage. At the final stage when the machine was supposed to dispense the cash, here comes the message that my PIN was wrong — after passing through many stages (steps) of validation. Aaaahhh! Whaaaat? Why? I found it very upsetting.
As a UX designer, I quickly knew that one of the design processes was neglected or ignored. The process is known as “user testing”. My questions are:
1. Why would you neglect user-testing — the very process that validates the usability/functionality of a system?
2. Why should a system accept a wrong PIN and allowed me to go through all the stages of validation for withdrawal up to the final stage before telling me that the PIN I entered was wrong?
This is so pathetic. A well-designed and tested system should have stopped me or call my attention when trying to go to the next stage that my PIN was wrong. Why wasting my precious time? What if the PIN stage was stage 2, and the final stage to dispense the cash was stage 10? It means the time and effort would have been wasted. How frustrating will that be?
Unfortunately, these preventable mistakes — not only about correct PIN or password — also happen on other applications (web and mobile) and payment websites. This is because user testing was neglected. Trust me, if you take an untested application to your client(s), you will be surprised on the embarrassments it will give back to you. Of course, you know that this can cause customer disloyalty, which most times, leads to termination of contracts. Little things you think do not matter, matter a lot to users.
User testing is not a waste of time. It is done to check how functional and usable your applications/products are. My advice to all concerned is: “please do not neglect user testing” as it is an integral part of the product’s design process. It gives feedbacks for improvements on your application/products.
