Launching products without proper user validation is risky in today's competitive digital landscape. While there are many approaches to prototype testing, we've identified three particularly effective methods that can significantly speed up your validation process and improve outcomes. The best thing with these is that you can run them online, allowing for a wider reach of users and much less effort in execution.
Traditional prototype testing typically involves scheduling one-on-one sessions where UX researchers meet users in person to observe them interacting with prototypes while gathering feedback. While valuable, this approach often means teams struggle with:
Modern online UX research platforms like Leanlab are changing this landscape by enabling faster, more efficient prototype testing without sacrificing insight quality. On the Leanlab platform, you can set up a private community of your users and invite them to unmoderated prototype tests with a low threshold and less time and effort than rearing everything with pen and paper. Below, we have explored 3 ways to leverage UX research platforms for faster and more intuitive user insights.
Market benchmarking and mystery shopping are traditionally separate activities. Market benchmarking involves systematically analysing competitor solutions, user flows, and features to understand industry standards and best practices. Mystery shopping traditionally means having researchers pose as customers to evaluate services or products first-hand.
Today, digital user research platforms enable the combination of these approaches by directly involving real users in both activities. This provides richer insights and helps understand how users perceive and interact with existing solutions in your market. The advantage of digital UX research platforms like Leanlab is that you can use these methods without needing a physical presence.
Users don't experience your product in isolation - their expectations are shaped by all digital experiences they encounter. For example, when Google Docs introduced automatic saving, it changed user expectations about how document editing should work across all platforms. By incorporating benchmarking and mystery shopping in your prototype testing process, you can:
This is how you could do it with a modern UX research platform:
One great thing with the Leanlab platform is that you can invite different users to different tasks simultaneously and have one user group doing one task whilst the other is completing something else. You can also mix and match qualitative and quantitative research methods to set up qualitative research tasks for small groups. Then, you run quantitative research with a larger pool of participants to have rich and deep qualitative data and broader data to quantify information quickly.
Early-stage A/B testing in prototype development differs from traditional A/B testing in live environments. Traditional A/B testing focuses on measuring metrics like conversion rates with live users, while prototype A/B testing or preference testing helps teams make informed design decisions before committing to development.
This method involves presenting users with different versions of design solutions, from early sketches to high-fidelity prototypes, to understand preferences, usability impacts, and potential issues before they become costly to fix.
Making design decisions based on assumptions can lead to expensive mistakes. Early A/B testing:
Stockmann, a multichannel retail company that offers a diverse and high-quality range of fashion, cosmetics and home products, used rapid A/B testing to optimise their login process. By testing multiple design variations early, they could identify and resolve potential usability issues before development. Being able to do prototype testing online within their online customer lab allowed them to do thorough A/B testing in a very tight timeframe and ship a much more user-friendly version to the development team. Read more about how Stockmann uses Leanlab to elevate their customer experience.
Unmoderated prototype testing represents a significant evolution in usability testing. Unlike traditional moderated sessions, where researchers guide users through tasks, unmoderated testing allows users to interact with prototypes independently in their natural environment. This approach provides both scalability and authentic user behaviour insights.
Unmoderated prototype testing offers several unique advantages:
Crystal Clear Instructions:
Include Validation Checks:
Balance Feedback Types:
Capture Initial Reactions:
Seek Improvement Ideas:
While the methods presented here represent just a part of the prototype testing toolkit, they offer a practical starting point for teams looking to improve their validation process. The key benefits of using digital UX research platforms like Leanlab for prototype testing are:
Organisations using this approach report:
The future of prototype testing is moving toward continuous, iterative validation rather than occasional large-scale studies. By adopting these methods and supporting them with the right tools, you can stay ahead of the curve and consistently deliver better user experiences.