A Single Ease Question survey template is a Likert scale survey template user researchers usepost-task in usability sessions.Â
It measures the perceived difficulty of performing a task. And its goal is to help testers analyze user flows and draw actionable insights into user behavior.
A Single Ease Question survey is a Likert scale survey user researchers trigger post-task in usability sessions. It measures the perceived difficulty of performing a task. And its goal is to help testers analyze user flows and draw actionable insights into user behavior.
When performing moderated usability testing, you may be tempted to think you can do without an SEQ. You observe the users and measure the times of performing tasks in the end.Â
These are understandable doubts. Yet, even if you do measure time and observe, you still need the SEQ.Â
Why?Â
Single Ease Question metric is a subjective measure - it tells you what a subjective perception of a user is. Like all subjective metrics, SEQ is valid, necessary, and works best if combined with measurable data.Â
Take the example:Â
You're testing the usability of a fairly complex flow. A user seems to need more time than other test participants to complete a task. Yet, they rate the task's difficulty as 7 (very easy), leaving you surprised.
It is because our temperaments and personalities influence the way we perceive things. SEQ is a subjective metric, and its subjectivity is a good thing! To have a complete picture of the situation, you need to juxtapose users' subjective satisfaction with a design and objective data.
Like SUS , SEQ survey templates are used in a user testing setting. They make sense both when you conduct usability tests on live websites or apps and when you test prototypes.                                                                                                                                                                        Â
Unlike SUS questions that are sent post-test, SEQ questions are triggered after a user completes a given task.
Provide user testing participants with the survey after each task. Add open-ended follow-up questions to have users explain their scores and give you more qualitative feedback.
Note that you can ask a test participant the SEQ question even if they don't complete a task.
Yes, it is. Using the SEQu questionnaires is a standard practice in usability testing.
Like with all quantitative survey questions, you need at least 20-30 respondents to get valid results. Having fewer responses wouldn't give you statistically accurate results.Â
However, suppose you decide to follow the SEQ with an open-ended question. You can still derive valuable insights even if you run tests on a smaller number of users. (Qualitative research requires smaller sample sizes to be valid.)Â
PRO TIPs:
The Single Ease Question gauges how easy or difficult the task you’re testing was.
The most common version of the question is:Â
But Norman Nielsen also proposes:Â
If you decide to play with the question structure, make sure you don't ask a leading question, like "How easy was the task…?" Such a survey question might influence the answers and skew the results.Â
Also, according to best practices, SEQu is a 7-point Likert scale question. It's advisable not to change the difficulty rating scale.Â
Are you going to run unmoderated, remote usability tests? Feel free to use our Single Ease Question survey template above! It's free to use and ready to go! :)
It's safe to adopt a benchmark of 5.2-5.6. Any score below 5 is a sure sign improvement should be made.
Setting up all Survicate surveys is a piece of cake.Â
1. Sign up.
Click the "Send this survey for free" button above to sign up. Use your business email.Â
Aren't you ready to make a commitment and sign up for a paid plan? Don't worry. By clicking the button, you're signing up for a free account. There are no strings attached!
2. Customize the survey to make it match your brand.Â
Survicate's Single Ease Question survey template follows the best practices of usability testing research. We don't recommend altering it.Â
What you can consider doing is customizing the survey template. Change the colors of the fonts and the survey background to make it look on-brand. You can also brand it even more and add your company logo. This is a paid feature, though.Â
3. Set targetting.Â
If you’re going to run usability testing on a live app or website, you can enable the survey to display once a test particpant performs and action - define the events and set them as triggers in the feedback collection tool.Â
4. Add integrations.
‍Survicate offers you a selection of 3rd-party integrations. It integrates with CRMs, product management tools, and marketing automation software. No coding skills are required to connect the tools as the platform leads you step-by-step through the process.Â
Product teams will be most interested in integrating tools like Mixpanel, Amplitude, or ProductBoard. Enabling the integrations will let you combine the user feedback from the surveys with other data and easily access it in your product management software. How handy and time-efficient!Â
Consider also adding communicators like Slack or Microsoft Teams. It'll let you receive your remote usability testing feedback in your communication channels in real-time.
5. Launch the survey.Â
If you’re about to run usability tests on a website that is life, install the tracking code. To do that, use a Google Tag Manager, Segment, Survicate’s Wordpress plugin, or do it manually.Â
6. Analyze the feedback and design solutions loved by users. ;)Â
If you're reading this, you don't have to be conviced that user-centered design makes sense. :) Collect the user feedback and put it to good use!Â
Give our SEQ survey template a try. And best of luck with your usability testing next project!Â