If you’re going to launch a product, you have to test it on real users first. Here are my 4 basic principles of user testing:
Measure — Each test needs basic success metrics. Can users complete the tasks? How many did they complete? Did they use it again?
Videos — Make videos of users trying the product without interruption from your team. They will be painful to watch but very informative.
Interviews — Metrics and videos don’t tell the whole story, so ask users about their experience and for their suggestions.
Small Tests — To avoid getting the same feedback from almost everybody, break your testing down into small groups that gradually increase in size. This allows you to do multiple iterations with beta users, before launch.