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Moderated vs. Unmoderated Usability Testing: Which One is Right for You?

Maze Free Beginner

Useful once you've run a few in-person sessions and want to test with more people than you can personally sit with. It's honest about the tradeoff: unmoderated tests remove you (and your bias) from the room entirely, but you lose the ability to probe follow-up questions, so you need a tighter, clearer script going in.

• Unmoderated testing removes the moderator's bias entirely, at the cost of follow-up questions.
• Write your task instructions extra carefully since no one is there to clarify them.
• Pilot an unmoderated test on one or two people before sending it to everyone.