Testing redesigned processes for ease: Test full customer tasks on old and new processes, not isolated screens; Set baseline metrics and pass rules before testing; ensure outcomes match or improve; Check accessibility for keyboard users, small screens and assisted channels
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CX Measurement

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Testing whether a redesigned process is easier

A redesigned service process should be tested on the complete customer task.

Desk Experience Governance · · 2 min read

Test the complete customer task on the old and redesigned processes, not a screen or call in isolation. Define the primary measure, baseline and pass rule before sessions begin, then combine observed task performance with a customer rating and a check of the actual outcome.

How to Test a Redesigned Customer Process

  1. Recruit representative users (5 for formative testing)Include diverse customer types (e.g., age, tech literacy)
  2. Run test on old and redesigned processesUse identical task wording and starting conditions
  3. Record behavioural data and collect feedbackTrack completion time, errors, and ask 'hardest step?'
  4. Verify actual outcome (e.g., order update confirmed)Check system result matches user action
  5. Review against baseline and make decisionOnly proceed if all metrics meet or exceed baseline

Use representative tasks

Use a task-based usability test: give representative customers a realistic task, such as “correct the delivery address on an order already placed”, and observe without steering them. Include routine and exception cases, and keep task wording, starting conditions and assistance consistent across versions.

Test a prototype to find confusing or inaccessible elements, then use beta testing as a final check before release. For comparable live versions, an A/B (split) test can randomly assign customers to the old or new process; keep other conditions the same so the comparison isolates the redesign.

For an operational change, pilot it in a controlled small section and monitor reliable measures for unexpected results. A UX or QA facilitator can run the sessions, while process subject-matter experts verify that the system outcome is correct.

Recruit real users representative of the intended customer group. A formative round can use five participants: the rule of five says this surfaces roughly 85% of a design’s usability problems. Use repeated small studies to find problems; do not treat a handful of sessions as statistical proof of how common they are.

Check quality and accessibility

Record task success, completion time and errors for each version, and check the actual result: did the address change in the order system, and was the customer told when it would take effect? Ask which step was hardest and why, and collect a Customer Effort Score alongside the behavioural evidence.

The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a ten-item questionnaire scored from 0 to 100. Its mean score across 500 evaluations is 68; use that as context when reviewing a score, not as a universal pass mark for a service process.

Before testing, record the old process’s baseline and set a numeric target for the primary measure. Go ahead only if the redesign meets that target, task success and correct outcomes are at least as good as the baseline, and no critical errors appear; otherwise revise the process and test again.

Check whether customers using keyboard navigation, a small screen or an assisted channel can complete the task. After release, monitor repeat contact and complaints about the task, document any new friction, and keep a rollback or correction path for errors affecting orders, payments or other consequential outcomes.

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