Under a service trial, people use your service in the context of their daily lives for a set period, and feed back how it went. new experience has set up user trials to test new mobile services for clients that include Sky, jobs website Totaljobs and Metro newspaper.

Service trials take a little longer than pure usability testing but in return you gain real-world feedback. A service trial could be your best option if you want to know:

• how exactly people will use your service in their everyday lives
• what aspects of design may impede this use
• what really works well for people
• what is missing from your users' perspective
• how much people would pay for such a service.

1. We brief participants in a group session at our offices.
2. Triallists use the live or beta service for between 5 and 14 days.
3. We ask triallists to complete a specially designed diary over 3 to 5 days of the trial and post this daily to a dedicated website. 
4. At the end of the trial, participants come back to our offices for one-on-one debriefs that can also include some elements of task-based usability testing.

During the trial we can learn about any technical or usability issues people experience as well as how and when the service is of most value.

The diaries and follow-up debrief allow you to combine natural usage with rigorous and detailed probing. Together they provide an accurate picture of usage experience.