What is a Live Site Test?
Live site test lets you connect a live web application directly into your study, so participants can open it in their own browser and complete tasks in a real environment. You can observe how they interact with your product or website as they naturally would, capturing authentic feedback and behavior. The task runs on desktop only, and participants complete it in Chrome with the Hubble Tracker extension.
Why Use a Live Site Test?
- Test with real users in real environments: Gather feedback from users using your app on their own devices.
- Identify friction points: See where users struggle in real-world scenarios.
- Optimize workflows: Understand how users complete key tasks and improve efficiency.
- Improve feature adoption: Discover which features users engage with and which ones they overlook.
How to Set Up a Live Site Test
Step 1. Add the Live site test
Within your unmoderated study builder, click Add task and select Live site test.
Step 2. Specify task details and insert URL
Specify the task Title and Description to instruct participants. The Add Task button just below the description stays inactive until you turn on Collect advanced usability metrics. Insert the address of the site you want to test under Website URL, which participants open in a new browser tab during the task. You can also record or upload a Guide video for participants to watch before they begin.
Step 3. Choose recording and metric options
Further down, you can choose what to collect during the session. Collect advanced usability metrics records clicks and navigation through the Hubble Tracker extension, and it enables the task steps. Collect screen recordings, Collect audio feedback, and Collect webcam feedback capture the participant's screen, voice, and camera. Record text entries saves any text participants submit.
Step 4. Set success criteria
To measure whether participants reach a goal, turn on Measure success metrics. You can choose All URLs to require every listed page, or Any URL to count any one of them. Enter each target URL, then use the Reached on dropdown to require it on a specific step or on Any step.
Step 5. Add task steps
Once advanced usability metrics is on, you can use Add Task to break the task into steps. Each step appears as Step 1, Step 2, and so on, with its own Instructions field.
What Participants See
Participants open a link to your chosen website and work through the tasks in their own browser, guided by the on-screen instructions. Here is what they see from start to finish.
From the study welcome screen, participants click Start to begin.
Before the session starts, they grant recording access. The study requests Screen share access, Webcam, and Microphone. Once all three show as allowed, they click Continue.
On the task screen, participants see the task title and instructions. Since the task relies on the Hubble Tracker extension, they first click Install Hubble Chrome extension.
This opens the Hubble Tracker listing in the Chrome Web Store, where they click Add to Chrome.
Chrome asks them to confirm, and they click Add extension to install it.
With the extension installed, participants click Open website to launch the site. As they browse, a panel from the Hubble Tracker extension shows the current step and its instruction, such as Step 1 of 3. They move between steps using Next task and Previous task, and they can collapse the panel with Hide. After finishing the tasks on the site, they close the website tab, return to the study, and click Continue.
Reviewing the Results
When you open a participant's response, the Click sequence lays out their session step by step. It shows the pages they visited and marks each spot they clicked on a screenshot of the page, so you can see exactly where they went. A per-response AI summary recaps how they moved through the site, and View this moment jumps to that point in the recording.
Watch the Walkthrough
The demo below walks through the full process, from setting up a Live site test to taking the study as a participant and reviewing the results.