> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getversive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Test modes

> Conversational interviews, expert heuristic audits, and SUS questionnaires

Prototype and image tests run in one of two modes, and either can add a SUS questionnaire on top.

## Conversational test (dynamic interview)

The default mode. An AI moderator interviews the AI persona about each screen, producing a natural back-and-forth transcript — first impressions, expectations, confusion, and what they'd do next.

* The interview covers your **test sections** (e.g. *Initial Impressions, User Actions & Behavior, Usability Issues, Recommendations*).
* You can add a **custom interview script per screen** to make sure specific questions get asked.
* Every persona execution produces its own transcript, so five personas give you five distinct perspectives on the same flow.

**Use it when** you want qualitative reactions and the *why* behind usability problems — the closest thing to a moderated usability session, minutes instead of weeks.

## Expert audit (heuristic evaluation)

A single AI expert reviews the entire flow against usability heuristics — by default **Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics**:

1. Visibility of system status
2. Match between system and the real world
3. User control and freedom
4. Consistency and standards
5. Error prevention
6. Recognition rather than recall
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
10. Help and documentation

You can replace or extend these with **custom heuristics** — each is just a name and a definition, so you can audit against your own design system rules or accessibility criteria.

Results rate each heuristic (**Good / Fair / Poor / Not Applicable**), list the specific issues found, and produce per-screen recommendations.

**Use it when** you want a fast, systematic design QA pass rather than simulated user reactions — great before design reviews or as a pre-launch checklist.

## SUS questionnaires

Optionally, every persona fills in a **System Usability Scale** questionnaire after its run:

* Starts from the 10 standard SUS statements (alternating positive/negative), each answered on a 1–5 scale.
* Statements are editable, and you can use 1–20 of them — polarity is tracked per statement so scoring stays correct.
* Produces the standard **0–100 SUS score** per run, comparable across design iterations.

<Tip>
  SUS scores from AI personas are best used **relatively** — comparing design A to design B, or v1 to v2 — rather than as absolute benchmarks against human-normed scales.
</Tip>

## Choosing a mode

| You want…                                      | Mode                                                   |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| User reactions, confusion points, and quotes   | Conversational                                         |
| A systematic design-quality audit              | Expert audit                                           |
| A trackable usability metric across iterations | Either + SUS                                           |
| Both perspectives                              | Run one test in each mode — same project, same screens |