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Purdy's usability report
Enhancing Chocolate Discovery and Selection
Overview
In this usability report, we conducted a series of test with users to first analyze the present Purdys’ website and further discover any current problem spaces. The main purpose of this research is to break down the functionality of the site to lead us to potential opportunities and solutions. These results are used to help improve the overall user experience.
Timeline
November - December
4 weeks
Design Role
UI/UX Research
Wireframing
Prototyping
Tools used
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Team
4 Designers
Executive Summary
The tests were conducted with 5 different participants and contained various parts to test the user process.
- Introduction to the test
- Pre-test Questionnaire
- Preference Test
- First Click Test
- 5 Seconds Test
- Think-Out-Loud Task test
- Post-test Questionnaire
Report Goals
Make Observations
During the testing process, we observe the user’s actions, behaviours, and thoughts as they work through the tasks.
Analyze Data Results
Dissecting the information, we hope to identify the various pain points and narrow into those problem spaces.
Propose Potential Solutions
We hope to use the results of these usability tests to provide potential methods to solve those given issues.
User Groups
The purpose of creating an archetype list serves the purpose of enhancing our understanding of the characteristics of our typical users. This will give us an opportunity to better understand our users’ goals, pain points, frustrations, and opportunities to improve the site. The list of archetypes were created based on the resources and services offered by Purdy's Chocolatier’s via the retail website.
- Chocolate/Sweets Enthusiasts
- Gift Givers
- Corporate Companies
- Fundraiser
- Bakers
The Ideal User
The purpose of crafting an ideal user is to establish an archetype representing the ideal Purdy's Chocolatier user with a keen interest in buying chocolates, specifically tailored for a key objective: initiating a customizable order on the Purdys’ website. Here, Leo Holmes is an ideal user of the website.
01/ Pre-test Questionnaire
To begin our usability test, we asked the participants to complete a set of pre-test questions. The pre-test questions gave us an understanding of their background, including their demographics, preferences regarding online food ordering, and the motivations behind their online food orders. Throughout this process, we remained mindful of the archetypes and personas we had previously established.
- What is your age?
- What is your occupation?
- What is your gender?
- How many times have you purchased products online within the last 3 months?
- Do you like sweets?
- Which online shops have you made purchases from?
- What website do you use often to purchase items online?
- How tech savy are you?
- What is the reason you purchase food products online?
Recruiting Participants
A total of 5 participants were recruited for the study. The selected participants share common characteristics such as a fondness for sweets, particularly chocolate, suggesting a prerequisite interest in the product. They exhibit proficiency and comfort with technology and the internet, and are familiar with the process of online shopping. This diverse group includes individuals aged 25-35, representing both full-time working individuals and students. These specific criteria were established to provide insights into the Purdys’ website's usability, particularly in terms of online ordering, across a range of demographics and preferences.
02/ Preference Test
Following the completion of the pre-test questions, participants were guided through a Preference Test, divided into three sections. In the initial phase, the participants examined four distinct homepages representing different chocolate brands: Lindt, Ghirardelli, Purdys’, and Godiva. The second section involved comparing the navigation bars, and lastly, evaluating the product pages. Participants were then prompted to choose their preferred selections.
Part 1: Homepage
Which interface do you find the most appealing?
Follow up question: What is the reasoning?
Part 2: Navigation Bar
Which navigation system/bar do you prefer?
Follow up question: What is the reasoning?
Part 3: Product Page
Which product page do you think would be the easiest to navigate?
Follow up questions: Why did you choose this?
03/ First Click test
The first-click test monitors participants' initial clicks and presents the outcomes through a heatmap. Our aim was to discern the areas participants would navigate to in order to discover gifts.
Where would you click first to browse for a gift?
Follow up question: Why did you choose to click here?
- I chose the "gift" category because I am looking for a gift and am expecting a list of price options+ chocolate's to choose from.
- Better value for multiple gifts.
- I'm looking for gift and there's a straight link that seems create for gift.
- Because it says gifts.
- Right in the centre so it is immediately visible to the user and actually has relevancy to the use case.
- If it's not a Christmas gift... then here seems reasonable. But... some conflict!
04/ Think Aloud Test
We then conducted a series of "Think Aloud tests," inviting users to verbalize their thoughts as they explored the Purdys’ website. Our aim was to understand how they make decisions, collect feedback, and identify any areas causing difficulty to suggest potential solutions.
Following each task, participants were requested to rate their experience using the System Usability Scale (SUS) on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being strongly disagree and 10 being strongly agree. This scale provided a rapid gauge of usability.
Task 1: Imagine you are making a purchase of chocolates online. Please find 3 items: a chocolate that is nut-free, a chocolate that is vegan and a gift card.
Follow up question: Why did you choose this rating?
Responses:
Summary:
Overall this task was relatively easy for the participates until they got to the nut-free part of the task. Almost all of the participants wanted to have a ‘nut-free’ category similar to ‘vegan chocolate’, but they didn’t know and couldn’t find why there wasn’t an option for that. Purdy’s hid the reason for not offering any ‘nut-free’ chocolates all the way in the FAQ, which can only be found in the footer. Lastly, a few participant found the navigation to be too cluttered and it confused them. They would like to see a more robust navigation.
Task 2: Imagine you are finding a gift for a friend that only likes fruit-flavoured chocolates. Please make a custom gift box with 25 pieces of chocolate.
Follow up question: Why did you choose this rating?
Responses:
Summary:
All participants encountered difficulties with this task due to the layout, requiring continuous and long scrolling to view all available chocolates. All participants were dissatisfied with the lack of a counter to track their selection of chocolates, forcing them to manually count. Additionally, the lack of a filter posed challenges in locating specific flavours like fruit-flavoured ones. Two participants faced issues with selecting the quantity of chocolates, as they had to deselect the pre-selected "none" option before adding quantities.
Task 3: Scenario imagine you are hosting a Christmas party. Please find 3 recipes: a drink, an entree, and a dessert.
SUS Score:
Follow up question: Why did you choose this rating?
Responses:
Summary:
While some noted the absence of recipe sorting options, they found the inclusion of tags helpful, acknowledging potential challenges with scalability. There was initial confusion for one participant regarding Purdys' association with non-dessert recipes, but navigation improved once the recipe section was located. The random method categorization of recipes without clear distinctions posed a challenge. The search bar's failure to display drink options and the suggestion for clearer filtering options highlighted potential enhancements for a more user-friendly experience, emphasizing the importance of refining navigation and categorization for improved usability.
05/ Task Completion Rate
We compiled all of the results from the think-aloud test into a chart that indicates the completion rate of the given tasks, as well as the time it took the participant to complete/attempt completing it. Out of all the three tasks, the first task (browse for a vegan chocolate, a nut-free chocolate, and a gift card) was not successfully completed by any participant. As for the two other tasks, all participants were able to successfully complete them.
Task 2 took the longest for participants to complete, with an average time of time of 3 minutes and 49 seconds.
Task 1 took the second longest to attempt at completing, with an average time of 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
06/ Post-Test Questionnaire
After all the tests had been finished, we had participants to fill out the post-test questionnaire to collect feedback on their thoughts on the overall user experience. Debriefing with the participants, the responses given gave more insight onto what were the key elements that they notice (good or bad) and how that changed or affected the process of them completing a task.
Overall comments:
- "I could not easily find the nut-free chocolates. it is strange they did not have a category for it specifically when browsing for all chocolates."
- "Unnecessarily complex specifically for the nutopion because there are nocategories for nut allergies"
- "Finding chocolate options for specific dietary restrictions. If i was allergic to something used in the chocolate, I would like an easy way to be informed of the ingredients rather than going into each item and checking."
- "It hada confusing way to add custom chocolates, and not showing how many choolates i have left to select"
07/ Results Analysis
Heuristic Evaluation
Through this evaluation, the lowest scored sections were ‘Search’ (53%) and ‘Task Orientation’ (68%) and the highest scored sections were ‘Page Layout & Visual Design’ (85%) and ‘Home page’ (80%). These scores reflect which areas our user participants struggled with the most throughout the think-aloud test.
System Usability Scale (SUS)
Task 1 had a frustrating rating of 50% with a severity rating of 2.5. Participants were unable to locate nut-free options, attempting both the search function and selecting chocolate types. This task received an impact score of 5 due to the absence of a nut-free option in the dietary restriction that Purdys’ offers.
Task 2 had a frustrating rating of 62% with a severity rating of 1.8.
Task 3 had a frustrating rating of 44% with a severity rating of of 0.44. Once users located the recipes, they efficiently found the three items required to complete their task.
08/ Recognizing the Problems
After finalizing our analysis on the results and data, we were able to identify particular problems that many of the participants brought up during testing. We observed three noticeable problem spaces:
PXL Prioritization
The PXL framework is a prioritization model that is designed to help determine in what order should each potential solution be addressed in terms of priority
Based on the results of the PXL framework, the test hypotheses that score the highest were the reformatting of the navigation bar and adding filters for preferences, such as dietary restrictions when building a custom box, both scoring 14. This was followed up by including a counter to track number of pieces during the custom box selection process, with a score of 13.
09/ Proposing Solutions
Based on the problems identified by the participants, we also took into account the problems discovered in the PXL framework.
Problem 1: Navigation menu and filters are too convoluted and clutter that becomes overwhelming to search through.
The current navigation menu presents challenges for users due to its lack of visual hierarchy and inconsistent use of colors and text sizes. With multiple colors and no clear differentiation in text size, users struggle to identify primary categories and subcategories within the menu.
Before
After
Problem 2: The formatting is messy and lacks information and the process of searching and selecting is too tedious.
The recipe page currently presents usability challenges for users due to a lack of filters, categorization, and duration information. Without these features, users find it difficult to narrow down their search for specific recipes based on criteria such as recipe type, or dietary preferences. The absence of categorization makes it challenging to browse through recipes efficiently, leading to frustration and a longer search process.
Before
After
Problem 3: Lack of call to action leads for missed marketing and promoting opportunities.
The current custom box selection process is challenging for users due to inefficient scrolling, a lack of a counter feature for tracking selections, and no filtering options. There is no feedback for users as they select and a well as lack of additional information for each chocolate.
Before
After
