Dollars & SenseUser Research

Knikki Crenshaw

Hank Henry

Nancy Rice

Tom Sakell

Ben Yzaguirre

Knikki Crenshaw

Hank Henry

Nancy Rice

Tom Sakell

Ben Yzaguirre

Agenda

• Introduction• Focus Group

– Focus Group 1 Findings– Focus Group 2 Findings

• Usability Testing• Final Prototype • Recommendations• Conclusion

User Research

Round 1

Focus Group 1

• Goals of Round 1 User Research– Assess appeal of website layout and content– Impact on motivation

• Scope of Dollars and Sense prototype

- Addition of Facebook

• Reason for using focus groups– Round 1 Focus Group

Focus Group # 1 – Home Page

Second Level Page

Facebook Page

Focus Group 2

• Conducted using Adobe Connect• Three participants, slightly older average age

– Did these users have a similar reaction to the sites as the first focus group?

– Did our iterative changes improve the user experience?

Home page - First round of Revisions

Revised Facebook Page

Findings from Focus Group 1 Items Implemented for Focus Group 2

Items Tabled Due to Time Constraints

Add mission statement on the homepage to clarify site purpose ✔

Increase the font on the side bars ✖Include a picture when multimedia is used ✖Change the main article text location to the left with the picture on the right ✔

Change the college bound title, it sounds like it is for pre-college kids ✔

Include a preview with the “Big Picture “ tab ✔Clarify tab meanings for the main article and the big picture ✔

Make the Facebook page appear more collaborative ✖Add a more visible link to the Dollars & Sense site on the Facebook page ✔

Include video ratings ✖Add more “what’s in it for me” themes to the content ✖Add more charts into the content ✖Embed more video into the pages ✔

Revised Second Level Page

 

Reactions to Iterative Changes

• Users understood the purpose of the sitemore clearly

• Liked the addition of more visible multimedia• Still confusion over tabs on second level page• Still some confusion on Facebook page

New Insights from Focus Group 2

• Needed even more video and multimedia• Information was good,

but make the sites more “personal”• There is a real interest in the “Bigger Picture,”

it’s just a matter of getting the users there• Users want an up-to-date site

User Research

Round 2

Usability Testing / Methods

• One-on-one testing• Two rounds, two tests each• Working from same script, questions and tasks• Tracking Users - eye tracking, talking out loud• Talking Beyond the question

Usability Testing / Iterative Changes

• Live Chat • Multimedia Icons• Podcasts • Video Images• Content Images• Color Coordinating• More, More Video

Usability – Second Level Page

Usability – Big Picture

Usability – More, Bigger Video

Different formats / looks for video

Usability – Facebook

• Clickable

• Visible URL

AudioVideo / YouTubeRelevant Information to this Audience

• Information “chunked”

• Relevant Information

• Obama

Final Prototype

Recommendations

• Target audience preferences• Content / Delivery• Out of scope Web 2.0 tools• 508 compliancy• Agora brand

Conclusion

• Group 2 Conclusions• Next steps

• Additional research– Web Tools

• Group 2 Contact Information