Camden Website Redesign Project User

Research
Table of content
Page

Why do user research? 2

Research methods 2

Recruiting users 3

Other ways of recruiting users 3

Challenges in recruiting users for this project 4

Questionnaire Design 4
Usability Testings 6

Why usability testing is important 6

Our finding shows what’s currently happening 7

This chart shows what should be happening 8

Research Findings 8

Our Research on eyetracking Vs. observational tracking

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Conclusion 11
 User Research
For the past few months on this project, we have been going
through several user research sessions using different approaches.
From focus groups to individual user testing’s in the users home.

Why do user research?

You should do some level of user research when the high level
design of your application is underway.

• Task analysis provides important clues to what the interface

organization and conceptual design should be,” (Weinschenck,
p. 26)
• Yes it costs money to do user research. It costs even more
money to go into litigation because nobody though about the
user first.
According to Jakob Nielsen

“Modern day user experience research methods can now answer a

wide range of questions. Knowing when to use each method can be
understood by mapping them in 3 key dimensions and across
typical product development phases.”

We felt the user research will

• Be able to remove stumbling blocks from the user’s path

through the website.
• Be able to get it right early, means moving on faster.
• Help to satisfy users achieve their goals through the interface

Research methods

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Here are some of the research methods that can be used in website
redesign projects like ours. We however chose to use focus groups,
eyetracking, usability lab studies, A/B testing’s, user interviews and
contextual enquiries.

Recruiting users

Since Camden has its own consultative panel of nearly 2000

residents called “Camden Talks”, we decided it was the best way to
recruit our users from this pool of residents. Emails were sent out to
prospective users according to types and categories of users. They
were given a week to respond and were also offered some incentive
to participate.

Other ways of recruiting users

Steve Krug gives some great examples on ways to recruit users for
website redesign:

a. Throw money at the problem (outsourcing)– You can

hire a recruiter if you don’t have the time or
inclination to do recruiting.
b. Look in places where the kinds of people you are
looking for tend to congregate. For example, if you
want to test senior citizens, consider senior centres,
libraries and church groups. If you want people who
use your website, put a link on your homepage or

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 create a pop-up invitation that appears when they
enter or leave.
c. Testing with people who work for your own
organization.
d. Tack it up on bulletin boards.
e. Post it on message boards.
f. Email it to your professional or personal network and
ask them to pass it on to anyone they think might be
interested.
Challenges in recruiting users for this project

There were a few challenges in obtaining users for this research.

•Doing the user research during working hours caused people

to decline the invitation.
• In the beginning we didn’t offer cash gift incentive making it
harder for users to commit to the research and cancelling at
the last minute but this was promptly overcome by offering
the cash gift incentive.
• Finding the right users for the right categories. It was difficult
to match users to the exact profiling that was needed for the
research. But we tried to match it as best and close as we
could.
Questionnaire Design

We conducted some user interviews and contextual enquiries for

this project and you might be wondering what sort of questions we
asked. In order to fully understand our users, we felt we needed to
understand their background, skills and habits.

Therefore the questions were divided into different categories which

include:-

a. About you
b. Tech and gadgets
c. Mobile
d. Internet
e. Contact and engagement with Camden Council
f. Perceptions and reputation of Camden Council
g. A typical scenario using Camden website
h. Frequent tasks and improvements of Camden
website
i. The users wish list for Camden’s new website
About You

In this section, we wanted to learn more about the user such as

• How long they’ve lived in Camden.

• Are they currently employed.
• What qualifications they have.

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 • How they travel for work or leisure.
• What their typical day is like
Tech and gadgets

In this section, we just wanted to understand their approach to

technology in regards to when, where and how they buy new
devices and gadgets. And also what technology devices they own.

Mobile

We also wanted to understand their mobile usage and how it affects

their internet usage by asking questions such as:-

• Do you have a PAYG or fixed contract?

• Do you use your mobile to access the internet?
• Have you ever paid for anything using your mobile?
Internet

This section was important to understand how users use the

internet in their everyday lives. The questions would ask: -

• Where they would typically access the internet.

• What device they would use
• If they are comfortable and confident using the internet
• How frequently they use it
• If there is a breakdown between personal use and for their job
or studying
• How they connect to the internet at home
• What is the display resolution
• What are the websites they like and frequently visit
• Do they ever contribute to any websites personally
• If they have ever used the Camden Council website
Contact and engagement with Camden Council

In order to understand how users and currently engaging with the

council, it was important to ask how they typically contact the
council and which services they most use and benefit from.

Perceptions and reputation of Camden Council

We felt users perceptions and Camden’s reputation may have an

effect on their willingness to use the council’s website, therefore we
asked the following questions to gain insight on this matter.

• In your view is there anything that Camden council do

particularly well?
• What do they do badly?
• Would you say you are broadly happy or unhappy with
Camden council?
A typical scenario using Camden website

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This section tested users experience using the website by asking
what and why they were trying to do on the website as well as what
happened at each stage of the process. We also asked whether the
problem or task managed to get resolved or completed in the end.
This is so we could better understand any frustrations that a user
might have while undertaking a typical task on our website.

Frequent tasks and improvements for Camden website

This section covers the basics of our website such as:-

• What are your first impressions of the website?

• How easy do you find it to get around the site generally?
• How easy do you find it to locate the content you want?
• How good is the quality of the information you want?
• What improvement would you like to see Camden make?
The users wish list for Camden’s new website

This section explores further improvements that the user would like
to add to make their user experience more usable and accessible.

Usability Testings
It was important for this project to carry out usability testing’s that
accurately explored the problems and barriers users face when
using our website. So the usability testings were conducted in the
users home where they would use the machine and be in their
normal surroundings. This helped to understand the constraints and
challenges users face in their own environment.

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The image above shows how the usability testing was conducted
and the typical desktop environment that is found in a users home.

Why usability testing is important

In most situations or other types of websites, it’s quite easy to

understand why usability testing is important. For instance, an e-
commerce website will see users leaving a website before they
finish a transaction as a loss of income but for a government
website, the impact of bad website usability goes much further.
Users use government website such as Camden Council’s website
need to find essential information or carry out transactions that
effects their lives. Failure to do these tasks can lead to users failure
to benefit from council services that could help make their lives
easier and more manageable.

Therefore, usability testing in this project is vitally important to

ensure residents get the services they need in a timely and efficient
manner to avoid frustrations and delays.

According to Jakob Nielsen usability is a quality attribute that

assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability"
also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design
process.

Usability is defined by five quality components:

• Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic

tasks the first time they encounter the design?

• Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly

can they perform tasks?
• Memorability: When users return to the design after a period
of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?

• Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are

these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?

• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

Our finding shows what’s currently happening

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This chart shows what should be happening

These charts clearly shows that there is a disconnect between what

should be happening and what is currently happening. We are
hoping with the new website redesign, we will be able to address
the disconnection and reduce users contact with the council through
more costly channels such as the phone, letter and in person.

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Research Findings

We did discover a couple of things while conducting our usability

testing on the current website.

Search box overlooked

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The main sections are not as explicit as the popular links

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Our Research on eyetracking Vs. observational tracking

We also conducted our own research on eyetracking testing Vs.

mouse tracking/observational testing’s. You can find the research
here.

Conclusion
From the user research and usability testings, these insights were
discovered: -

• Digital channels can improve on the ability to resolve tasks

Email is neglected as a preferred form of communication
because delays are frequent and responses are untrustworthy
or sometimes unforthcoming entirely. Response times must
be more consistent, with all responses focused on resolution
within that channel wherever appropriate.

The website is used frequently as a conduit for the phone

channel, rather than a source of the desired information itself.
Information must be made easier to locate, read and action.

For a small but significant minority, primary contact with the

council is seen as a barrier to resolution, and prefer instead to
pursue direct contact with councillors. This perception needs
to be dispelled to ensure customer services are not
consistently circumvented or undermined.

• Email is the natural successor to the letter to maintain trust &

improve immediacy
Residents preference for written correspondence stems
primarily from a lack of trust in actions being recorded and
pursued accordingly via other channels. Email could easily
provide this security in a dramatically more immediate
manner than a letter, assuming tracking of queries is simple,
feedback is ongoing and any correspondence is maintained
via a single appropriate voice of authority on the issue.

• Overpopulation of ‘activists’ in the local government

landscape could distract from sincere efforts to listen and
respond to broader citizen concerns.

• Website personalisation would be best utilised to expose

relevant local services and frequently used information

Displaying frequently used and hyperlocal content are two

approaches to ensure that unique journeys through the site,
and the key functions to that individual, are suitably
emphasised. Users can be easily overwhelmed with content,

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 much of it irrelevant to their needs. Delivery of hyperlocal
content would likely be most effective when handled
passively, rather than via user-driven customisation, ideally
through use of postcode information stored against an online
resident account.

• Engagement needs to be passive, proactive and ongoing to be

most effective

Current methods of engagement can seem disorganised or

insincere. The belief is that excessive surveys and other
quantitative techniques feel robotic or forceful, whilst tracking
of progress regarding raised issues of concern is difficult if not
impossible. Likewise, ongoing or repeat involvement is
perceived as not valuable or desirable to the council. Evidence
suggests that qualitative engagement methods are more
likely to make residents feel listened to, valued and
understood. Residents feel most influential when they are
passively informed of consultations they would otherwise be
unaware of, then engaged meaningfully throughout the entire
consultation process and explicitly informed of ongoing
developments and outcomes.

Passive sentiment tracking is possible through the use of

social media monitoring tools, though for the foreseeable
future it is likely to overemphasise the thoughts and feelings
of a minority elite of residents. However, the ability for
Camden to seemingly 'mind read' the concerns of it's
residents is a powerful tool and likely to generate an
immensely positive reaction.
• Key improvements in website usability & visual design will
significantly assist user engagement & productivity
○ Evidence suggests a preference for short, spacious
pages instead of lengthy, condensed, text-heavy pages
○ Explicit association between content hierarchy and
quick links should assist navigation and orientation
○ Improved visibility and functionality of search will
enhance findability of content
○ Form processes can be made easier to increase
conversion of self-servicing transactions
○ Phone numbers should be highly visible wherever they
are essential to reduce suspicion and frustration
○ Increased use of data visualisation, video and other
multimedia is likely to enrich engagement with content
and is preferred over numerical or tabular displays of
information
○ Improved error messaging will help reduce confusion
and site abandonment

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• Significant demand for neutrality suggests a strictly
informative, and moderately formal, tone would be the most
effective form of communication on the website
The use of prominent space on the home page to temporarily
promote key events (such as adoption and fostering open
evenings) can be divisive as it is open to interpretation of
bias, favouritism or ‘preaching’. Any home page space used to
promote key messages from the council needs to be carefully
toned to be informative rather than pushy, and accommodate
multiple messages across the broader spectrum of council
activities. Residents use the website for a wide variety of
purposes and neutrality of information is vital to ensure trust
and prevent content from being obscured. Remember, ‘at
your service’.

• Transparency of decision-making and conflict resolution

improves understanding and positive sentiment
Unaddressed or poorly maintained queries can cause a
significant negative impact on confidence and trust in the
council. Residents feel empowered, considered and more
understood when they are regularly and passively informed of
ongoing concerns, even if these concerns are not resolved to
their satisfaction. Email queries should be addressed within a
reasonable timeframe, with an indication of progress
whenever resolution is not instantly possible. All outcomes,
however negative, should be explicit, and dealt with in an
open and honest manner.

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