FIRST-TIME & RETURNING USERS

Usability testing  & interviews with new and existing users.

Role: Lead Researcher

Company: Act Now Project (project: Covid Act Now)

Timeline: ~1 Month

Research Method: Usability Testing & Interviews

Research Type: Exploratory, Evaluative

CONTEXT

Covid Act Now built local data models and products to help governments, private organizations, and tens of millions of people make informed, science-based decisions on how to stay safe during the COVID pandemic.

As we approached the third wave of COVID-19 and the holiday season near the end of 2020, our team wanted to assess the utility of our website in users' decision making processes and in their understanding of COVID-related metrics. 

Some key questions on our mind:

Screenshot of Covid Act Now's United States risk level map on the homepage.

GOALS

Generative Goals

Design/Product Goals

METHODS

Recruitment

Semi-structured Interview



Usability Test: First-Time Users

Usability Test: Returning Users

ANALYSIS

Data Preparation

To prepare my data for analysis, I used otter.ai software to transcribe the recordings of the sessions. 

Coding

I used this transcription text along with the videos themselves to thematically code the data based on certain actions and where they occured (homepage, location page, etc.), exploring specifically:

Tools and Data used to make decisions:

Navigation and Discoverability: 

Understanding of COVID Metrics:

KEY INSIGHTS AND HOW WE ACTED ON THEM


We learned:

For both returning and first-time users, COVID data are difficult to understand, and users are not apt to seek out clarifying information on other pages when they are confused


Both first-time and returning users expressed interest in our methodology and data sources, and felt concerned that we did not explicitly state them in any obvious place.


In both cases, we had sufficient content to satisfy their needs, but the users didn't want to hunt for it.

We changed:

We added an “About this data” pop-up module that shares data sources, methodology, and definitions for each metric next to where the data point lives, providing key context and clarification right at the point of confusion and concern.

Screenshot of Covid Act Now's "About this data" pop-up module.

We learned:

Although users appreciate having so much to choose from on the website, they are overwhelmed by the amount of information on each page, and find it difficult to navigate. 


They do not like that they have to scroll far to find what they are looking for.


We changed:

We combined multiple timeseries charts into a single chart with tabs for each metric to reduce the scrolling users must do to connect with key information.

Screenshot of Covid Act Now's tabbed testing data time series chart.

We also drawered longer individual modules to further reduce scroll, giving users agency to explore the parts of the website they desire while making more items on the page discoverable.

Screenshot of Covid Act Now's drawered "Recommendations" module.

We added personalized, auto-loaded state and county location cards on the homepage based on IP addresses below the search bar, keeping relevant locations front-and-center and removing a step for finding information of interest. 


Screenshot of Covid Act Now's auto-loaded location cards on the homepage.

Other learnings for our user knolwedgebase:

Our key value-adds include:


Thus, we decided that dedicating a large portion of our home page to our interactive map and Compare table makes sense, so we did not make Homepage design changes.

COVID Decision-making:

When it comes to acting on our data, both first-time and returning users rely on many pieces of information to make behavioral decisions related to COVID (e.g., whether to travel, whether to visit family, etc.).