UXamine : Optimize UX for Success TM It’s a familiar scenario – you have a concept for a digital product or feature that will win you more users and you’re working feverishly to get it to market fast. You build what seems intuitively right, hoping that you’re making the right design decisions, but then when it goes live, you realize that your users may not think the same way you do. And now you need additional development to improve the live product. You’re hoping you get it right this time. Enter UXamine™, AnswerLab’s solution for guiding the optimization of wireframes, prototypes or live products before you invest in development. Optimization Through Observation UXamine reveals user reactions to wireframes, prototypes or live properties so that you can optimize them before development begins. Through first-hand observation of users’ interactions with your stimuli or live property, AnswerLab’s experienced UX researchers help you understand exactly what is and isn’t working so that you can build the best product for success. With UXamine, you will: • Uncover what users see, think, do and feel in response to a topic or stimuli. • Learn how to optimize your wireframes, prototypes, or live properties to meet user needs. • Save time and money by observing and understanding users’ reactions before development begins. How UXamine Works UXamine employs one-on-one research sessions for first-hand observation of user interactions with concepts, prototypes, websites, applications, or other products or services. Research Approach • AnswerLab creates a detailed project timeline, recruits all study participants according to agreed-upon screening requirements, and sets participant interview schedules. • AnswerLab researchers then conduct remote or in-person, one- on-one interviews with local research participants to observe them as they interact with stimuli or live digital properties. Interviews are available for live remote viewing and are also recorded. Why UXamine? • Concrete, actionable insights at any stage of a product’s lifecycle, from informing initial strategy to optimizing features of an existing product. • Prioritized recommendations for optimizing designs based upon analysis of user reactions, behavior and underlying motivations. • Consulting and guidance from the industry’s most trusted UX advisorsw measurement to identify trends and demonstrate the impact of UX changes. L earn more about how Google used AnswerLab’s UXamine to establish 25 principles of mobile site design that delight users and drive conversions http://www.google.com/ think/multiscreen/ whitepaper-sitedesign.html • While observing, researchers assess the stimuli or properties’ overall ease of use, architecture and navigational flow, content clarity, organization, relevance, and/or look and feel. • Researchers also interview participants using techniques designed to elicit attitudinal and/or behavioral data to generate actionable insights that address the research objectives. Analysis approach • AnswerLab researchers synthesize their findings on users’ usage patterns, unmet wants and needs, and satisfaction levels to identify the greatest user pain points. • They examine these pain points in the context of client business goals and objectives. • They then use this information to prioritize a set of detailed recommendations that address user paint points and optimize designs for business success. The result is a detailed plan for optimizing your digital properties so that you can be confident that when you build them, you build them right. What You Get UXamine clients receive detailed reports presented by a lead UX Researcher that include: • Prioritized strategic and tactical recommendations for optimizing the stimuli or digital property to best achieve client’s business goals. Example: Prioritized List of Recommendations Overall Recommendation: Proceed with Design 2 with several refinements. 1.Ensure in-page navigation is clear and simple to use. • Increase discoverability of in-page navigation bar with visual highlighting and a more prominent placement on the page. • Simplify how users can access additional information within the tool. - Allow users to click directly on an image or graph to get additional details, not just at text link below. - Consider a feature to bring up additional information or details when users hover over a graph or image. High Medium 2. Provide guidance on navigation features within the tool where they are unclear. • Include a pop-up instruction or tutorial to explain how to swap the order of widgets within the tool, and explain the purpose of the menu icon at the top of each widget. 3. Make refinements to the ‘[title]’ section for improved clarity and understanding of content. Medium • Re-label views and charts with more descriptive titles (e.g., [sample title]) to help users understand the types of content included within each section. • Modify the chart type used for the [title] graph, consider simplifying information within the graph, and use larger font. 4. Simplify design elements on Design 2 to streamline the look and feel of the page. Low • Keep the box outlines as dividers between different charts, but consider removing additional lines and icons where possible so the page feels less cluttered. CONFIDENTIAL | Proposal 7 • An assessment of which aspects of the stimuli or digital property are working well and which areas can be improved, illustrated via screenshots and participant quotes. Example: Findings and Participant Quotes • • • Many participants expected to click directly on graphs to pull up additional details, and felt this was more natural than clicking the text links below. Some participants wanted to get additional details by hovering over certain features (i.e., hovering over ‘[name]’ label would bring up description or snapshot). Some found it confusing to have multiple links under a graph (as in Concept 3) and preferred to have only one link for additional information (as in Concepts 1 and 2). Example: Illustrated Finding “I think there were 3 options below the graph on the last page. I’m not confident that I would have known which one would take me to see more information. This one having just one [link], it's more simplified.” – Participant 11 Some participants wanted to be able to click on an image and have that act as the inventory filter “It would be nice to be able to click… on a [label] and bring up that [topic] that would give you some comparison.” – Participant 6 CONFIDENTIAL | Proposal Visitors Found the Site Attractive But Had Trouble Navigating It 5 “It would be cool if I could just click on the car instead of having to choose it from a list.” - Richard CONFIDENTIAL | Proposal • Recordings of all participant interviews. New York, NY • San Francisco, CA Contact: info@answerlab.com www.answerlab.com 8 When to Use UXamine UXamine can be used at any stage of a product’s lifecycle to optimize digital designs before they go through the development process. Use UXamine if you need to: • Inform your initial product strategy by selecting and optimizing the best design to hand off to the development team. • Identify the most significant user pain points with your existing digital property to determine which elements should be improved in subsequent product releases, and in which priority. • Determine which digital properties and products provide the best user experience and why so that you can emulate best-in-class features within your own product. “From their initial proposal to the lab sessions to the final presentation, AnswerLab’s quality has been top notch.” — Kate Aronowitz Director, User Experience Design, LinkedIn Why We’re Different AnswerLab is the user experience research partner trusted by the world’s leading brands. We have delivered user experience insights to the world’s most visited web and mobile properties and guided the user experience decisions for companies that attract hundreds of millions of unique monthly visitors. Since our founding in 2004, our sole focus has been providing impartial, custom user experience research to help our clients understand what people see, do, think and feel when using mobile applications, websites, and other digital products and services. Our clients rely on our objective insights and recommendations about product concepts, features, design, and messaging to create engaging user experiences that drive results. Copyright © 2014 AnswerLab. All rights reserved. All trademarks listed are the property of their respective owners. New York, NY • San Francisco, CA Contact: info@answerlab.com www.answerlab.com