Abby Lee Dance Company
Usability Project
Nick Sommers
Sam Strager
Jack Nathan
Rob Razburgaj
December 6, 2012
1
Table of Contents
Memo
3-4
Executive Summary and Intro
5
Methods
5-6
Test Results
7-10
Feedback Questions
11
Discussion and Recommendations
12-13
Feedback Question Results
13
Conclusion
14
Works Cited
15
Abby Lee Dance Company Website
16
Copy of Usability Test
17-18
List of Illustrations
Graphs
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Overall Rankings
Screen Shot
Abby Lee Dance Company-Homepage
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7
8
8
9
9
10
10
16
Abby Lee Dance
Company
Memo
To: Abby Lee Dance Company
From: Usability Research Team
Date: 3/19/16
Re: Usability Test Results/Recommendations
The Abby Lee Dance Company has suspected a problem in usability with its website. A
usability research team has been put together to conduct a usability test. The following report
explains our results.
Usability Test

8 users tested

6 test questions and 3 follow up questions

Users rated on a scale of 1-5 how easy or difficult finding the answer was

Follow up questions asked overall impression and recommendations
Results and Findings

Users found it hard to answer the questions

Website needs new structure to improve usability

Users suggested organized headings for website
Conclusion

Following user recommendations, the Abby Lee Dance Company would improve
popularity

An improved website would improve sales of company memorabilia

Hiring a web designer would benefit the company
If you still have questions
ALDCusability@yahoo.com
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after reading our report please contact us at
Executive Summary
The Abby Lee Dance Company is a world top level, nationally recognized, children
dance studio. It is also host the award winning, and extremely popular Lifetime TV series
“Dance Moms”. There have been multiple reports of usability issues with the Abby Lee website.
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The following report highlights the usability test, the results of the test, and recommendations
based off of the findings.
The usability test consisted of 8 users with varying knowledge of the Abby Lee Dance
Company. The test had 9 total questions: six questions asking users to rate various things on a
scale of 1 to 5, and three follow-up questions. The results of the test were very consistent. Users
all had difficulty with the website, and said a new layout would improve the website. To
conclude, we highly recommend following the results of the usability test and improving the
website. An improved website would enhance the Abby Lee brand and business.
Intro
In this research report, we conducted a usability test of the Abby Lee Dance Studio website.
The Abby Lee Dance Company is a nationally renowned dance studio and home for the Lifetime
TV series “ Dance Moms”. Even though the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) is widely
successful, their website is second rate. The following report depicts the various steps that were
taken to find the specific issues with the website and how to improve the website's usability. A 9
question usability test was given to eight users. The results of the usability test provided
the issues with the website and an opportunity to make revisions. The following is an in detailed
report of the usability test, the findings, and the recommendations to improve the website's
usability.
Methods
To demonstrate the possible struggles of the Abby Lee Dance Company website, a
usability test was conducted. The research team senses a possible problem in the websites
usability. According to the University of Portland Office of CTS, “Research indicates only five
to eight participants are enough to show trends” (Prescott). Therefore, we decided to conduct a
test with 8 individuals. The participants were random; however, they had varying degrees of
knowledge of the Abby Lee Dance Company. For example, one user was said to watch Abbe
Lee’s show “religiously” while one user never heard of Abby Lee and her dance studio. The
purpose in having both ends of the spectrum is to get rid of any biases towards testing
individuals who know or do not know about the dance company. A website should usable for all
users, not just ones that know about the show.
Our research team conducted a two page usability test the users were instructed to fill out.
Users had to go to the website at the top of the page, www.abbyleedancecompany.com, and
answer specific questions they could find on the page. Once they found the answer they were
then instructed to rate how difficult it was to answer each question based on a one to five scale
(one being very easy, 5 being very difficult.) There were six questions in this portion of the test.
Questions varied from being very specific, such as “How much does it cost to buy adult small
sweatpants?” to something not necessary labeled in the website, but maybe it should be because
of how important it is, “What is the Abby Lee Dance Company mission statement?” The
research team felt this portion of the usability test provided the best data in terms of how much
and the quality.
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The next part of the usability test instructed users to give feedback on the website.
Usability blogger Tory Dunn explains, “Always ask for suggestions - this not only demonstrates
the value you place on their thoughts, but may provide insights into how the site can better
support the user” (Dunn). Our research team felt that the best way to improve the website for
users was to have users provide feedback on what could be done better, what parts they do not
like, and what should be done. The feedback portion of the test included three questions. “What
is your overall impression of the dance studio based on the website?” “What makes the website
so difficult to use?” and “what could be done to make the website user to use?” The suggestions
we are given can help us build a better website for users and increase the popularity of the Abby
Lee dance company.
The usability test we, the research team, have conducted will provide crucial information
about the Abby Lee dance company website. We sense the website may be difficult for users to
use and this test will confirm or deny that. Not only will it show us problems within the site, but
also feedback on how to fix it. If we can fix these problems and make the Abby Lee dance
company website more usable, the dance studio will benefit.
Test Results
The following test results were were collected when surveyed among eight participants.
The participants were asked to find certain information on the site then rank on a scale of 1-5
how difficult the information was to find. 1 being relativity easy and 5 being difficult. The
questions were asked to conclude how difficult the site was to use .
6
1
4.5
9 73.5
6
8
2
3 Group
4
5
Tested
Tested
Group
0%6%
86
47 3
5
3.5
7 6
52.5
6 34
5
2.5
54 2
3
4
43
21.5
3
1.5
3 2
2 1
2 12
1
1
0.5
1 10.5
7%
20%
67%
0 00 0
1 11 1
2222
3333
4444
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Question 1: How much does it cost to buy ALDC (Abby Lee Dance Company) Adult Small
Sweatpants?
This question was ranked with five 5‘s and three 4’s. This question was ranked relatively
difficult.
Question 2: How much does it cost to go to the ALDC dance production of Once in a Lifetime?
This question was ranked by six 5’s, a 3 and a 4. This question was rated some what difficult by
the tested participants.
Question 3: Who won the summer intensive scholarship?
This question received four 5’s, two 4’s, and a 3. This question was tough for participants to find
the answer.
Question 4: What is the ALDC mission statement?
This question received a 4 and the rest 5’s. This proves this was a tough question to find the
answer.
Question 5: When is the Come Meet the Dance Mom’s event?
This question was ranked with three 2’s, a 3, two 4’s, a 5. This question was the easiest question
for the participants. It received the lowest ranking among all the questions.
Question 6: What time can you watch Dance Mom’s on TV?
This question received all 5’s. This was the most difficult question for users to find on the correct
answer.
Rankings Overall based on all questions results.
Feedback Questions
Following are the responses of the feedback questions we asked the participants at the
end of the survey. These responses helped us come up with recommendations you will see later
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in the report.
1. What is your over all impression of the dance studio based on the website?
Very Difficult to find information.
It’s a good dance studio.
Whether or not it is reality, the website portrays it as a sloppy, out-of-the-loop, clunky business.
There is not much CSS used and the overall structure is disorganized.
2. What makes the ALDC website difficult to use?
Not organized, disoriented, poor design
Too many pictures, needs menus along the top
There is no organization to the website. Instead of having multiple separate pages that link
together and limiting the amount of scrolling, the ALDC website has one single page that
consists of an extremely long scroll. Also, there is no color scheme/pattern, things are randomly
colored, sized, font-family, etc. Consistency=organization, and organization=efficiency. This
website has none of this, in my opinion.
3. What could be done to make the ALDC website easier to use?
Organize, proper design
Put menus along the top
Clean up the colors by choosing a simple, consistent scheme
Add more links. If you choose to keep the long scrolling structure, put links on the top that auto
scroll down to the appropriate place on the page. For example, if the about section is at the
bottom of the page, put an about link on the very top so a user can click on it and it automatically
scrolls down to the bottom of the page where the about us section is.
Discussion and Recommendations
There is a clear Usability problem with the Abby Lee Dance Company website. The
website quite simply put is terrible. There is no direction, organization, or creativity. To make
matters worse the site is confusing and not enjoyable to be on. With these problems there is an
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upside: an opportunity to drastically improve the websites usability. Through our research results
and analysis of of the findings we are confident in our recommendations to improve the website.
While conducting our usability test many of the questions focused on finding information
located somewhere on the Abby Lee website. We timed how long each user took to find the
information and the degree of difficulty they had in finding the appropriate content (1 being the
easiest and 5 being the greatest degree of difficulty). The results were clear. In every question
except one a 5 degree of difficulty was the majority. For question 6 alone, “What time can you
watch Dance Moms on tv?”, every user put down a 5. Overall, 31 out of the 48 responses did the
user select a 5 (the highest degree of difficulty). This is an alarming statistic. It represents the
poor quality of organization and overall structure of the website.
When asking users “what makes the ALDC website difficult to use?” the most common
responses are as follows: “Not organized”, “disoriented”, “poor design”, “no consistency with
color way or font”, “It is just one long page”. Users went on to say it is very hard to find
information, and the website doesn't represent the quality of the Abby Lee Dance Company.
ALDC is a first rate dance studio, with an award winning show on a major TV station (Lifetime),
yet their website is second tier.
In order to improve the ALDC website we have determined the best steps to take based of
the usability test results. The main issue is the structure/layout of the site. It makes it difficult to
navigate and find the information as a user. In order to eliminate this problem we are
recommending:

Tabs (links) be added to the top of the page.
These tabs would be labeled things such as Events, Shop, Cast, Classes, TV.
◦
When a tab is selected it will take the user directly to the information they selected.
This would result in a much simpler, and more efficient way for users to retrieve the
information they are looking for. It would also eliminate having just one long page
were the user scrolls aimlessly looking for information.
Making the website have a consistent colorway and font scheme.
◦ This will make the the site more visually pleasurable for the user, and provide a sense
of organization. The more professional and pleasant the website is to the user the
more likely they will continue to access it.
After analyzing the results of the usability test we strongly believe these
recommendations are the best steps in improving the ALDC website. There is a direct correlation
between the usability test and the recommendations. Creating a website with a consistent theme
and organized content will enhance usability and make the website better for everyone.
Feedback Question Results
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After reviewing the feedback we got from our testers, it was very evident what the
general opinion was. The data is overwhelming that this website is very poor in usability. All the
feedback we got was negative. Sam Lindberg, an 18 year-old college student who used to dance
said, “This website is awful. I thought it was a joke at first. There’s no way this is the official site
for Abby Lee.” Vera Razburgaj, a 13 year-old middle schooler and avid watcher of the show,
also had some harsh words for the website: “It is terrible. I seriously can’t imagine a worse
website than this. Looks like a 5 year old designed it”. Clearly the website is not popular, even
among those who are familiar with the show.
We asked our testers what made the website so difficult to use. The responses are the
following. One user said, “There is no organization to the website. Instead of having multiple
separate pages that link together and limiting the amount of scrolling, the ALDC website has one
single page that consists of an extremely long scroll. Also, there is no color scheme/pattern,
things are randomly colored, sized, font-family, etc. Consistency is organization, and
organization is efficiency. This website has none of this, in my opinion.” Obviously this person
thinks the website is too scattered and messy. Another user described the website as “Not
organized, disoriented, poor design. Too many pictures, no menus.” The consensus for the
website is very poor and highlights specific and severe complications it has.
It is evident that this website needs to be vastly improved. We asked our usability
testers to give us suggestions that would improve their experience on the Abby Lee Dance
Company website. Sam Lindberg suggested, “ It needs to be short so you don’t have to scroll.
Instead of having endless page, put a menu bar at the top that organized everything. And make it
less bright. The colors are a pain to look at.” She believes that scrolling is a big reason that
makes the website very difficult to use. Another tester had very similar suggestions. They stated:
“Clean up the colors by choosing a simple, consistent scheme. Add more links. If you choose to
keep the long scrolling structure, put links on the top that auto scroll down to the appropriate
place on the page. For example, if the about section is at the bottom of the page, put an about
link on the very top so a user can click on it and it automatically scrolls down to the bottom of
the page where the about us section is”. It sounds like menus and links are a unanimous want by
users. They would make the scrolling minimal and everything would be organized into one area.
Also, a consistent color scheme seems to be popular as well.
Conclusion
When we first saw the Abby Lee Dance Studio website we knew it could use some major
modifications. After conducting a usability test on 8 subjects, we got overwhelming evidence
that our predictions were correct. Our testers unanimously agreed that the website is very
difficult to use. They highlighted key issues such as no menubar, no consistent color scheme, and
no organizational structure. After analyzing the results of the usability test we are confident in
our recommendations to improve the website. These recommendations include implementing a
consistent font/color scheme, separating site content into specific categories, and creating links to
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find specific information more efficiently."As an example of the benefit of usability testing,
Jared Spool, usability guru and leader of User Interface Engineering, has described how simple
usability testing and subsequent changes to ONE button increased online revenues for a major
eCommerce web site by about 300 Million Dollars, in one year"(Tomlin). We highly encourage
the Abby Lee Dance Company to take the following report as a clear indication the website
needs improvement. We would suggest hiring a team of web designers to overhaul the site and
implement the recommendations listed in the report.
Works Cited
Dunn, Tory. 8 Guidlines for Usability Testing. N.p., 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/usabilitytesting.shtml>.
Prescott, Jerilyn, and Matt Crichton. "Usability Testing: A Quick, Cheap, and Effective Method."
SIGUCCS 271 Nov. (1999): 176-79. ACM Digital Library. Web. 6 Nov. 2012.
Tomlin, Craig W. 24 Usability Testing Tools. Usability Professional's Association., 2 Dec. 2009.
Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://www.usefulusability.com/24-usability-testing-tools/>.
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"Usability Testing." Usability Testing. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. <https://www.cu.edu/irm/
stds/usability/index.html>.
"Usability 101: Introduction to Usability." Usability 101: Definition and Fundamentals. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html>.
Abby Lee Dance Company Website
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Usability Test Questions
13
For www.abbyleedancecompany.com:
Rate 1-5 on the difficulty of finding and answering each question (1 being very easy and 5 being
very difficult). Then write the answer to the question.
How much does it cost to buy ALDC (Abby Lee Dance Company) Adult Small Sweatpants?
__________
1
2
3
4
5
How much does it cost to go to the ALDC dance production Once in a Lifetime?
__________
1
2
3
4
5
Who won the summer intensive scholarship?
_______________________
1
2
3
4
5
What is the ALDC mission statement?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
1
2
3
4
5
When is the Come Meet the Dance Mom’s event?
______________________________________________________________________
1
2
3
4
5
What time can you watch Dance Moms on TV?
_____________________________________
1
2
3
4
Feedback Questions
5
What is your over all impression of the dance studio based on the website?
14
What makes the ALDC website difficult to use?
What could be done to make the ALDC website easier to use?
15