BETA timeline
KEY
Accessibility
Other
Lab research
Online research
Partners collaboration - co-design
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Audience
- One-to-one testing via Teams
- 6 potential SME customers (3 tested GlobalScot registration, 3 tested business member registration)
- 5 male, 1 female
- None had ever heard of GlobalScot
Focus
- What causes users to drop off during the registration process?
- Are there any usability issues in the registration process?
Summary of results
- Users like the clear, simple design of the site and registration process
- No major showstoppers
- Text about priority countries/sectors on the GlobalScot login page can be off-putting
- There are some inconsistencies in how we indicate which fields are required and which are optional
- It isn’t clear that you can choose multiple options from drop-down menus
- There are some inconsistencies in our countries drop-downs
- It isn’t clear that you need to click the ‘Add company’ button on the business member registration to add your company
Recommendations
- Ensure that the drop-down lists for ‘Which nationality would you describe yourself as?’,’Which country are you primarily based for work?’ and ‘Which other countries do you have connections in?’ are consistent
- Mark ‘Which university or college did you attend?’ as optional – it is, but it doesn’t say ‘Optional’
- Mark ‘Your role at company’ as required – it is, but there is no asterix
- Add text that says ‘Choose as many as you like’ to the drop-down fields so users know they can select multiple options
- Change the text on the ‘Add company’ button to ‘Confirm company’ or something similar
- Update the text on the GlobalScot login page to make it clear that people outside those sectors/areas are welcome to apply
- Consider removing title from the registration form
Files
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- July 6th 2020, UserZoom
Audience
- Generic online usability testing
- Unmoderated online testing using the UserZoom platform
- UserZoom online tested it with 10 un-screened people from their generic panel.
- This was a raw usability test to see if a normal person would notice the GlobalScot Icon and understand it’s significance
- 7 Male. 3 Female. (Randomised selection)
Hypothesis
- Making the GlobalScot Icon more obvious will increase the recognition of both GlobalScots, (as GlobalScots), and normal members as not being GlobalScots.
- The Hypothesis was supported.
What the test involved
- We asked the participants to login and go to the Members Page.
- We asked them to identify 3 people who were NOT GlobalScots
- This entailed them successfully clicking the “ALL” option on the members page and then noticing and understanding the significance of the GlobalScot icon, on the cards that are displayed in the listings.
What we discovered
- The Icon is universally understood by users.
- It succesfully identified GlobalScots
- It succesfully identified the opposite, “Who was not a GlobalScot”, by exception.
- It was fast and easy to understand
What we’ll do next
- Adopt this new Icon.
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- June 20th 2020, Userzoom
Hypothesis
- The new home page navigation bar will be easy to use and surface pages that are lower in the site Hierarchy.
We tested with
- With 10 people from the generic UserZoom panel
- This was a generic online unmoderated test
What the test involved
- They were asked to look at the homepage and sub pages to give comment. This would force them to use the navigation bar, without us specifically mentioning it.
What we discovered
- The Hypothesis was supported
- The homepage was well received with comments around it being clean, having clean design, uncluttered layout, nice photography and clear fonts.
- The home page “navigation bar” worked seamlessly for all users.
- The actual homepage was viewed favorably.
- Other observations:
- Some people thought the home page was too long
- Some people viewed the images as stock photography and a bit fake.
- Some people said the hero banner was too large and they would rather have seen useful content sooner on the page.
- One user said the site looked like LinkedIn and had seen nothing to suggest that this was more useful.
What we’ll do next
- Adopt this navigation bar
- Review the nagative feedback with regards to:
- Images
- Page Length
- Hero Banner size
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- May 14-15, Skype
What we tested
Who we tested with
What the test involved
What we discovered
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- April 28-29 2020, Skype
What we tested
- Search Facility (for a globalscot)
- Starting a chat
- Using Chat (Messaging)
- Accept a request
- Profiles
- Asking a GlobalScot for help
Who we tested with
- 2 GlobalScots
What we discovered
- Too many buttons for member search its confusing
- Wasn’t clear whether people were GlobalScot or not. Icon too subtle.
- Speach/Text box is still too subtle in the chat
- Member search defaults to All and this diluted the prime function of finding GlobalScots.
- Help Text in “Assk a GlobalScot” form was too vague
- Adding an additional person to a chat was confusing
Suggestions
- Make GlobalScot icon more obvious
- Streamline the buttons/filter in Member search
- Switch default filter from ALL to GlobalScots
- Improve Help Text
- Improve “Add person to chat” function. Remove duplicate options to simplify the process.
- Improve success messaging - especially around the SLA and what happens if the GlobalScot has not responded within 3 days.
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- 31st Mar 2020, On Premises testing
What we tested -Accessibility of GlobalScot Beta Candidate site
Who we tested with
- 5 people with A11y issues
- 3 Women
- 2 Men
- 1 * Mobility Impairment
- 2 * Sight Impairment
- 2 * Cognitive Impairment
What we discovered Some accessibility defects have come to our attention during testing of this Beta site. The following defects will be resolved by 18 December 2020:
- The three main cards on the user dashboard will not reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window. They give a three button carousel instead. This can be confusing and unexpected
- Line height or spacing of text may not resize as expected as it is stated in pixels
- Live video streams (such as webinars) do not have captions
- You cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
- Assistive technology may struggle to distinguish between members of a chat
- Not all links have a description that assistive technology can use
- Some buttons aren’t coded as buttons and don’t have a label, making it difficult for assistive technology to understand what they are
- Some input fields are labelled or coded incorrectly, which could be confusing for assistive technology
- Some content does not get announced when it appears, including new chat notifications,some error messages, some lookup functionality and some pop-up boxes
- Some error messages appear before any information has been entered into the input field
- Input focus is visually difficult to notice as the emphasis style is too subtle. The focus colour uses a mix of CSS and browser defaults. This may cause confusion to users who have set up their browsers to suit their individual need
- The list of sectors given during registration is quite long and may cause reading difficulties
- On the ‘Join the network’ page, the focus order is wrong
- Some pages use incorrect heading hierarchy or skip headings. This may confuse assistive technology
- The combo-box is hard to use for users with limited mobility and has poor usability using screen readers
- The Beta Banner is outside of the “MAIN” landmark and may announce itself inconsistently on different browsers
- The “Back” button will clear previous forms and searches. This is not announced
- The height of posts in the community feed varies depending on how much content it has in it. This may cause difficulty in reading / scanning the page.
- During registration, if a user selects ‘no’ to ‘Is this address correct?’, the ‘yes’ button becomes disabled
What we discovered
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- Mar 26th 2020, Skype
What we tested
- Looked at design of staff dashboard
- Explored what are the critical needs for staff in this and whether these designs met it
- Looked at user profiles to ascertain if they had all the necessary information
Who we tested with
- 4 Staff members
What we discovered Dashboard
- Liked the clear layout
- Liked teh 3 Big Blocks at the top which covered Key CYA’s and KPI’s together
- Staff needed to see bad feedback on globalscots. it was deemed to be essential
- They want to see the dates of last interactions
- They would like less information on the dashboard and a more graphic layout
- Suggested that there is also a section for “Notes”. This started a GDPR discussion about what was appropriate to record.
User profile
- Needs space for other company details than just current company
Changes made
- Bad feedback now a headline button
- Layout streamlined
- Dates of interactions now in backlog
- Investigate Notes functionality and GDPR implications
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- Mar 18 2020, Skype
What we tested
- Language around “Challenges”
Who we tested with
- Skype with Globalscots
What the test involved
- We asked:
- Challenges what do the they mean to you.
- What would you participate in
- What do notification mean
What we discovered
- Want to develop content in discussion groups and put it out for comment with each member of the group being able to edit the document in real time
- Real time communication.
- Different links for different target audiences
Recomendations
- We recommended that the project team flesh out in more detail internally about what challenges entail.
- More clarity about notifications as well
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- 16th March 2020, Skype
What we researched
- Staff thoughts around initial Dashboard requirements
- Validating and improving existing requirements from Alpha
- We asked what staff wanted to see in the staff facing dashboard.
- What are the challenges involved in the day to day role of globalscot staff including an analysis of the current rejection process
Who we tested with
What the test involved
What we discovered
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- Mar 03 2020, Face to Face & Skype
Workshop details
- Develop Story Map of User Needs
- Develop related Story Map for related Features
- Develop mapping, demonstrating linkage between needs and features
- Prioritise needs and features
Why
- This gives a super simple view of:
- Needs and Features
- How they map to each other
- How they are prioritised
- How they are phased for delivery
- And this gives a simple way of viewing everything, understanding priorities and phases, and easily re-prioritising it.
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- 25th Feb 2020, Skype
What we tested
- Full walk through of current GlobalScot prototype
Who we tested with
- 2 GlobalScots
What we discovered
- GlobalScots were very pleased that we had listened to feedback.
- There were several language issues. The two bigs ones were:
- Pulse. This was not understood to be “News”
- Challenges. This was not understood to be “Shared collaboration area”
Recomendations
- Revise language around Pulse and Challenges.
Changes made
- Challenges was dropped
- Pulse was split and changed to “Community Feed” & “News and Features”
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- Feb 18th 2020, UserZoom
What we tested
- The registration process and form.
- 2 versions:
- one for globlascots
- one for non globalscots
Who we tested with
- 15 people from the UserZoom panel
What we discovered
- Users thought it would be easy to complete the registration process.
- Some users wanted to be able to import information from LinkedIn.
Recomendations / Changes
- We recommended the team look at whether it would be possible to import from LinkedIn.
- They looked at the options and it is not possible yet.
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Phase
- Beta
Date and type
- Jan 09 2020, Face to Face & Skype
What we tested
- Layout features
- Ease of use
- Navigation
- Was there enough information to make a decision about joining
- Registration
Who we tested with
- 4 Staff
What the test involved
- General Usability Testing of stated features
What we discovered General
- There were too many buttons
- Still not enough information to make an informed decision
- Join implied automatic acceptance
- The join form is too soon and the pop up us perceived to be a barrier
Layout
- The design is too linear with a lot of wasted space at the side
- The design is aimed too much at new members
- Events should be further up the page and we shouldn’t have to join to view
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- Dec 18th 2019, Userzoom
Audience
- 10 People
- Userzoom panel - Unscreened
We were focusing on
- Testing Homepage Versions
What the test involved
- Asked users to review 4 different versions of a homepage. The pages are basic designs with placeholder images so they may not be visually engaging. It’s also important to note that none of the links on the pages will work.
What we discovered
- x
What we’ll do next
- x
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- Dec 17th 2019, Userzoom
Audience
- 15 participants, UK-based, aged 24-70, household income £30-80K, either business owner/senior business decision maker/entrepreneur
We were focusing on
- Testing the new homepage wireframes
What the test involved
- Participants were shown one of three versions of the homepage wireframe (5 participants per wireframe)
- Participants were asked to talk through what they liked and disliked and any general impressions
- Participants were asked to rate how well they understood different parts of the page
- Participants were given a set of statements about the wireframes and asked to select the ones they agreed with
- Participants were asked which links they would have clicked
What we discovered
- Users generally had a good understanding that the homepage was for a business networking platform
- Users were not very clear on the difference between joining as a member and joining as a GlobalScot
- Most users would have used the links on the page to find out more (‘Find out more before joining’ ‘Find out more about our GlobalScots’ and ‘Explore features’ were most popular)
- Some users felt the page was too long
What we’ll do next
- Create a new version of the wireframe that includes all the things people liked best about the original three
- Include any changes based on feedback
- Test all 4 versions with each participant to get their thoughts on which is their favourite
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Audience
- Three GlobalScots, Two staff, Three companies who have engaged with GlobalScots (GS regions: Scotland, Switzerland, Asia)
Focus
- To get feedback on three design options for the GlobalScot website
- To gain insights on the use of networks and forums
What we discovered
- Little use of the current website
- No version favoured - all lacked impact
- Mobile version preferred (App)
- Too much text on the homepage and typeface too small
- Map was popular if it was interactive
- Confusion between the ‘sign up’ and ‘join the network’ buttons
- Particpants expect info about the network prior to inviitation to join
- Users expect to hover over icons for more information
- Unsure who the site is designed for, so clear signposting required for different audience types
- Worry that network/forum could be used for sales and marketing purposes rather than intented purpose
What we’ll do next
- Test the wireframes with users who have no experience of the GlobalScot service to get additional insights
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- Dec 4th 2019, Userzoom
Audience
- 32 participants
We were focusing on
- Designing the homepage
What the test involved
- Participants were given a list of features that could appear on a homepage. They were asked to rank them in order of importance.
What we discovered
- The most important features for a networking membership homepage (in order of priority) were:
- Sign-up button
- Network features
- Membership information
- Network information
- Large header image
- Find out more about signing up
- News
- Case studies
What we’ll do next
- Use this information to structure the homepage wireframes
- Continue testing to gather more information that will help us design the homepage
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Phase
- Alpha
Date and type
- Dec 4th 2019, Userzoom
Audience
- 25 participants, UK-based, aged 25-70, household income £30-80K, either business owner/senior business decision maker/entrepreneur
We were focusing on
- Priotising benefits and features of an online business network
What the test involved
- Participants were given a list of benefits of the platform and asked to rank them in order of importance
- Participants were given a list of features of the platform and asked to rank them in order of importance
- Participants were asked if there were any other benefits or features they’d expect to see from a platform like this
- Participants were asked which type of information (benefits or features) they’d be most interested in seeing to help them decide
What we discovered
- Top priorities for an online business network were expanding your network, getting business and development advice from business and industry experts, and digital regisration - entirely self-serve with no need to phone up
- Top features were forums - a space to ask/answer questions and join conversations, groups - sub-sections within a network focused on a specific topic, and direct messaging between members
- 75% of users said they would rather see inforamtion on benefits than features on the homepage
- Some users were interested in what costs/charges are involved
- Some users were interested in who is behind the platform (i.e public sector or private sector)
- Some users expected all network members to be vetted to ensure the quality of the network
What we’ll do next
- Use research to date to create wireframes of the network homepage, based on the information users have told us they’d be most interested in
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Phase
- Pre-alpha
Scot Export Event
- Nov 12th 2019, at the Glasgow Technology Innovation Centre
Audience
- Circa 350 Exporters or people looking to export
We were focusing on
- Globalscot awareness
- Globalscot past experiences
- Globalscot sentiment
What we discovered
- People have a reasonably high awareness of GlobalScot (in this audience)
- They are not always accurate in what they think GlobalScot is
- They often hear about GlobalScot through existing SDI interactions
- Actual usage levels are quite low
- People find it takes a long time to access
- QUOTE: “It is a very manual process”
- People only use the website when they want to use the network. (Earlier access might have prepared them better)
- The web site appears dated
- QUOTE: “It looks like a 10 year old website”