MN SNAP WEBSITE
REDESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
Website redesign recommendations for MN SNAP: a non-profit that provides high-quality, affordable, and accessible spay and neuter services to those in need and animal welfare education.
CHALLENGE
MN SNAP has requested recommendations for the function, navigation, and content of their current website to provide direction for a future redesign. I had the opportunity to offer insights on what’s working well and to identify usability issues.
METHODOLOGY
RESULTS
A usability evaluation was conducted using Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules for interface design and Blackcreek’s 8 Heuristics to increase non-profit donations to outline opportunities for usability testing. Our research team then conducted remote, moderated usability tests using a think-aloud protocol with 14 users over the course of 3 days in 30-60 minute sessions. We identified pain points within the user flows and opportunities to advance the content and navigation.
Based on the research findings, I created a usability report featuring 17 recommendations for improving the MN Snap within their current preferred website platform, WordPress. These recommendations focused on advancing the overall site navigation, donation content, and site elements. The recommendations report also contained 7 positive findings and 9 key themes for usability issues.
Role: UX Researcher | Deliverable: Annotated Wireframes, Findings & Recommendations Report
METHODS
1 Usability Review:
•Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules
•Blackcreek’s 8 Heuristics
2 Affinity Diagramming
3 Think Aloud, Remote, Moderated
Usability Testing
4 Low Fidelity Prototyping
ATTRIBUTIONS
• Photos MNSnap
• Typeface Open Sans
• Logo & Branding MNSnap
• User Test Script Template Steve Krug
AHA MOMENT
This was my first experience with synthesizing group data. Our research team had 14 testing participants and 5 researchers contributing, and our first synthesis sessions weren’t providing clarity.
We had an “AHA MOMENT” when we combined our data in a spreadsheet format inspired by the “rainbow” spreadsheet method. Seeing our data in this simplified, visual way helped the group identify key opportunities, understand the exact number of participants who were able to complete our testing scenarios, and compare where their pain points occurred. From here we were able to pull out essential themes and qualitative data. This process was essential for moving forward with a unified understanding of where to focus our recommendations.
CASE STUDY: RESEARCH > EVALUATE > PROTOTYPE
Site Goals
Primary users:
1. Educate visitors on the value of MN SNAP’s services and the resulting impact on the local pet population
2. Provide information on and access to available resources for low-income families with pets
3. Encourage mission-driven donors or volunteers to support or become engaged with the organization
Key Tasks
Primary tasks:
• Learn about the benefits of spaying/neutering
• Find available surgery appointments & locations
• Register pets for surgery
• Understand how to care for pets after surgery
• Find affordable vet services in a particular area
• Sign up for a volunteer opportunity
• Give a monetary donation
• Register for the annual fundraiser (FurryTail Ball)
• Apply for a job at MN SNAP
• Become a MN SNAP clinic partner
Key Users
Primary users:
• Low-income families with pets looking to have their pets spayed/neutered
• Rescues and shelters looking to have pets spayed/neutered
• Donors looking to make an impact on pet overpopulation in Minnesota
Secondary users:
• Potential volunteers
• Potential job candidates
• Family and friends of donors
RESEARCH
Usability Review
I first evaluated MNSnap.org to identify pain points and possible focus areas for upcoming usability testing of MN SNAP’s key tasks using Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules for interface design and Blackcreek’s 8 Heuristics to increase non-profit donations. These findings revealed that support tasks, such as donating and volunteering, were already fairly functional. Their primary opportunities for improvement in the overall site navigation, fine-tuning the donation and scheduling modules and improving site elements such as photos and text.
Usability Testing
Evaluation Plan and Participant Screening
Based on these initial findings, our research team developed an evaluation plan for usability testing to find user insights on data for the site’s key task flows, navigation, and content. Our goal was to evaluate the user flows for client services, donations/support, and mission & goals.
We then conducted remote, moderated usability tests using think-aloud protocol with 14 users over the course of 3 days in 30-60 minute sessions. 4 of these tests were group lab sessions where with a host, moderator, and 4 live-note takers. The other 10 usability tests were conducted individually.
Synthesis
The raw data from usability tests were collected, combined, and analyzed using affinity diagramming and graphs to identify key insights and issues.
I identified 7 positive findings. Critical issues were grouped into 3 themes. Each of those themes was broken down into function, navigation, and content categories. Within these categories, I broke down the findings into 17 actionable recommendations that worked within the constraints of the organization’s current website builder.
FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Positive Findings
Participants had emotional responses to photos and other visual content.
Overall, the “Volunteer” navigation and content were easy to find and understand.
Participants found it easy to navigate to “aftercare” information.
The Donation module, pre-set amounts, and in memoriam donation option were very well received and worked well for most of our users.
8 participants thought the donation process was easy to use.
When participants found content, that content was generally very well received.
7 of our participants would recommend MN SNAP’s service to a friend.
5 Critical Issues
All 14 users encountered navigation issues while testing the site
10/14 users wanted a larger font size and/or more text hierarchy on pages throughout the site
10/14 struggled to locate how to schedule an appointment and missed the navigation for “Owned Pets”, “Register your pet”, and “Register for Surgery”
9/14 users wanted to be able to sort appointment scheduling by location first. 6/14 also mentioned that they wanted to be able to select available appointment times.
7/14 users struggled to find information on how donations were spent
Surprising Findings
8/14 mentioned disliking a featured photo of a dog on an exam table
8/14 users were unable to find “Why Spay/Neuter” content
8/14 weren’t sure of the difference between what content they would find under the site’s “MISSION” page and “ WHO WE ARE”
6/14 users tried to navigate to FAQ when unable to find other information and missed the FAQ page because it was not available on hover.
This finding was eye-opening as we realized the users were missing all of the menu navigations that were “click-only”, meaning they didn’t display if the user was not hovering on the menu.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Homepage & Site Navigation
6 recommendations for advancing the overall usability of the site and homepage
Mission & Support
5 recommendations for improving the functionality and visibility of Volunteer, Donation, & Organization Impact pages.
Client Services
6 recommendations for improving the usability of MN SNAP’s online scheduling system and information.
DELIVERABLE
FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
With the key findings established, I created a findings report where I outlined the testing methodology and identified key recommendations for improving the usability of the MN SNAP’s website based on the 14 usability tests. The report summarizes the opportunities for improvement from the user’s overall impression, their use of site navigation, and their ability to complete key tasks in client services, donations, volunteers, and mission. This documented was presented to MN SNAP.
CONCLUSION
Usability testing yielded 7 positive findings, 9 key themes for usability issues, and 17 recommendations for site improvements within their current platform, WordPress.
•Testing revealed that users were interested and excited about the MN SNAP program and found it easy to gather a basic understanding of what the program did after looking at the homepage briefly. Much of the MN SNAP site is currently in good shape. A few modifications to the menus and navigation would immediately improve usability.
• Small adjustments to site elements would also improve site usability. Elements to consider: button placement, picture choice/size, adding captions to photos, and center-justifying content may improve the overall formatting and function of the site.
• The majority of our incomplete tasks during user testing happened around the theme of scheduling and it may be crucial to reconsider the current sorting criteria, adjust the language used to identify scheduling options, and add information with detailed directions and expectations for scheduling.
NEXT STEPS
I recommend that MN Snap create and test a prototype based on the 17 key recommendations.
These findings have been passed along to the organization to be considered for the next step in their development process.