MungerPotatoFestival.comPrototype Usability Testing Findings

Presented by Elaine MartinOctober 16, 2013

IntroductionBackground P. 2Research ObjectivesMethodology

Executive Summary P. 4

Overall Findings P. 5

Conclusions P. 11

Recommendations P. 12

Appendix A: Screener and Profile Spreadsheet P. 13 B: Monitor’s Guide P. 15 C: Test User Information P. 17 D: Screen Captures P. 18

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Introduction

BackgroundOn September 21, 2013, four consumers representing a range of target audiences participated in the Munger Potato Festival testing. The goal was to determine whether participants would locate and choose the event in a local festival search. Once directed to the site, the goal was to obtain specific opinions concerning their first impressions of the site, what types of events they are most drawn to, and whether pertinent information such as directions and event times were easily located. The participants all considered themselves to be Internet-savvy, had used the internet to search events in their local area, and had all attended local festivals in the past. The specific criteria are outlined in Appendix A: Screener and Profile Spreadsheet.

Users were asked to search for a festival in the Bay City area. They were not told who the client was. Users were asked the reason for choosing a festival and what was favorable about the site’s look and information. Then, each was asked to go to the client’s website to evaluate and compare it to those already viewed. Users were then given specific tasks on the client’s site to determine whether the site clearly enables people to find directions to the festival, as well as the costs.

Research Objectives To determine the interest level in this festival compared to other festivals in the area. To determine whether the event’s page creates an interest in attending the festival. To determine if the cost, events available, and proximity are factors in determining

whether users attend the festival.

Usability Testing Tasks and ScenarioA series of tasks and scenarios were created based on the objectives. The primary tasks included:

Choosing a favored festival in the Bay City area through search engine’s descriptions and viewing site of choice.

Reviewing and commenting on each chosen homepage, events available, opinions about site and activities offered at festival.

Reviewing and commenting on Munger Potato Festival’s site look and activities offered. Determining ease of finding directions and costs of Munger Potato Festival. Comparing festival’s sites for look, feel, and activities offered at each.

Most Web site usability research shows that testing a small number of users throughout the process is the most cost-effective approach. The first three users typically identify the major issues and preferences, and subsequent user comments often are redundant. In this case, four users were recruited so that varying opinions from several target audiences were included. The screening criteria and the user profiles are included in Appendix A: Screen and Profile Spreadsheet.

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Each user is tested in a one-on-one environment, with a facilitator in the room prompting the user to share comments about the choices being made. These comments are critical in testing because we can determine why the user is frustrated or excited about the site and the events it offers. It also helps to determine why a user choses to click on certain buttons.

The approach Elaine Martin recommends (as listed in Appendix D: Elaine’s Usability Methodology) is to evaluate and deal with the concerns found on the existing Web site, determine what changes would be appropriate in the proposed site, and then test three more users after the new wireframe or design prototypes have been built.

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Executive SummaryThis report describes eth Prototype usability testing performed by Elaine Martin for the redesign of the Munger Potato Festival Web site. The primary goal was to find the reasons that people want to attend a festival and how to appeal to those desires through improving the user experience with the website. Baseline testing was performed by Elaine Martin at the inception of the project and provided a basis for many of the tasks and questions included in this round of testing.

The test was performed by giving a task of finding a festival in the Bay City area. The experience of which site was selected was observed and comments were noted. These screen captures are included in the overall findings and are noted in Appendix D: Screen Captures. Users experiences, excitement, and frustrations while interacting with these sites was observed. The opinions and comments were used in making all recommendations for improving the Munger Potato Festival website.

User responded well to the sites that gave them a feeling of fun, indicating the association of the word festival with fun. The features they enjoyed were large descriptive pictures, the attractiveness of certain words or pictures with links that encouraged interaction, and the ability to make sense of the information. Users found the site boring and lost interest quickly when they became confused or frustrated. Confusion was created by not understanding what a potato festival was. Frustration was caused by the inability to link to details about events. Boredom was immediate due to the layout having too much white space and not enough pictures. Overall, the site needs to include more interactivity, more bold and exciting colors, bigger more descriptive pictures. Furthermore, user sought festivals via different calendars of events. Therefore, it is imperative that all websites that advertise events in the area include a link to the festival.

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Overall findings:

Ability to locate find siteUsers were able to locate many festivals in the Bay City area and the calendar of events for the local events which included the Munger Potato Festival, but none chose the site before being promoted to do so.

Downtown Bay City – Calendar for Bay City eventshttp://www.downtownbaycity.com/calendarofevents.htm

This site did not include the Munger Potato Festival as an event scheduled for the summer of 2013.

Two of my users chose to look at this site to find a festival in the area. One picked the River Roar because it looked interesting. He thoroughly investigated this site, finding the events interesting. The other could not find the links and thought there was nothing to click on. He said there was nothing there and left the site.

Events on this site are listed in chronological order. Each had a description and a link to the website.

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Visit Great Lakes Bay Region – Calendar of events for the area http://www.visitgreatlakesbay.org/index.php?catid=12&starting_date=06%2F09%2F2013&ending_date=10%2F09%2F2013&topicid=&region=

This site included a write up about the Munger Potato Festival and had a usable link. The link took users to the home page, currently advertising the derby.

None of my users found this page, but I was able to find the link when I searched calendars to see if any had links to the event.

This site requires user to type in the range of dates for the search. The events are then listed in chronological order based on the first date the event takes place, thus all events that run all summer are listed first. Each includes the date, time, place, website, contact person, and a brief summary of the event. Some included a picture on the right-hand side of the event listing.

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Bay City Fireworks Festival http://www.baycityfireworksfest.net/

This site is only about the Fourth of July events in Bay City.

All four of my users chose to look at fireworks sites that showed up in their search. Three of them chose this site. They thought fireworks sounded fun and interesting. One of the users who viewed this site thought the fireworks display was exciting, she loved the pictures. She was determined that she would pick this site solely on the look of it without reading about the event. Another user had carefully read the Google description that led her to this site. She thoroughly read the entire site and chose this event because it was exactly as good as she had thought the description in Google had said it would be. She was not disappointed. The other user searched through the events, noting there were two parks with events. He would also attend this event based on what it had to offer.

The event is described fully and includes excellent pictures. There were not links to other events, except those running during the same time period that appeared to be in conjunction with the event. It is a good example of what users were drawn to both because of the fun they felt because it was a fireworks event and the excitement the pictures created due to the excellence of the pictures displayed on the page.

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HomepageOverall, users liked the pictures that were placed in a thoughtful and fun way where little white space was left. Users commented about the colors and how they associated fun with pictures. Users did not take much time trying to figure out how to navigate the sites based on logic, but were drawn to icons and pictures with links. Most did not go to the navigation bars until they had looked at the pictures and read the main content of the homepage. What they chose to read was typically connected the colored and bolded words that drew their attention.

Munger Potato Festival – Note: The homepage used for this analysis is the page found under events because according to client, this is what the homepage looks like most of the year.http://mungerpotatofest.com/events/

LayoutThis page listed all events of the festival. Events were listed under the day. Users commented that it was boring, the pictures should be bigger, and the events should have links to describe them. Only one noticed the link to the left for directions. Three scrolled quickly down the page, looking for something to click on. One clicked on the bands, but was disappointed when it took him to the band’s website rather than telling him about the band’s role in the event. He was unfamiliar with the band. All commented on the potatoes at the top. Three didn’t understand why there were potatoes and would have preferred a description of why it is called a potato festival.

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Users found the page advertising the September derby the most interesting and felt the layout of the ad itself was good. They commented that it was not placed on the page well. It left too much empty space on the remainder of the page.

Photography

The advertisement for the September derby was liked by all users. The pictures of the cars crashing were commented on by two users as exciting. None realized that there was a derby during the main festival’s event also.

All users were not impressed with the photography. All felt the pictures should be bigger and include links. Only the band pictures included links.

The pictures of the potatoes confused all four users and three thought it was weird since there was not description of why there were potatoes.

The pictures of the rides were so small they were hard to determine what they were. Only one user showed an interest in the picture of the ride and determined there were rides there. None of the other users were drawn to either of the two pictures of rides. Three did not think there were rides available. Once I pointed out the picture and told them what it was, they commented similarly to this statement, “Oh, that’s what that is.”

ColorsThe colors blend well that are used on this page. The words are the same color as the header background giving it a warm feeling. The complimenting colors also contribute to the warm feeling. Users felt it was boring overall and would have preferred bright, fun colors.

ContentAll users would have liked a description about why it is called a potato festival. This distracted three to the point they immediately lost interest in the festival.

The bands each had links to their own pages. The other events had no links to describe them. All users would have preferred links to describe each event. One user would have liked to have a better description of the actual band portion of the event rather than a link to the band’s website. He wasn’t interested in the band because he didn’t know them.

Only one user even noticed the link for directions to the left of all the events even though it was very large in comparison to any other content on the page. This user only noticed it when asked to find directions.

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The navigation bar did not catch the interest of any of the users.

All users commented on the lack of excitement on the webpage. The felt there was too much whitespace which comprised more than half the page.

The dates and times were easy to find.

One user was very excited about the derby in September. This user did not notice there was a derby during the festival also. She found the information on this page thorough.

When users were asked to find directions, only one clicked on the link provided on the homepage. Three went to the contacts page where one found the same link that is provided on the home page. One decided to Google search directions. Another found the directions on the derby page, but was angry there was not physical location for him to use his GPS.

CostAll of the users thought the cost was reasonable once they understood the event. One felt the cost of the derby in September was actually a really good price.

Lodging Three of my users did not consider an overnight stay. The one that did felt that it would be no different than staying in a motel anywhere, so if her family decided to attend the event lodging would not be a determining factor.

ProximityDistance was not a factor in determining whether my users would go to the event. They all felt that if they lived within a 50 mile radius, an event worthwhile would entice them to attend.

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Conclusions The site includes all pertinent information regarding the festival for those familiar with it, who just need to know what is happening in a particular year including events, dates, times, and costs. Those familiar with the festival will not question the name of the festival and will not need descriptions of each event. Users that are not familiar with the event shared the following information:

All were confused about what a potato festival meant, including one who thought the events were going to have to do with potatoes. His comment was, “Are we going to throw them at each other?” Three wondered why the heading included pictures of potatoes.

Each user associated the word festival with fun. They felt that the pictures, colors, and lack of ability to interact with the site were not fun, but boring. They each attempted to find links to click on and were disappointed that most everything to be learned about the festival was on that page. They were not disappointed that the entire event was described on the page, but that there were no links to read more details about them.

o For example, one tried to click on the king and queen to read more about them. o Another had hoped to find out about the details what he would do if he came to

watch the band, but the link only took him to information about the band. o None knew what amusements meant, thus they did not activate the desire to feel

the fun that would have been associated with the rides. One user was concerned that the events for the children and the adults were separate. She

wanted to be able to know what she would do while waiting for the kids events or what the kids would do while she may be attending the adult activities. A feeling of either/or caused her to be skeptical to attending.

User quickly lost interest in the site because of all the white space.

The positive feedback included enjoying some of the events offered at the festival. Three users liked the thought of being able to entertain the kids on Saturday morning. One was very interested in the parade. Three were interested in listening to bands. One felt the beer and casino would be a hit. The same user felt the derby was the best part of the site, but thought the derby in September was the only one. There were things each user felt would be fun and give them a reason to attend.

Since each user could find something of interest at the festival, the key to getting them to attend the event would be to help them to feel an interest by making the site more fun and interactive. The site has too much white space, not enough interactivity, uses warm colors rather than fun colors, and has pictures that are too small and not enough pizazz to its main headings and points of interest.

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Specific RecommendationsLayout and design

Change the heading to something more fun, get rid of the potatoes The directions could be condensed to a bold word or a link in the navigation bar rather

than taking up such a large space on the left of each page. Use bolder, larger, and more colorful words to describe main points.

Homepage Incorporate the potato photo on the page where a description of the festival can be linked

to. Use bigger pictures that speak a thousand words to the fun of each event of the festival. Format the design so the picture speaks to the event, rather than the words. Then include

a descriptive link. Detail why each event is fun, sharing the parent’s role in the events designed for children.

Plan Your Trip Page Include the cost, time, and other pertinent information on this page. Include the map link on this page only.

Contacts Page Include a link to the directions on this page

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Appendix A: Screener and Profile SpreadsheetUser Profiles:

All users would be living in Michigan, 30 – 60 miles of Munger

Parent(s) – person that is in charge of entertainment for a family Male or Female Married or Single head of household

People with an interest in Demolition Derby or Figure 8 Derby NASCAR

People that enjoy either or both Live entertainment Drinking beer and/or wine

Testing procedure and environment: Testers will be tested individually at my kitchen table during the least amount of traffic while I observe their decisions, clicks, and attitude.

Tester will be given the instructions and we will review them answering any questions Tester will be asked to locate the website and then follow the instructions I will explain that I will be observing simply to gain information about the usability of the

site, not their speed or skill in achieving the tasks. Once all tasks are completed, tester will be given questionnaire in order to fully understand their preferences and complications experienced.

Timing: The entire process should take 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Profile Spreadsheet

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Saturday,9/21/13

TimeTest User Name

Test User Age

What Use Internet For

Test User Job

Interest level in Fair

Test User Family Details

6 p.m. Jimmy 21 1,2,3,4,5 Piano technician

Low, enjoys one-on-one or small group activities, but not crowds

Single, no children

7 p.m. Jamie 18 1,2,3,4,5 Student High, likes concerts, parades, food, community events

Single, no childrenAsked to pretend he had 2 children between 5 and 10

8 p.m. Jessica 18 1,3,4,5 Student Medium High, enjoys social and community events

Single, no childrenAsked to pretend she had 2 children between 7 and 12

9 p.m. Brandi 22 1,3,5 Day Care Worker

Very High, also regularly attends races

Boyfriend, no childrenAsked to pretend she had 3 kids under 12

Appendix B: Monitor’s Guide:

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KEY TO CODES:

1 – email2 – news3 – entertainment4 – shopping5 – social networking

Testing Technical Specifications:Brower: Google ChromeMonitor Resolution: 800 x 600Connectivity: VMHardware: Dell Desktop

User’s Name:__________________________

Time:_________________________________

Hi, I’m doing a project for college. You are helping me test a website for usability. Are you ready?

We are trying to determine ways to bring interest to the events included on the website, increasing the events attendance. It is not a test to determine your skill. Each question will ask you to find specific information while we observe how easy or difficult this is to do. All questions ask you to do tasks that are possible. Feel free to comment, but help will be limited due to our desire to determine the difficulty of the task.

Please complete the following tasks pertaining to the website while talking out loud, sharing your thought process:

Task 1: You want to pick one festival to attend in the Bay City area. Please find one.

Task 2: View each site on its homepage. Which do you find most interesting and least interesting and why?

Task 3: I will give you a specific site at this point. Tell me what you find most appealing and explain your first impression/opinion on the site.

Scenario 1: You plan to attend the event. List the date, time, and place of the festival.

Scenario 2: You do not know how to get there. Please find the directions.

Scenario 3: What events are available to do during this festival and what is the cost? Do any of them sound like something your family would enjoy? Do any of them seem affordable or too costly?

Once all tasks are completed, please answer the following questions:

1. Based on the site, what did you find most interesting about the event?

2. What would be reasons for you to attend the event?

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3. What would be reasons for you not to attend the event?

Thank you for your time. You have helped in the determination what it will take to make this a better website.

Appendix C: Screen Captures

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The following pages represent the screen captures that users found during their testing. These pages include:

Munger Potato Festival

Homepage September derby advertisement Contacts Directions Plan your trip

Downtown Bay City

Homepage calendar of events

Bay City Fireworks Festival

Homepage describing festival

Visit Great Lakes Bay Region

Homepage calendar of events

Appendex D: Tester findings (also available in excel)

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Task 1: You want to pick one festival to attend in the Bay City area. Please search until you find one you like.

1. Google: 1. Typed Bay City Festivals. 2 Clicked on top site. Evaluated it. 3. Went back to Google search. 4. Clicked on Fireworks Festival. Evaluated it.5. Went back to Google search and said, "There's nothing else." 6. Clicked on calendar of events in Bay City. Subject decided to give up.

2. Bing: 1. Typed Bay City Festivals. 2. Clicked on calendar of events 3. Clicked on River Roar because it looked interesting. 4. Clicked back to search. 5. Clicked on Fireworks Festival. 6. Tried to go to car show on site, but bad URL.

3. Google: 1. Typed Festivals in Bay City. 2. Picked michiganfireworks.com and clicked on it.

4. Google: 1. Typed Bay City festivals. 2. Clicked on Bay City fireworks festival. She clicked no further, just talked about the site.

Task 2: View each site on its homepage. Which do out find most interesting and least interesting and why?

1. First site evaluation: Wouldn't go to this place because it looked like a beer festival. Second site evaluation: Site did not work when clicking. Third site, Calendar of Events in Bay City evaluation: There was nothing to click on, so he didn't like the site. "This doesn't tell me anything."

2. Person did the following: 1. Picked Calendar to see what was going on in Bay City. 2. Picked River Roar because it sounded interesting. He read site to figure out what was going on. Found they had free admission/carnival/boot races/free concerts/free things/ looked at cost. Good deal, carnival, concert, and boat race. 3. Picked Fireworks because Fireworks made it sound interesting. He noticed it was more than one day. He noticed there were 2 parks where events were happening. The site was not ready for next year yet, so other information was not yet available. The Car Show went to a bad URL.

3. She had carefully read through each description on the Google site and picked this festival. She confirmed she liked it when she went to its site and had no interest in searching further. She liked everything about the site.

4. She picked it quickly because she liked the "fireworks." She just scanned the pictures and read main headlines and said it was good. She really liked the display of fireworks the homepage had because it was exciting.

Task 3: I will give you a specific site at this point. Tell me what you find most appealing and explain your first impression/opinion on the site.

1. He typed in the Munger Festival site. "This is the worst website I've ever seen. It is not appealing. Potatoes, I don't know what that means. I don't care about potatoes. Are we going to boil them and throw them at each other? I don't know what we will do. There's

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an 8. I don't get the 8. I'd rather go to the beer festival. The picture at the top right is people and doesn't make sense. Subject then clicked on the "8" part of the flyer which just made the ad bigger. Figure 8 derby, that has nothing to do with potatoes. I thought of eating not cars crashing. I wouldn't pay $15 for ticket to watch cars crash.

2. I gave him potato festival site. Nice name, layout at tope, would prefer it centered. Lame looking, not much work into it.

3. I directed her to the potato festival site. She said, "It's a potato festival?" She felt the site was bad. All info was in the middle and easy to find, but still wondered what the potato festival was. (The homepage is the derby ad.) She did not search for the "festival" but proceeded to tell me all about the champion figure 8 derby being held in Sept. I went with it and asked her many of the questions about cost, location, etc. She was able to find everything about the derby, but never found the festival in this search. She even clicked on the ad and it became full sized. She felt the derby was affordable. She did express concern that a derby did not sound like a festival. She thought it was going to be about potatoes. She was done. I then directed her to click on "events" and she found the festival. She felt the page was boring and poorly done.

4. I redirected to the potato festival homepage. She loved the derby ad and was drawn to the cars crashing and was ready to go to it. She and her boyfriend often attend car races and derbies. She thought the site was great especially after clicking and enlarging the ad. Then I directed her to events where the festival was described. She was disappointed. She thought it was boring and needed more excitement and lots more pictures.

Scenario 1: You plan to attend the event. List the date, time, and place of the festival. Scenario 1: You plan to attend the event. List the date, time, and place of the festival.

1. Subject found the date, time, and place of the derby, but not the festival. I suggested clicking on the bar across the top. He scanned it and said he wasn't interested in looking.

2. Clicked on events and found the dates of the "festival." He read through the entire 3 days events and named what they were. He didn't know for sure what amusements were. He spent a lot of time looking at every single event listed on the page and named them, giving me the dates, times, and places.

3. She noticed that there were different dates from the first ad for the derby and seemed confused. She saw the derby event on this page, but there was nothing to click on to clarify things. She was able to list the time, place and date of the festival. She commented that there wasn't just a derby, but lots of things to do. She listed them all. She then noticed the figure 8 derby was Sunday night and seems to be done at 9, when the teen dance and other things are going on.

4. She was able to find the date time and place listed on that page.

Scenario 2: You do not know how to get there. Please find the directions.

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1. He found the directions on the derby ad. However, he wants to put it into his GPS and no address was given. This made him mad. He wouldn't go because he couldn't find the address. Even with encouragement, he never found a street address. He was too irritated to look further.

2. He clicked on the contact information and did not find the address. He then clicked on the left picture which showed a map and gave the option of typing in your address to get directions. He opened that tab, but didn't enter his address.

3. She clicked on the directions choice on the left and found them without a problem.4. She clicked on the directions choice on the left and found them without a problem. She

followed the links to where you could type in your address and get specific directions and was pleased with its simplicity.

Scenario 3: What events are available to do during this festival and what is the cost? Do any of them sound like something your family would enjoy? Do any of them seem affordable or too costly?

1. Refreshments and that's it. Fifty drivers competing for money. I don't think the derby is too expensive, but it is a waste of my time.

2. He couldn't find the cost, so thinks it is free. The only place there was a cost was on the figure 8 add. Figures it would be affordable.

3. I would take my kids to the festival and do things that are with my family. We would leave at 9 when non-kid friendly things start.

4. She read through the events somewhat. The Las Vegas Casino and Derby seemed the only thing that got her attention. She didn't think the derby was too expensive, she actually thought it was much cheaper than derby's they have attended.

Wrapping Up: Based on the site, what did you find most interesting about the event?

1. Refreshments are the only thing I found interesting.2. Free bands, stuff for kids, and the parade.3. She asked if I meant from the homepage derby race in Sept or the one we were on now. I

said the festival. She said the kid's events on Saturday.4. Adults and children friendly, everyone can go. The derby sounds fun, as well as the

casino.

What would be reasons for you to attend the event?

1. If someone paid me to go I might go. Refreshments are it, or I was really bored.2. To watch the parade.3. Stuff for kids to do on Saturday.4. Something fun to do.

What would be reasons for you not to attend the event?

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1. It is a festival based on potatoes. Cares and potatoes don't mix. Potatoes and cars sound boring, nothing to do.

2. Didn't know the bands, likely would find an amusement park instead for the kids.3. This one has things for kids, but seems to be either just for kids during the day and only

for kids during the night. I don't think I like that. The other festival there were things for both kids, that adults would enjoy all day and night. Fireworks, helicopter rides, concerts, food, carnival rides, etc.

4. Wouldn't go if busy or out of money/time.

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