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Usability Test Results

Ryan P. Trainor

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www.rap4.com

• Purpose: Paintball retail website, Real Action Paintball, based in Santa Clara, CA.

• *Target User Group A (tested):– 3 individuals who have not used RAP4 for paintball

purchases, but are acquainted with the sport of paintball.

– Goal: To interact with the website as consumers, to help refine the website’s usability.

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Tasks• Task 1: Navigate to the registration screen to

“join newsletter.” • Task 2: Navigate to the correct screen to

purchase a gift card/voucher. • Task 3: Navigate to the correct screen to

purchase a Spyder MR3 paintball marker.

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Task 1 NotesUser 1 User 2 User 3

Completion Time: 15 seconds 1 minute 1:18

Notes: Found the “Join Newsletter” button on front page of website, noticed it immediately.

First selected “Register,” but failed to find newsletter. Returned to home page and noticed “Join Newsletter” ad. Felt distracted by ads, observed the margins were “cluttered” with other ads.

Went to bottom of page news section failed to find newsletter. Returned to home page and observed “Join Newsletter” button on front page. The user felt other ads reduced the button’s visibility on page.

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Task 2 NotesUser 1 User 2 User 3

Completion Time: 4 minutes 2 minutes 45 seconds

Notes: Indicated that the page was very slow to load; too many video clips/images. First clicked on payment methods, but found no info on gift cards. Went back to home page, then clicked on the site map, and found “Gift Certificates” listed.

Could not easily discern what tab to select for info about rebate/redeem. Spent time carefully viewing each section underneath www.rap4.com/store Used search function to locate it “Gift Certificates.”

Navigated to bottom of screen underneath “Quicklinks” but did not observe anything titled “Gift Certificates.” Used search function to retrieve “Gift Certificate” section.

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Task 3 NotesUser 1 User 2 User 3

Completion Time: 4 ½ minutes 3 minutes 30 seconds

Notes: First went back to the site map, and looked underneath “Spyder Accessories” but did not find the MR3 marker for sale – only parts for the marker. Then went to “Accessories” on front interface menu, then “All Marker Models,” and found the Spyder MR3 listed in the results. Needed time to scan results to locate.

Searched under Catalog Paintball gun marker - could not locate the brand “Spyder.” Looked under “Custom Markers,” not there. Finally searched “Recreation Marker” “Spyder Guns” - “Spyder MR3.” Felt confused by the categories and their definitions.

Searched under “Guns/Mines/Grenades” “Paintball” “Recreation Marker” “Spyder Guns” “Spyder MR3.” Felt that categories were not well defined, i.e., what is the difference between “custom marker” and “mil sim [military simulation] marker” ?

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Results• Positive Points– Site’s search engine was effective at retrieving

info.– Site Map was also very comprehensive.– The site provides multiple access points/ways of

getting to the same info. • Issues– Web page was slow to load/error prone – Major– Distracting ads/too much clutter – Minor– User confusion over category labels – Minor

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Recommendations

• Reducing graphics will reduce time needed to load web page and enhance performance.

• Be strategic with what graphics are used, and what purpose they serve on a website (see following slide for examples).

• Most critical issue because it results in loss of time.

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Recommendations Continued

• Reducing “clutter” in the margins will allow users to easily identify alternative pathways to access information (Examples on following slide).

• Although minor in itself, this issue is interrelated with the slow web page problem. – Less clutter will enhance the website’s performance.

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- “Join Our Newsletter” is hard to find because of clutter.- Too much material distracted

users from discovering the pathway on the front page.

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Recommendations Continued

• User feedback should be used to help categorize RAP4’s products, for enhanced navigation of online store catalog.

• Ambiguous categories inhibits discovery of pathways to specific store products.

• Although a minor issue, this recommendation would help reduce time spent finding things (see following slide for example).

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• Usability evaluations suggest that users are confused and/or overwhelmed by categories, and resorted to search engine queries or site the site map.

• Site map could be used as primary navigation tool, with search function to jump to select sections within the site map.