Agency Utilizes UX Research to Balance Form & FunctionAnswerLab Multi-Platform UXamine™ Case Study

AnswerLab

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Business Context

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Business Context: Auto Purchase Research is Digital

95% of vehicle shoppers use digital channels to research their purchase*

26% of in-market shoppers in 2012 were looking for information on their mobile devices, a 77% increase from 2011

*NADA State of the Industry Report 2012: https://www.nada.org/** Google Think Insights, 2013: http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/digital-drives-auto-shopping.html

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AKQA Tasked to Reimagine Digital Auto Experience for Luxury Car Brand

• Goal: implement minimalist, graphic-focused website with a unique car configurator experience, putting the vehicle front and center

• AKQA success metrics identified by end client:– Increase in car configurations– Increase in site interactions

• Challenge: Changing the automotive site experience may confuse visitors used to the old design, resulting in drop-off. AKQA needed to reduce this risk.

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• AKQA needed to:– Validate web & mobile concepts in the prototype phase– Test usability throughout development

• Three key research objectives:

1. Confirm the new site reinforces the luxury car brand image

2. Identify and fix usability issues which may reduce key task completions, such as car configuration

3. Ensure tasks can be completed quickly and easily

Agency Needed to Ensure Their New Design Was Usable

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AnswerLab Research Solution

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Solution: UXamine™

Benefits:

• Provides actionable insights at any stage of a

digital lifecycle

• Dynamic and flexible, allowing quick shifts in

focus

• Delivers deep understanding behind the

“why’s” of user behavior

What it is:

• Qualitative research to learn how to optimize

wireframes, prototypes, designs, or products

through first-hand observation of users’

interaction with stimuli in one-on-one

interviews

How it works: • Users interact with a web, mobile, or other

digital product and provide input 1:1 with a

researcher

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• A phased, iterative approach– Two phase study with two rounds each– Desktop & mobile user experience tested in all rounds– Participants included current and prospective owners

Multi-Round Usability Research Design for AKQA

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un

d 1 Stimuli:

Concept & IA Framework

N=18

Iterate/Validate

Ro

un

d 2 Stimuli:

Concept & IA Framework

N=12

Iterate/Validate

Ro

un

d 3 Stimuli:

Configurator

N=12

Iterate/Validate

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un

d 4 Stimuli:

Configurator

N=18

Iterate/Validate

Phase 1: Validation of concept and IA framework Phase 2: Iterative Evaluation of the Configurator

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Research Findings

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“I have no more forward button where I was clicking. I’m still looking for kind of a ‘done.’ Like a message that says, ‘I’m done now.’ I don’t know what my next step is right now. Other than saving, I don’t know what else I can do.” - Participant 9

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• Visitors found the graphic-heavy interface beautiful, but struggled with the non-linear nature of the design:– Thought exploration was too open-ended– Wanted cues to know what to do next– Needed progress indicators to track areas they had and hadn’t visited

Visitors Didn’t Know Where to Start Within the Non-linear Design

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Visitors Found the Site Beautiful But Had Trouble Navigating It

Some participants wanted to be able to click on an image and have that act as the inventory filter

“It would be cool if I could just click on the car instead of having to choose it from a list.” - Richard

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Initial Search Feature Design was a Usability Stumbling Block

Nobody interacted with, nor did they realize, this was a search field

Almost none of the participants took note of the body copy/links below the main image

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Impact

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Impact: Research-Driven Decisions

• Agency made adjustments to graphic heavy design over the course of 4 rounds:

• Added progress indicators to guide users through the car configuration process

• Added overlay upon initial entry into the configurator to points out hotspots giving users a better sense of their build options

• Visually differentiate hotspots in configurator that the user has already interacted with

• Fixed search box confusion by providing a familiar search icon and improving instruction copy

• Overall design was validated

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New Site Delivers Huge Increases in Interaction, Contributes to Record Sales

227% increase in car configurations

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Learn More About UXamine™ Results

UX Research Reveals How To Delight Mobile Users and Drive Conversions

• Commissioned by Google• 119 user interviews• 100 mobile websites spanning a

variety of verticals & business sizes• iOS and Android users

Access the full Principles of Mobile Site Design whitepaper

Your Trusted User Experience Research Partner

Thank You.For follow-up questions about AnswerLab user experience research services, contact:

info@answerlab.com