improving website usability
This usability study focuses on the Museum Computer Network (MCN) website, specifically the usability of its Members Portal.
MCN is a non-profit organization that supports professionals across the Galleries Libraries Archives Museums (GLAM) industry through its annual conference, website resources, and MCN membership.
As an initiative to continuously support the professionals in the GLAM industry, MCN launched a Member Portal for its members where they can network, seek professional advice, and participate in industry-trending discussions.
I was part of a team of four UX specialists that researched how MCN members utilize the Portal to network with each other and gather professional information.
Using the Moderated Usability Testing (MUT) method, we have gathered invaluable direct feedback from the MCN website users which revealed several areas that could be significantly improved and result in the enhancement of the overall members' experience.
Goals & Scope
To define the goals, scope, and duration of this usability study, we set up a meeting with Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, the Senior Digital Strategist at MCN.
She helped us to understand what MCN is, what value it brings to its members, and what areas of the website she wants us to focus on during this usability study.
“It shouldn't just be a conference where we get together for three days, once a year. We need to come up with a better system for people to be able to support each other throughout the year.”
– Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, MCN Senior Digital Strategist
Conduct research on how the MCN members utilize the membership portal, detect the usability issues they face, and provide recommendations to resolve them to improve the website’s overall usability.
MCN Member Portal
Desktop/Laptop Browser
8 MCN Members
7 weeks
Research & Prepare: 2 weeks
Recruiting: 1 week
User Testing: 2 weeks
Report & Presentation: 2 weeks
testing participants
Due to the scope of this usability study being narrowed down to the specific area of the website - the Member Portal - our users had to be MCN members with active memberships.
We put together a screening questionnaire that was distributed to all MCN members via email.
We recruited eight MCN members who were interested in participating and available for a certain time period.
We determined the participants' eligibility through the following criteria.The user must be:
an MCN member
Interested in participating
User Testing: 2 weeks
Available for testing within a predetermined time period
According to the responses we have got, the majority of our participants were:
18-35 years old
Held membership for 1-3 years
Log in once a month or once in six months
Preferred desktop devices to access the MCN website
process
For this study, we selected the Moderated Usability Testing (MUT) method, where the testing moderator can interact with the user in real time.
Before the test, the participants were asked to fill out the pre-test questionnaire and sign a consent form.
The testing was conducted remotely via Zoom video-conferencing software where participants were given a scenario and set of tasks to perform.
The users were asked to "think aloud" while performing the tasks, while we could ask the follow-up questions and record the sessions to review them later in more detail. Then participants answered our post-test questionnaire.
In the end, we rewarded our participants with a $10 Amazon gift card for their time and contribution.
“You are hoping to transition to a job in digital imaging and looking to find out more about the field. You joined MCN to gather information and make contacts within digital imaging.”
1. Find a group related to the topic of digital imaging.
2. Among the members of this group, find someone who has experience in "Exhibition Design" or "Digital Preservation" and find their contact information.
3. You are no longer interested in receiving notification alerts from this group, and you want to opt out of notifications from this group.
4. You are no longer interested in this group, and you want to unsubscribe from it.
How would you describe your overall experience of using the website?
Are there any features or functions you feel would be useful to have on the website?
What part of the website do you use most frequently?
What part of the website do you go to if you're looking for professional advice?
Analysis & Results
After conducting usability tests our next step was to synthesize the findings and prioritize the usability issues.
We created a table with the following data:
A detailed description of each user's actions for all four tasks
The pass/fail of the task
The task ease scale
In this table, we highlighted the failed tasks with pink color and successfully completed tasks with low ease rating - with orange. This way we were able to see which website areas have major and minor usability issues.
Our user testing results have shown that the MCN Member Portal provides useful resources to the users and the majority of its functionality works.
Users felt the new website design is cleaner and more streamlined than the old one. They also expressed an appreciation for the content and resources available.
However, some improvements could increase the usability of the portal.
We have identified the critical problems and potential solutions for the following sections: the Member Directory, Special Interest Groups (all groups page), Special Interest Group (a particular group page), and Profile.
Recommendations
I. Member Directory
1. Inability to narrow down members by their practice area, years in the sector, etc.
"If I would look for a person with expertise in a particular area, I would try to guess from their job title... Although I think there might be a better way to do this!"
2. Search bar does not return effective search results.
"Is it just me, or the search bar does not see any of my keywords? I am not sure what is wrong!"
3. Inability to contact a member directly from the MCN website.
"The easiest way would be to have a "Send Message" button that would give me an opportunity to contact a person directly on the website without emails being exposed."
1. Add filters: Practice Area, Technology Knowledge Area, Organization Type, Years in Sector.
2. Improve the Search bar functionality to return the keywords results.
3. Add the "Send a Message" function to the member’s profile.
II. Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
1. SIGs have two different navigation paths and different pages for no particular reason.
“Oh, I did not realize that I can access SIGs from Members tab!"
2. Text-heavy content on the SIG-Community page and repetitive visuals on the SIG-Members page.
"Groups do not "stand out" and it is hard to distinguish them from each other at a first glance..."
1. Merge the content of both pages: add SIGs description and MCN SIG logo. Separate secondary links such as "How to ioin a SIG?" and "Create a SIG" from the main content of the page.
2. Change SIGs display from cards to list.
III. Special Interest Group (SIG) Board
1. No hint is given that in order to access the resources, users need to subscribe.
"I am not sure how I should have guessed that to access the members list need to subscribe to SIG... I feel like there is something missing here!"
2. Inability to manage group subscriptions and notifications on the actual group page.
"I think I have unsubscribed... Not sure. so wi do to the group page just to double check if I really did..."
3. Inability to search board posts by keywords.
"If I am, for example, looking for job-related posts, I would not waste my time clicking each post one by one. I wish there was a way to search through SIG posts using keywords."
1. Adjust the layout of the page: add secondary navigation, rename "Mission Statement" into "About", and make content accessible for all MCN members.
2. Add the "Notifications On/Off" feature and allow users to subscribe and unsubscribe from the group on the same page.
3. Incorporate the search bar for posts and add "Sort" feature.
IV. Account Home
1. Landing on the instructions page does not give users an impression of a "member's hub". Profile's "Edit" version does not give the users the impression that their profiles are public.
"It just doesn't feel like a social profile unless you see the "View Profile" button. Shouldn't it be the other way round?"
2. Inability for users to track their groups-related activity in one place.
"I would appreciate if there was a page on my profile that is dedicated to managing my SIGs, my postings in this groups and replies, so that I could have a sense of my activity"
3. SIGs subscriptions and notifications are managed in different locations.
"Omg, what did I just do? I thought I am unsubscribing from notifications, not the group!"
1. Land users on a public version of their profile and add the "Edit Profile" link. Display a selection tab in the secondary navigation. Lay out the information horizontally for space efficiency. Change the Home tab name to Community and list all the useful membership links.
2. Add the "Activity" tab to allow users to track their group postings and replies. Display all the posts published by a user in different groups in one place.
3. Concentrate SIG subscriptions and notifications management in "Settings" to allow a user to manage subscriptions and notifications from one place.
Client Feedback
Our team has presented to Anna, the MCN Digital Strategist, the Member Portal study results. We received positive feedback from the client as she found our findings and recommendations very effective.
Anna noted that some of the identified issues occur due to the technical limitations that MCN has being a WordPress-based website. We talked about the possible adaptation of our recommendations within the existing WordPress limitations.
Overall, the client was very impressed with the work:
"I am thrilled to have fresh eyes on the design layer of the website in addition to functionality. I can't wait to share all this with our board!"
– Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli, MCN Senior Digital Strategist
Learnings
Testing with real users in real time is very powerful
Receiving direct feedback and having a chance to ask users follow-up questions right on spot is an unique opportunity to have an in-depth view of how people use digital products, what they struggle with, and why.
The quality of the study depends on many factors
Relevant users, effective tasks, testing session logistics, thorough analysis of the findings, problem prioritization, impactful recommendations, and effective client deliverables that summarize all the work – compromising on the quality of any of these aspects can undermine the whole study.
Teamwork is a key!
Conducting the usability study like this would have been much more difficult alone, therefore I am grateful for a team that was able to contribute so many valuable insights and deliver on their parts of the study.