Who was the client?
Operating in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire County Council was established in 1889. In 2018, they wanted to get an external view of the usability of their newly launched Integrated Lifestyle Website through usability testing and an expert evaluation of the service. This would allow them to implement the necessary changes before go-live, optimising the site for users.
What our client wanted
- To review key user journeys, identifying usability positives and negatives to ensure the user journey is smooth and engaging
- To understand what participants’ first impressions of the site were and why
- To increase awareness of the lifestyle services that the site provided
- To increase the likelihood of a positive user experience
- To identify both short-term and long-term improvements for the site
What we delivered
- Expert evaluation of prototypes of the online service and physical collateral, citing recommendations and areas for improvement based on established usability best practice guidelines
- Recruitment of 10 participants, each of whom took part in an hour-long testing session
- Usability testing of both mobile and desktop versions of the site to ensure an optimised user journey on all devices, plus physical collateral such as leaflets and posters
- Two in-depth reports outlining actionable findings of the project
The results
At the end of the project, Bunnyfoot produced two separate reports for Buckinghamshire County Council, detailing the learnings of both the expert evaluation and user testing sessions, as well as highlighting actionable areas for improvement. Some of the key findings included:
- The results of both the expert evaluation and the user testing sessions highlighted the need for a new, shorter user path to reduce visitor ‘drop-offs’
- The testing sessions identified the need for a clearer value proposition on key pages of the site, such as the homepage and ‘Support’ pages
- The testing sessions also highlighted the need for increased transparency regarding what Buckinghamshire County Council planned to do with users’ data
- Clarity regarding confirmation of what the users had achieved, as well as what information was necessary and what was optional was suggested in the expert evaluation
- Consistency of messaging was suggested for the call-to-actions throughout the journey
It was clear to see the amount of consideration that had gone into the design of Buckinghamshire County Council’s Integrated Lifestyle Services website. However, our thorough usability testing sessions and expert evaluation gave the team the insights they needed to make a significant improvement to the site and collateral; ultimately, providing users with an even more positive experience.
