As part of our UX research, we gathered information about residents' backgrounds, including whether they were homeowners or renters and if they paid their bills directly or through their landlords. We also inquired about the methods they used to pay their bills. Understanding these details helped us gain insights into the diverse user categories and tailor our proposed website improvements to suit their specific preferences and needs effectively.
During the user testing phase, we identified two primary goals:
💡 Understanding how users typically pay their water bills
💡 Examining how users approach and resolve encountered problems during the billing process.
We gave the residents 3 tasks to complete
Task 1: Observe how resident manage their water bills and water related issues before introducing the website (to see how they usually navigate their current habit)
Task 2: Observe how completed water related tasks after introducing the website
Task 3: Perform water related services such as Resolving water billing issue View water consumption
Content headlines from the A2 Water Billing Website were placed on sticky notes. Users were asked to rank each sticky note based on how likely they would use the content
0 = Unclear what content means
1 = Unlikely
2 = Likely
3 = Very Likely
The goal was to evaluate the organization of content on the website based on resident feedback. We used card sorting for two reasons:
💡 Ranking the content headline of the website based on how likely they would use
💡 Identifying unclear wordings
💡FINDING 01: Lack of Visual hierarchy - The absence of proper color saturation, appropriate text scaling, and information grouping on the web page resulted in cognitive overload which led users to overlook important information and extend the time needed to finish tasks.
✔️ Reorganized the information hierarchy of the page, prioritizing payment options with clear and easily readable headlines, to streamline the user experience and facilitate quicker access to relevant payment methods.
✔️ Enhance the color contrast of headings and increase the text size to improve visual accessibility and readability.
✔️ To enhance accessibility for screen reader users, we improved the visibility of vague hyperlinks like "click here" and "Read More" by providing clearer descriptions of the link destinations, allowing users to quickly understand where the link will lead them.
✔️ Intuitive navigation: we determined the most frequently accessed tasks and suggested adding a Quicklinks sections on the main page.
✔️ focused information: we have eliminated ambiguous headings and removed irrelevant content that previously contributed to information overload
✔️ Streamlined customer Experience: Identifying the most commonly asked questions and concerns allowed us to eliminate the need for residents to contact the water billing department by phone.
We were able to attend online student advising sessions which helped us understand the dynamic between students and the advisor. However, we were not able to go to in-person events and meetings to conduct field studies due to Covid-19
Initially, I felt confident in the interview protocol questions I prepared with my team. However, as the interview progressed, I found myself needing to deviate from the planned questions frequently. I tried to remain composed and I adapted my approach, asking questions that were more relevant to the interviewee's experiences. I also ensured that it did not affect the overall flow and quality of the interview.