Usability Testing for Global NGO Prompts New Site Structure
Our client, a subsidiary of World Bank, had designed a data hub website for data it had gathered on smallholder farmers (farmers with very small plots of land) in different countries. They asked us to conduct two rounds of usability testing on the website prior to its launch—one round to determine whether the navigation structure and labeling made sense to the users, and a second round to test any refinements based on results of the first round of testing. The usability testing resulted in a complete restructuring of the website to match the way its audiences (fintechs, government agencies, consultants, and financial services firms) expected to find content.
The Challenge
Our client, an international NGO, needed a new website to publish research data in a format that could be easily consumed. The research data that would populate the site was collected in six countries. It included raw data sets, charts, and data visualizations for each country. The team overseeing the research designed the website.
The client team had taken their best guess about what navigation structure would help audiences find and use the country data, but they had not gathered any user feedback during the initial stages of design.
They engaged us conduct usability testing on a beta version of the website, make any changes needed, and then test again before launch. The two rounds of testing would allow them to launch with the confidence that the site would be well received by the target audiences.
The original navigation of the site included three tabs. All country data was nested inside the “Explore” tab.
Our Work
We conducted two rounds of one-on-one usability test sessions with roughly a dozen people representing the client’s primary audiences, in several countries around the world. We used screen-sharing software so we could see the test participants using the website on desktops, laptops, and mobile.
The content was originally organized in three main navigation tabs—Welcome, Explore, and Data. The first and second were a welcome and examples of how the site’s research data could be used in business cases. But the meat of the site, the country-specific data, was under the third tab. We found that this site structure made it hard for the audiences to understand and use the site–which could mean low adoption of the site and low usage and sharing of our client’s research data, unless the site were restructured.
Outcomes
Through usability testing, we learned users expected this site to be organized by country. Their projects are focused on the countries in which they work, and that’s how they expected to see the data organized. So, for example, a consultant working on projects in Tanzania would expect to find relevant information under a tab called “Tanzania,” not a tab called “Data.” With our findings in hand, the client was able to reorganize the site by country, and also make other improvements to verbiage and information architecture, to ensure the site would be a valuable resource to the intended users.
Thanks to usability testing, the final site design reflected the needs and preferences of its users and was a usable and successful digital property.
