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Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 1 Tourism British Columbia Australian Website: Usability Findings NOVEMBER 2005 Slide 2 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 2 Presentation Overview Research Objectives Testing Approach & Target Audience Findings & Observations Recommendations Next Steps Questions. Slide 3 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 3 Research Objectives To review the naming of regions, places and categorisation of sights, activities and events on the current Tourism BC website, to ensure that they are meaningful for an Australian audience. To test how well the North American website performs with an Australian audience To develop an Australian Tourism BC website prototype which supports the Australian personas specific user needs and to test the prototype to uncover any usability issues or ambiguities. To analyse the user feedback and make recommendations that will ensure the Australian website is optimally focused to the Australian audience Slide 4 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 4 Approach One-on-one sessions 1 - 1.5 hours per session Three Rounds: Testing the existing North American site with an Australian audience and determining an SAE categorisation structure through card sorting Testing an Australian prototype with updated navigation and new content based on previous research and Round 1 testing Testing a revised version of the Australian prototype updated with user feedback from Round 2 testing Slide 5 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 5 Participants Total of 20 participants 50/50 Mix of Males to Females Keen travellers have recently been on or planning an overseas holiday Australians by birth or have lived in Australia for an extended period of time (long enough to call Australia home). Reasonably comfortable online. They should use the internet to conduct research for their holidays. Slide 6 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 6 Ski Orientated Travellers Sally & Pete Roberts Age range: 25 45 Keen & active skiers usually take at least one local ski trip a year Have recently been on or are planning an overseas ski holiday in the next year (around two to three weeks in duration) Prefers outdoors/activity based holidays Total: 7 Skiers Slide 7 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 7 Tour Based Travellers Myra & John Cook Age range: 60+ (possibly retired) Older travellers looking for once in a lifetime travel experiences Have recently been on or are planning a long haul overseas holiday (around 6 weeks in duration) Prefer organised tour based holidays Total: 8 Tour Based Travellers Slide 8 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 8 Independent Traveller Jill Davidson Age range: 18 30 Independent traveller looking for work opportunities overseas Have recently been on or are planning an extended overseas trip including a working holiday (more than 3 months in duration) Prefers independent travel Total: 5 Independents Slide 9 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 9 Findings & Recommendations Overview Getting to the website First impressions Exploring what the site has to offer Finding specific information & completing goals Absorbing the information Gaining a spatial awareness of Canada & BC Finding out if BC is the right holiday destination Completing the booking process Final impressions Next steps to further improvements Slide 10 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 10 Getting to the website. Slide 11 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 11 Getting to the website: Findings URL & search summary copy not very effective HelloBC that looks like a site that is going to try and sell me something Most Users looked to the main title first and then the URL to determine if a site was useful to them Users have heard of Canada but usually not British Columbia, especially the shortened version BC. BC was not understood as short for British Columbia Hello BC does not fit with the Australian mental model of official Tourism site. It was rarely identified as the official site of Tourism BC users tended to pick www.britishcolumbia.com or www.tourismbc.com www.britishcolumbia.com www.tourismbc.com Google was the search engine of choice for 100% of people interviewed Slide 12 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 12 Getting to the website: Findings URL & search summary copy not very effective Slide 13 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 13 Getting to the website: Recommendation Recommendations to improve access to the website via Search Always spell out BC to British Columbia Tell users that British Columbia is part of Canada eg British Columbia, Canada Include the words official site within the search result description Reconsider the URL of the site to reflect the accepted standard for official tourism website URLs in Australia eg www.visitbritishcolumbia.com, www.britishcolumbia.com or www.tourismbritishcolumbia.com www.visitbritishcolumbia.com www.britishcolumbia.com www.tourismbritishcolumbia.com Slide 14 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 14 First Impressions. Slide 15 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 15 First impressions: Findings Impressions of the homepage evolved with each design iteration I like itthe map is a bit confusing it is too small and I think it would be clearer if it showed the rest of Canada & America as well its a bit uninspiring i cant see anything that I really want to click on I cant find any links to ski information and Im not sure where to look I would expect it to be here somewhere I like visual of the four seasons, without reading I can tell that Id like to go there when it is snowing, & Its good to know what I can do at those times of the year I like the banner image gives me good picture of what I would expect to see. These are the kind of pictures that I already have in my head about Canada Its appealingstraight away the pictures are eye catching Round 1Round 2Round 3 Right well, I now know where British Columbia is nowits not on the east coast after all I usually go straight to the main navigation and I like how i can easily find it on this page Id probably just miss all this stuff in the front and go straight to what Im looking for Slide 16 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 16 First impressions: Findings Users focused primarily on the imagery and visual elements (such as the map) when making their first impression judgements Positive first impressions were dependant on the imagery or the map being appealing and useful to the user interviewed Experienced internet users looked immediately for navigation bar to get straight to the most relevant content Slide 17 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 17 First impressions: Recommendations Decide who is your most valuable Australian target audience and select a banner image that appeals to this target audience skiers, tour based travellers and independent travellers are very different in what they find appealing Use SAE links and seasonal imagery to draw in the other two audience types Make the global navigation tool bar one of the most prominent features on the page Slide 18 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 18 Exploring the site Slide 19 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 19 Exploring the Site: Findings The homepage did not initially entice visitors to explore the site further The homepage didnt entice users into the content once in lower level pages user commented how useful the information was but that there are not enough clues on the homepage to indication what information is contain within Lack of spatial awareness of BC for Australian users limited the usefulness of the map and regional links in drawing users into the detailed content Users did not always notice the global navigation Ski and tour based travellers especially commented that there was nothing about their particular travel needs highlighted on the homepage Slide 20 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 20 Exploring the Site: Findings Imagery is very important for engaging users interest with British Columbia and the content of the site a picture is worth a thousand words a destination name means nothing but a picture makes me wonder where is that? Slide 21 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 21 Exploring the Site: Findings Australian users preferred to explore the site by things to do and see rather than by destination Due to a limited knowledge of the regions and cities, users generally have an SAE focus when entering the site. Once we included SAE content on the homepage, users no longer commented that there are no attractive/interesting options to click on By far the most popular route into the lower level content was via the seasonal information or activities presented for each season Slide 22 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 22 Exploring the Site: Recommendations Suggest sights, activities and events content that might be of interest to our core target user groups user straight from the homepage Put sights, activities and events content into a context that is relevant to the Australian traveller eg by season/time of year to travel Include at least one passive and one active SAE so as to provide hooks for the broadest range of visitors Create inviting links to relevant Sights, Activities & Events content directly from the homepage Slide 23 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 23 Exploring the Site: Recommendations Users commented that they liked the use of this seasonal imagery after the map it was the next thing to catch their attention Increase usage of engaging contextual imagery on the homepage Slide 24 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 24 Exploring the Site: Recommendations Increase usage of engaging contextual imagery on the homepage Slide 25 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 25 Exploring the Site: Recommendations Improve visibility of directional navigation clues Increase prominence of global navigation (discussed in more detail later Give the user more guidance as to where to click next to find out more information about holidaying in BC: Provide prominent links to high level find out about BC content Slide 26 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 26 Finding specific information & completing goals Slide 27 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 27 Finding Information: Findings Poor visibility of key navigation tools In early rounds, users often didnt notice the global navigation bar. Users found it considerable more difficult to complete the tasks set when the global navigation was not noticed Users commented that the side navigation bar did not stand out enough from the rest of the page inexperienced users often missed it altogether Slide 28 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 28 Finding Information: Findings Some changes required to Content labelling, terminology and categorisation Australian users sorted the Sights, Activity and Events content into different category groups then North American website Some terminology used was confusing eg Aboriginal and viewpoint because conflicted with Australian interpretations of the words New categories for Tour based travellers were discussed as valuable additions such as Organised Sightseeing Tours Changing the labels of some links made the link more attractive to click on eg changing Regions & Cities to Places to Visit made a user more likely to click on this to explore what BC has to offer as noticed in difference of people using this page in round 1 vs. round 2 & 3 Slide 29 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 29 Finding Specific Information: Findings Related linking needs to be improved Users sometimes were frustrated by lack of direction on where to go next to find more specific information. Users often did not notice the related links panel in the right hand side column Users did not always take the most direct route when completing a specific information retrieval task some users would click through several other pages before finding the information they were seeking. eg would click on Key Travel Information when looking for Getting There & Away type information. The current site does not currently to support this kind of usage by linking related pages Slide 30 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 30 Finding Information: Findings The transportation section naturally tended to be split by users into Getting To BC (from Australia) and Getting Around BC once your there The tour based travellers commented on the lack of information on organised tours and all inclusive package deals Market research showed that our target audiences are specifically interested in directions on how to get to and from airports and between ski resorts. This information proved difficult to track down on the current site. Once in the transportation section, users wanted to know where they could to book the flights or car hire and who could give them the best deals Users did not like having to wait for a PDF map to download Transportation & maps section structure & content needs review Slide 31 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 31 Finding Information: Recommendations Significantly improve visibility of navigation tools The global navigation bar has been repositioned below the image banner. The font size and colour contrast have been increased to improve the visibility of this important navigation tool. The global navigation bar needs to be the most prominent element on the homepage as Findability of information on the site was dramatically improved by implementing these simple design changes Increase font size and change the colour contrast from the main body of the page. This helps to distinguish this important contextual navigation tool from the content Slide 32 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 32 Finding Information: Recommendations Apply new SAE categories as defined by the card sort Apply the new SAE categories as defined by the card sort (shown here) Include new categories for tour based travellers: Unique Journeys & Sightseeing. Include new content pages for tour based travellers: Organised Sightseeing Tours, Bus Tours, Railway Journeys and Cruises Address differences in terminology eg Aboriginal > Indigenous, Viewpoint > Lookout, Circular Routes > Self Drive Road Trips Slide 33 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 33 Finding Information: Recommendations Apply new global navigation labelling Regions & Cities > Places to Visit Transportation & Maps > Getting to BC & Around BC removed from the beginning of all navigation options considered superfluous and occasionally confusing as not all users understood BC as meaning British Columbia Add new navigation options: Australian Travel Agents and Contact Us Slide 34 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 34 Finding Information: Recommendations Cross link to related information WITHIN the site Three different strategies for cross linking related information from within the site All display related links within the main body of content. Displaying related links in the right hand column was not obvious enough to the majority of users Links can be made within the actual textual content eg if a paragraph is talking about needing a visa then visa can link through to the Key travel information page Slide 35 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 35 Finding Information: Recommendations Cross link to related information WITHIN the site Three different strategies for cross linking related information from within the site All display related links within the main body of content. Displaying related links in the right hand column was not obvious enough to the majority of users Links can be made within the actual textual content eg if a paragraph is talking about needing a visa then visa can link through to the Key travel information page Slide 36 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 36 Finding Information: Recommendations Cross link to related information WITHIN the site Three different strategies for cross linking related information from within the site All display related links within the main body of content. Displaying related links in the right hand column was not obvious enough to the majority of users Links can be made within the actual textual content eg if a paragraph is talking about needing a visa then visa can link through to the Key travel information page Slide 37 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 37 Finding Information: Recommendations Cross link to related information EXTERNAL to site Display related links within the main body of content. Displaying related links in the right hand column was not obvious enough to the majority of users. Slide 38 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 38 Finding Information: Recommendations Cross link to related information EXTERNAL to site Links can be made within the text content eg if a paragraph is talking about good ski facilities for Children in Whistler, then a link can be made direct from the text to the Kids Program page on the Whistler site Slide 39 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 39 Finding Information: Recommendations Rename transportation and maps to Getting to BC & Around Split the content into two different sections: Getting To BC & Getting Around BC Add new content areas specifically addressing the need for information on Airport transfers, Ski Resort Transfers and Travel Passes Rename & split Transportation & Maps into two sections Slide 40 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 40 Gaining spatial awareness of BC. Slide 41 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 41 Gaining spatial awareness of BC: Findings Most Australians have a limited knowledge of the geography of Canada and very limited awareness of BC in relation to the rest of Canada Users had heard of the big name tourist destinations of Vancouver and Whistler but had never heard of many of the other destinations in BC Users were generally much more likely to click on names they had heard of then destinations that were new to them Australian travellers knew very little about the geography or destinations of British Columbia or Canada These place names mean nothing to me I dont even know where to start looking Slide 42 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 42 Gaining spatial awareness of BC: Findings All users were drawn to the map on the homepage but many commented on clarity & usefulness Usually the first thing users do when researching an unknown destination is to find a map. This is to familiarise themselves with the main destinations and distances between them so they can begin researching and planning which places they would like to visit Users where immediately drawn to the map on the homepage but didnt always understand it. The biggest problem seemed to be that users didnt understand that the map is only showing BC rather than all of Canada. The shape of BC is not one that is immediately familiar to Australians. Slide 43 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 43 Gaining spatial awareness of BC: Findings All users were drawn to the map on the homepage but many commented on its clarity and usefulness Slide 44 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 44 Gaining spatial awareness of BC: Findings Users appreciated and requested maps at key points in the information gathering process especially in the early stages The maps on the North American were not always considered that useful users did not like having to wait for a PDF to download. They responded better to the idea of an interactive map integrated into the content page as shown in the prototype BC and city highlights interactive maps were received very positively with the users interviewed Its really valuable to get a perspective of where things are in relation to each other I need to be able see what is possible in the time I have Slide 45 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 45 Gaining spatial awareness: Recommendations Users require a map that shows the whole of Canada and its surrounding regions eg Alaska and mainland USA. The map needs to clearly label and link to well known adjoining provinces and destinations such as Alberta & Banff. BC should still remain the main focus of the map but it needs to be placed within the context of the whole of Canada so users with a limited knowledge of the region can put BC into context with what they do already know The homepage map should include the whole of Canada Slide 46 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 46 Gaining spatial awareness: Recommendations Users rollover a star (or some other design element) to view a headline of a BC or city highlight. Create interactive maps for BC, Regional and City highlights pages Slide 47 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 47 Gaining spatial awareness : Recommendations Slide 48 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 48 Absorbing the information Slide 49 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 49 Absorbing the Information: Findings Often noticed users squinting at the screen or positioning themselves closer in order to read the website Users were reluctant to read large chunks of text. They tended to scan over much of it and sometimes miss information they were looking for Users responded much better to imagery or graphical visual clues Text is too small and difficult to read Slide 50 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 50 Absorbing the Information: Recommendations Increase font size to minimum of 11point throughout the site Make the existing text more scannable: highlight keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and colour are others) meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones) bulleted lists one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) The inverted pyramid style of writing, starting with the conclusion reduce the word count (half or less than conventional writing) Increase font size & make text more scannable Slide 51 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 51 Absorbing the Information: Recommendations Use graphical clues to support textual content, for example, icons to highlight the different ski and resort facilities at the ski resorts like in the holiday brochures Increase the use of contextually relevant imagery as clues to the information contained on the page Increase usage of visual and graphical clues to the information contained on the page Slide 52 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 52 Absorbing the Information: Recommendations Increase usage of visual and graphical clues to the information contained on the page Slide 53 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 53 Deciding if BC is the right holiday destination Slide 54 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 54 Finding out if BC is the right holiday destination: Findings Seasonal considerations ranked highest for Australians when deciding which travel destination to go to Due to the large distances and cost involved in overseas visits Australian travellers tended to plan multi-destination trips i.e. would generally not just go to one part of BC or Canada Many held preconceived notions that Canada was exclusively a winter destination for ski orientated travellers Very little previous knowledge of geography, places of interest or distance between destinations, sights & activities Australian travellers value having access to the latest health and safety information Slide 55 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 55 Finding out if BC is the right holiday destination: Recommendations Provide seasonal overviews and suggestions for the best things to do at certain times of year Provide information on places to visit outside of BC Itinerary suggestions or tour orientated content for to inspire Australian travellers on what to do and see in BC Provide maps with the best things to do and see highlighted for BC and each of the regions/major cities Localise the key travel information to the Australian audience provide easy access to this info from the homepage Slide 56 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 56 Completing the booking process Slide 57 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 57 Completing the booking process: Findings Overall, users were surprisingly positive about purchasing travel online especially with regards to package deals for ski and tour based holidays. Generally only the older or less experienced internet users expressed concerns with using their credit cards online However, a significant percentage of users still use their local travel agent to make the final booking even if they have done all the research online. Sometimes out of habit, sometimes the convenience of having someone else work out all the finer details, sometimes so they have the confidence their holiday will be trouble free. Hotels and flights were the most common travel products that users purchased via the internet Trust was a big factor when booking online users will ask does the site look and feel reputable? All users that feel comfortable booking online said they would trust the Tourism BC site Slide 58 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 58 Completing the booking process: Recommendations Completing the booking process: Findings Searching for Accommodation Accommodation functionality was generally considered very useful and easy to use nearly all users questioned said they would feel comfortable booking via the site Cost in Canadian dollars was not considered to be an issue users expected cost to be displayed in that way. Travellers on a budget commented that they would like to be able to search accommodation by price Users felt that this destination list was too long and occasionally confusing especially because the first visible destinations are unfamiliar to all our users. Slide 59 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 59 Completing the booking process: Recommendations Provide contextually relevant links to external websites where users can book travel online The last step in the planning process is to book the flight a significant percentage of people are comfortable or prefer to do this online therefore it is important to provide direction and options for these users to compete their booking process Slide 60 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 60 Completing the booking process: Recommendations Provide functionality for users to find a specialist BC travel agent in their region Allow users to refine their travel agent search by state or postcode Slide 61 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 61 Completing the booking process: Recommendations Display most popular destinations first in the drop down To make the destination list easier to navigate, list the most popular destinations (eg regional capitals cities and key tourism destinations) at the beginning of the drop down list. Slide 62 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 62 Completing the booking process: Recommendations Create option to filter hotels by price Some users, especially independent travellers, commented that an option to search specifically for hotels within their budget range. Slide 63 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 63 Final Impressions... Slide 64 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 64 Final Impressions: Findings 100% of users trusted the information provided on the site Nearly all users said they would use the site again if researching a holiday to British Columbia Satisfaction with the website increased, i.e. users had less suggestions for how the site could be improved, as each set of recommendations was applied the prototype Slide 65 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 65 Next steps to further improvements Non-accommodation special offers on certain sights, activities and events displayed on contextually relevant SAE pages All inclusive package special offers or flight deals Slide 66 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 66 For more detailed analysis see: Slide 67 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 67 Questions.. Slide 68 Tourism BC Australian Website Usability Testing December 2005 68