Summary

I conducted moderated usability testing of a mobile prototype for an ecommerce quiz in ADT’s online store. Testing revealed significant usability issues related to the interface design, clarity of information, and the checkout flow. The recommendations led to a major redesign of the recommendations experience and checkout flow.

Challenge

ADT’s online store included customizable packages, but high rates of cart abandonment were attributed in part to analysis paralysis. An assisted shopping experience with a customized recommendation was identified as a solution for these prospects.

Research question

How clear and complete are the quiz questions?

How well does the recommendations experience - content design, user interaction, and user flow - align with prospective shoppers’ expectations based on the quiz?

Findings

All participants found the quiz experience and questions thorough, relevant, and not overly long.

Critical usability issues were identified related to the interface design, clarity of information, and the checkout flow.

Some specific pain points with the recommendations prototypes included:

Not understanding the relationship between the core products and recommended products
Not understanding the design and intent of the recommendations page
Unmet expectation of an ATC interaction on the results page
Insufficient information about recommended products

Recommendations

The quiz questions were validated, with only minor copy-related changes recommended.

The recommendation page and checkout flow, which had been prototyped as an entirely new interaction and experience on ADT.com, was recommended for a simplified redesign based on existing and established UI patterns already in use on the site.

Methodology

I conducted moderated usability testing of the quiz experience over six thirty minute sessions via UserTesting. I asked the UI designers to break the prototype into three sections to enable a counterbalanced comparison of the two versions of the recommendation and checkout experience. I screened for participants who were in the market for home security and who preferred to shop by completing a quiz.