HONDA MOTOR COMPANY USABILITY TESTING REPORT joyce xu informatics 283 MHCID @ UCI march 21, 2018 Video URL: https://youtu.be/q2teQNTiYN4
INTRODUCTION what are we trying to solve?
TARGET CLIENT
Honda Motor Company Founded in 1949 by Soichiro Honda, Honda Motor Company first began operations as a motorcycle manufacturer. Shortly after, expansion into the automobile space has since paved the way for their success. Since then, power equipment, engines, solar products, robots and even aircraft have been added to Honda's line card. Today, the innovative company continues to be a leader in the mobility and automotive industry committed to excellence, sustainability, and safety.
4 EVALUATIONS IN 3 MONTHS
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Heuristic Evaluation
Cognitive Walkthrough
Competitor Analysis
Usability TestingÂ
JANUARY 2018
FEBRUARY 2018
MARCH 2018
MARCH 2018
PHASE 1 HEURISTIC EVALUATION Key Learnings Our project team of four evaluated Honda's website using Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design - an industry-wide set of usability guidelines that are used to assess a current interface. The evaluation was an "inspection" of the Honda website and our goal was to identify any violations of the abovementioned heuristic.
8
6
4
2
The team identified 6 positives and 10 negatives. 0 Cosmetic
Minor
Major
severity codes breakdown by ranking
Catastrophic
PHASE 2 COGNITIVE WALKTHROUGH Key Learnings
Core Task - Step Breakdown
The Cognitive Walkthrough evaluation details our findings and recommendations from our Cognitive Walkthrough evaluation of Honda's Build & Price interaction.
1. Find "Shopping Tools" in menu
The purpose of this walkthrough was to analyze the usability and flow of the Build & Price task - from a target user's perspective.
3. Select the vehicle modelÂ
The cognitive walkthrough identified 2 issues on Step 4's customize vehicle.
5. Click "View Build Summary"Â
2. Select "Build & Price"
4. Customize vehicle
PHASE 3 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Key Learnings
Direct Competitors Toyota Nissan
Our team conducted competitive research to review and compare online sites and applications within the automotive industry. The goal was to identify any opportunities or gaps for our client Honda.
Lyft
The report includes information on our findings: Honda's direct and indirect competitors.
Influencers
This competitive analysis will show how other players in the market are performing based on a series of predetermined attributes. It also details current trends that are both working and not working on competitor websites.
Indirect Competitors
BMW Tesla Nike
METHODOLOGY our evaluation process
WHAT IS A USABILITY TEST? Purpose A usability testing study allows us to observe and understand what users think and how they feel when interacting with a current design prototype or live interface (mobile, desktop, product, etc.)
Goal To improve the product based on the results of the study. In a typical usability test, real users try to accomplish goals, or tasks, with a product under controlled conditions.Â
Why Do We Need to Test?
WE ARE NOT OUR USERS Testing on target users can lead to increased user satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the product.Â
METHOD
Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing No moderator Participants are given a series of tasks and questions from written task instructions
Advantages Less moderator bias Larger demographic reach Fast turnaround time
STUDY GOALS 1. Ease of Use How easy was it to complete a task?
2. Easy to Learn Do users know how to find what they are looking for? Do users know how to use the Build & Price tool to get a quote on a vehicle?
3. Engagement Do users trust in the brand? Do users enjoy the online experience?
OUR PROCESS
1. Pre-planning and wrote test plan
2. Launch tests on Loop11 & UserTesting
3. Recruited test participants
4. Analyzed the results from our findings
PARTICIPANTS
3
190 Male and Female Age: 25-40 Language: English Purchased or leased a car in past 5 years
KEY FINDINGS what did we discover?
TASK 1: SELECT THE 2018 HONDA CRV How easy was it to complete this task? (Very easy to very difficult)
92.7%
TASK 2: BUILD & PRICE THE VEHICLE How easy was it to complete this task? (Very easy to very difficult)
88%
AVERAGE TIME ON TASK 150 seconds
100 seconds
50 seconds
61.8
secs. 0 seconds
Select CRV
108.6 secs.
Build & Price
I like the large-scale car imagery in rich colors. Reads as super clean and refined. Also, the ease of differentiating between the 5 Accord Models and then the build tool on my preferred version was ultra simple, straightforward, visually engaging and therefore fun.
I loved how easy and functional it was. Nothing about it felt difficult or bothersome. It was a very pleasant experience that I really enjoyed. I also loved the element of excitement that was there. Also when building the car, it had all of the options right on the side and created no hassle with it. I liked that as well.
4
NEGATIVE FINDINGS
Severity Rankings Major Usability Problem
has a significant potential impact on usability
Minor Usability Problem
low priority, but should be noted
Cosmetic problem
fix if there's time and it's easy
NEGATIVE
Page loading time is on the slower side. Users have reported that various pages on the Honda domain take a long(er) time than load compared to other websites.
Recommendation Increase the speed of the site by lightening the pages, compressing images and videos where possible
I could not complete this [5-second first-impression question] because it didn't load properly.
NEGATIVE
The first impression makes or breaks the UX Participants have reported that the homepage does not resemble a major car brand.Â
Recommendation Be mindful of the graphics and images used on the homepage. This is the first thing users will see and it makes a differenceÂ
The initial feeling was not what I expected. It felt very childlike and almost cheap. It didn't feel like a major car brand at first glance.
NEGATIVE
Upon completion of the Build & Price tool, one of our participants expected that they can order from Honda or contact a dealer to test drive. There may be some confusion on what the Build & Price tool functionality can allow users to do. Can they order the car, contact the dealer or just reserve a test drive?
Recommendation Allow potential buyers the option to order online, or search inventory that matches their custom build. Better yet, provide an alternate option for them to schedule a test drive. The goal here is to allow your potential customer the option to have one step closer to purchasing.Â
Ordering online should be one choice and the other is test drive...that was the only thing that was a letdown/unexpected...
NEGATIVE
In the Build & Price tool, the verbiage used to describe the features may be unclear for newer shoppers. There are a few mentions in each car's customization where the language used might be a challenge to users who are not familiar with car terminology.Â
Recommendation Make sure acronyms and/or verbiage used in this tool, and on your site, has a clear explanation
What does CVT mean? Is it automatic or manual transmission?
60.5%
WAS ABLE TO NAVIGATE EASILY THROUGH THIS SITE
67
NET PROMOTER SCORE
RECOMMENDATIONS next steps
RECOMMENDATIONS Ease of Use Lighten up the pages in this domain: compress images & videos where possible
Easy to Learn Use recognition over recall Make sure acronyms and/or verbiage used in the Build & Price tool and on the site, has a clear explanation
Engagement Be mindful of the graphics and images used on the homepage. This is the first thing users will see and it makes a difference Once users go through the Build & Price tool, allow them to view inventory or schedule a test drive