Intro to Web Publishing assignment. Usability Test for the website Sun Basket.

1. Jenna Kauzlarich
Intro to Web Publishing
21 October 2018
Usability Analysis Based on User Field Testing
Usability Testing for SunBasket.com
Test Preparation:
To prepare for the usability field-testing for Sunbasket.com, I started out by
reading over the script and the tasks so I was familiar with what I would be reading
and so I could read it smoothly to the participants. I then started by reading the
script again to myself as if I were conducting the test on myself. The scenario was
“Your rich uncle is helping you eat healthy by giving your up to $65 per week for
Sun Basket meals.” For the first task, “Determine the weekly cost of a meal plan that
appeals to you. Will your uncle’s budget cover the cost of your preferred meal
plan?” I started off by going to the “Meal Plans” tab and I saw that the price was
$11.99 per serving, but that did not give me enough satisfaction for the price so I
continued to build my meal plan. Then I had to make an account, and after that I
saw the total cost of my first meal plan would be $71.94 for the first time which was
not covered by my uncles $65 per week.
For the next task, “Go through the process of building an order (customizing
a meal plan) and choose the specific meals you’d like to receive.” I had already done
it trying to figure out the price. To make sure that I knew what my users would
experience for sure though, I went back to the home page and did it over again.

2. For the third task, “Determine the cost of shipping your first order and all
subsequent orders.” I knew shipping would be free the first order because when
you get done making your first meal plan it pops up “Free Shipping” on the screen
where you pay. I could not find the exact price of shipping but under the “Place My
Order” button it says that the next delivery will be “$78.93 including shipping and
estimated taxes” so I can conclude shipping will be roughly $6.
The fourth task was “Assume you have a very serious food allergy.
Determine how to go about placing an order that accommodates the allergy.” To
begin this task I went to the “home page” by clicking the logo from the “place your
order page.” From the home page I clicked on the “meal plan” tab and scrolled down
the page trying to find something that talked about food allergies. I found at the
bottom of the page in the “Frequently Asked Questions” it had a question that says
“What if I have food allergies or intolerances,” and recommends you should not
order anything from Sun Basket.
Choosing Participants
Tester 1: Sierra Findley
My first tester was Sierra Findley. She is 20 years old and is a waitress while
she goes to college. She says she spends a lot of hours a week using the Internet and
estimated 15-20 hours a week. She estimated that 60% of her time was using social
media, while the other 40% was browsing. She also considers herself a high-
experience user of the Internet. I think this person is a reasonable tester because
she likes to cook and tries to eat healthy. She has not been to a meal kit site before
but she has ordered food online from a restaurant before.

3. Environment for Tester 1
 Location of test: The test was done at 316 S Buchanan St in Maryville. That
location was chosen because that is where she spends all her time when she
is not at work or school.
 Physical environment: We were in a bedroom where the lighting was
moderate to a little bit dim. She was sitting on a bed with pillows behind her
propping her up. She had her laptop on her lab with her legs out straight.
There was a hyper dog that was causing some distractions at first because he
was very excited and wanted a lot of attention, but sometime during task one
he calmed down and went away. The room was quiet; the only noise was
from a ceiling fan.
 Technical environment: She was using an HP laptop issued by the
university. She was connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi. Her browser she
used was Google Chrome and she had no plugins.
Tester 2: Owen Clark
My second tester was Owen Clark. He is 20 years old and works on the
university farm while he goes to school. He spends 18 hours a week using the
Internet and said that he is on YouTube quite a bit. Because of that he estimates
85% of his time is social media while the other 15% is browsing. He also considers
himself a high-experience user of the Internet since he grew up with computers his
whole life. I think this person is a reasonable tester because he says he orders pizza
online and he is an animal science major and knows a lot about where food comes
from and practices related to food.

4.  Location of test: The test was done at 321 E 14th St in Maryville. The
location was chosen because that is where he lives and spends all his time
when he is not at school or work.
 Physical environment: We were in a spare bedroom and he had his laptop
on a desk and he was sitting in a wood chair at the desk. The bedroom had
jade green walls and a walk through sliding door that let a lot of lighting in.
There were not any distractions at first but towards the end there was a dog
outside that he got up and let in. The light in the room was off but it was
during the day and there was a lot of natural light making the room well lit
but not too bright.
 Technical environment: He was using an HP laptop issued by the
university. He was connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi and he was using
Google Chrome for his browser and did not have any plugins.
Test Results
The initial site thoughts of both testers were that the site was visually
appealing and used bright colors. Sierra talked about how the site must be a place
you get recipes or order meals to your door. While Owen talked about his thoughts
on organic food and noted that they have a “USDA Organic” certification symbol that
you see first above the fold, but when you scroll down to the next section labeled
“Eating clean the Sun Basket way,” they have a “California Certified Organic
Farmers” certification symbol in that section. He also noted that there was
deceptive advertising in that same section under “Responsibly Sourced Meats and
Seafood,” where it says “hormone-free meats,” because pork and chicken are not

5. allowed to have hormones used anyways so all pork and chicken are never raised
with added hormones, and also all meats have hormones in them naturally. He said
that steak has less estrogen than a head of cabbage.
Task 1: “Determine the weekly cost of a meal plan that appeals to you. Will your
uncle’s budget cover the cost of your preferred meal plan?”
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average
Average Satisfaction 4 5 4.5
Success Rate 100% 100% 100%
Highlights
For the first task tester one went to the “meal plans” tab and scrolled all up
and down it, selected the meal plan she liked and hit continue, but when the “create
an account” screen popped up she went back and read on the previous page that the
meals were $11.99 per serving so she multiplied it by three in her head and said she
should have enough money because it would roughly be $36. She said it would be
nice if it showed the prices better. Tester two started the task by hitting the
“pricing” tab where it showed the price per serving and the first meal box price in a
chart so he said there was not enough money.
There were not any main usability issues here but one big issue is how the
prices are displayed when in the “meal plans” tab. Another issue is making you
create an account before creating your meal plan.
1. Tester one was surprised it did not say on the “meal plan” tab the calculated
price for the meals, so she had to do it in her head.

6. 2. Tester one was trying to figure out the price and had to create an account,
which she did not want to do so she went back to the previous page to figure
out the price.
3. Tester one thought it should let him choose how many meals he wanted to
order in the “Classic Menu” price box. He said “I guess I have to order three.”
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem was that on the “meal plan” tab, it does not show pricing
easier. Tester one went to the “meal plan” tab first and saw that it showed $11.99
per serving, but she thought it should show a totaled amount and made the
comment “It would be nice if it showed prices better.” I think she would have been
satisfied if they had a version of what is on the “pricing tab” on the “meal plan” tab
as well.
Alignment to Heuristic: Recognition rather than recall
This heuristic matches best because the user had to do the math in her head
to come up with the price and she did not have to recall information from the
website but more the lack of information. It should have showed her the price
better on the “meal plan” tab than requiring her to do it in her head.
Task 2: “Go through the process of building an order (customizing a meal plan) and
choose the specific meals you’d like to receive.”
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average
Average Satisfaction 5 5 5

7. Success Rate 100% 100% 100%
Highlights
The main problem that arises here is the users are forced to make an account
before they can choose their meal plan and neither user wanted to do that but they
did because they had too.
1. The user clicked on the meal plan they wanted and then it went to a window
that said “Lets Get Started,” and made them have to create an account before
they could customize a meal plan.
2. The user tried to click on a meal they wanted when customizing their meal
plan, but it would not allow it because it had three meals already selected to
begin with, which caused a little bit of frustration.
3. User wanted to know more about the meal but could not find out by clicking
on the meal or staying in the same window.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem for this task was having to create an account before
even selecting a meal plan. From this test it showed that having the user create an
account before continuing could cause a user who was not set on ordering from Sun
Basket decide against it at that window. After the user clicked to customize a meal
plan and the window popped up to create an account the users made comments like
“Do I have to?” and “I don’t want to make an account.” They wanted to see what
meals they could order before committing to making an account.
Alignment to Heuristic: User control and freedom

8. The heuristic matches best because the users did not want to make an
account but they did not have a way to make an account later before they selected
their meal plans. They had no way out of this step without stopping their progress
and not continuing.
Task 3: “Determine the cost of shipping your first order and all subsequent orders.”
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average
Average Satisfaction 3 5 4
Success Rate 100% 100% 100%
Highlights
The biggest issue here was letting users know how much shipping was. They
were both on the order tab and read the fine print under “price box” but did not
know where to go to get an exact answer for the shipping price. They both just
estimated the cost in their head.
1. Testers saw that it said how much the next meal box would cost and
calculated the difference between the next one and the current one with free
shipping, but did not like having to do math in their head.
2. User did not like how they could not click anywhere to get back to choosing
their meals incase they wanted to change what they selected.
3. User did not like how it did not specify exactly which meals they were
ordering for their meal plan.
Biggest Problem

9. The biggest issue was that Sun Basket did not say how much shipping was
and the user felt unsure of the exact answer even though they knew a rough
estimate of what shipping would be. They read that shipping was free for this order
and that their total would be $71.94 this time and $78.93 in the future. They knew
the difference was the cost of shipping being added but they did not know if taxes
were part of the difference too and how much the exact shipping would be.
Alignment to Heuristic: Consistency and standards
This heuristic matches best because the user knew the difference between
the price but did not know if it included shipping and tax or just shipping because a
lot of situations it would be both but since it is food it might not have tax. It should
be consistent and show how much shipping is the first order and deduct the price
instead of just putting “Free” in the total box for the shipping amount.
Task 4: “Assume you have a very serious food allergy. Determine how to go about
placing an order that accommodates the allergy.”
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Tester 2 Average
Average Satisfaction 4 5 4.5
Success Rate 100% 100% 100%
Highlights
This task was fairly easy for both users and both of them thought it was easy to find
the answer to after they looked a bit. Tester 1 gave it a satisfaction of 4 because
they would be disappointed if they wanted to order from Sun Basket and could not
because of their food allergy.

10. 1. Had to search for a bit and go to multiple pages before finding the answer for
sure.
2. Tester was unsure of first where to go to begin looking for the answer so
went back to the “meal selector” page from the “checkout” page.
3. Saw that they had gluten free meal plans but did not know if they were okay
for a food allergy or not from looking at the meal plans section.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem was that the user did not know where to first look for
the information at. Because they did not know right away where to look they went
to the “home page” first to begin their search for the information. They then went to
the “meal plans” page and scrolled to the bottom where they saw “Frequently Asked
Questions” which had a question that aligned to the question that they needed to
find.
Alignment to Heuristic: Consistency and standards
This heuristic matches best because the user could have thought they needed
a FAQ page but there was no tab up top on the menu bar for one. Instead they had
to search until they found the FAQ page.
Final Site Thoughts
Sierra’s final site thoughts were that it was a pretty self-explanatory website
with a lot of options and that the food was expensive. Owen’s final site thoughts
were that it was a good shopping experience other than the food doesn’t look very
good and he wondered how they transported the items to your house. Both users
thought that Sun Basket had a good, user friendly, quality website.

11. Recommendations to improve user experience
Single problem being fixed: Task 2: User unable to create meal plan
without creating an account first.
Problem Improvement:
I am improving this problem because this is a step where users get to and
they don’t want to complete it, but they have to in order to continue. I think there
are two different ways you could improve this problem.
Problem:

12. Solution 1:
In solution one I improved the problem by changing the order of the steps. I
make it so the first step is to customize the meal plan, then to order, then I put the
sign up page, and then the pay page. I thought this could be a solution because with
the steps in this order the user knows what they are getting and are closer to
finishing the process instead of irritating the user by making them sign up before
they even know what they are getting.
Solution 2:

13. In solution two I improved the problem by bypassing the issue and creating a
“Continue as guest” button. This way it gives the users an out correlating with the
heuristic “User control and freedom.”
I think fixing this problem will make users happier and make it so they
complete the ordering process instead of possibly stopping when they are forced to
create an account they do not want to make.