- Intro to Web Publishing, Fall 2021 - This paper focused on user experience - 2nd of 3 papers analyzing LaurenBateman.com

1. Usability Test for LaurenBateman.com - Lee Ann Wesley
Test Preparation
I prepared to conduct this usability test by first going through the tasks myself. For the
first task, which was to find the free lessons, I looked under the “Lessons” tab first. I clicked on
the “Free Guitar Crash Course” first, since it seemed obviously free. Once I saw that that was a
free course offered, I continued to look for other free lessons. I clicked on “More Guitar
Lessons” also under the “Lessons” tab, and there I found an array of free lessons. I counted 25
free lessons on this page. I thought that this content was easy enough to find.
The next task was to find more information about Lauren’s 7 Level Beginner Guitar
System. Since I had not seen this under the “Lessons” tab previously, I hovered over the
“Products” tab and saw the “Beginner Guitar Course.” I thought this might be the 7 Level
System, and it was. Clicking on it took me to a separate page that was actually on
LaurenBatemanGuitar.com. We talked in class about how she has different domains for her paid
courses because of the hosting platform, so that was not surprising. After reading some of the
information on this page, I learned that this system is made to teach people how to have fun with
guitar and learn their favorite songs. This page contained a ton of information on how Lauren
teaches, what you would learn in this system, and why it’s called the 7 Level System. Lauren
writes on this page that the program is structured into 7 levels that build upon each other, and
once you master one level, you move up to the next and are armed with the information you need
to succeed. Despite all the information on this page, I never could find what the 7 levels actually
were. There were descriptions of topics that will be covered, but no list of what the 7 levels are,
which I found to be strange. I think once someone purchases it, then it would tell them what the
7 levels are, but I cannot be sure.
The third task was to find out how much this system costs and how long someone would
have access to the content. I found this information pretty easily on the page I was already on.
The page shows that it costs $147 for a US resident to buy this course. I also clicked on a blue
“Enroll Now” button to see more details on the access users gain to the material. This took me to
a payment page that provided the information I was looking for. This page showed me that I
would have lifetime access to the 7 Level System, practice tracks, workbooks, and a few other
things. I would also have one-year access to Lauren’s private Facebook group, asking her
questions via email, and access to monthly live Zooms with Lauren. This information was very
easy to find because it is placed right next to where you would enter your credit card
information.
The final task was to see if Lauren offers the song “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman and if it
is a beginner song. I first hovered over the “Songs” tab and clicked on the “Beginner Guitar
Songs” title. I checked out this page first to see if the song is offered as a beginner song. The list
was in alphabetical order by artist’s last name, and I did not see it on this page. Since I did not

2. find it here, I looked under “Intermediate Guitar Songs” for it. On this page, it took me no time
to find it because of the alphabetical order and it was right near the top. This task was pretty
easy, I just had to look under different song categories since I did not know if it was a beginner
level song or not. It would be nice if you could search an exhaustive list of songs for what you
are looking for, though.
Choosing Participants
Tester Comparison Summary Chart
Tester 1 Details: Kaelyn Henderson
My first tester was my roommate, Kaelyn. I thought she was a reasonable tester because she was
unfamiliar with guitar lesson websites, but she said she would be interested in using one if she
ever chose to learn guitar. I think her perspective will offer a beginner’s point of view using the
site, which is important to see since LaurenBateman.com offers content targeted to beginners.
Kaelyn was willing to be my tester, and I did not think our results would be identical. Even
though we are roommates and good friends, we have different ways of approaching things and
vastly different majors as well. Kaelyn is a 21 year old female and told me that she has not used
any guitar lesson websites before, so she was unfamiliar with the site. As far as her internet
habits go, she told me she spends roughly 20 hours a week online. She classified 50% of this as
social media use, 30% general browsing, and 20% shopping. She tends to use her phone for
social media use, but prefers her laptop for browsing and shopping.
Environment for Tester 1
● Location of test: I conducted this test in the apartment that Kaelyn and I share.
Since she often sits on the couch in the living room to use her laptop, that is where
she wanted to be during the test. This was a natural place for her to browse
websites.

3. ● Physical environment: I conducted this test around noon, so it was during broad
daylight. The living room windows were open, so there was a lot of natural
lighting at the time. There were not many distractions, but since our apartment is
on Seventh Street right next to campus, we could hear people talking on their way
to class and cars driving to and from campus. There were no pets or other people
present.
● Technical environment: For this test, Kaelyn was using her school laptop. She
did not have any browser add-ons that I noticed, and she chose to use Google
Chrome to access LaurenBateman.com. The wifi connection was strong as well,
so that was never an issue during the test.
Tester 2 Details: Bethany Conley
My second tester was Bethany, a friend of mine. She is not completely unfamiliar with guitar
instruction websites, but she is not currently learning the guitar either. She is online doing
various activities for most of her day, so it would make sense if she chose to learn online if she
wanted to take up guitar. She told me she spends approximately 60 hours a week online because
of school and work. Bethany is a 20 year old female and an elementary education major. Since
Bethany and I also have different majors, she uses the web for different searches and activities
related to school than I would. I think this would make her experience with the usability test a bit
different than mine.
Environment for Tester 2
● Location of test: I conducted this test on the second floor of Garrett Strong.
Bethany was there after a class, so I met her there to conduct the test. Bethany
told me she often does homework or other computer work in between classes in
various buildings across campus, so this is already somewhere she would be using
the Web.
● Physical environment: In Garrett Strong, we sat in front of the windows on the
north side of the building. It was around 2 pm, so natural lighting filled the area
we were in. We were the only two people sitting in the area, so there were no
distractions unless we heard voices from a different area of the building.
● Technical environment: Bethany was using her school HP laptop and Google
Chrome. She did not have any browser add-ons or extensions that I could see.
Test Results
Initial Site Thoughts
Tester 1: From her first few minutes looking at the site, Kaelyn thought the site
was presented very well. She liked how the first thing she saw was the thumbnail of Lauren’s

4. introduction video and her mission statement. She liked that Lauren was motivated to help put
the fun back into playing the guitar, and thought it was interesting that she quit her job of being a
scientist to do this. She thought Lauren seemed very passionate about what she does based on the
front page of her website. Kaelyn also noticed that Lauren offers free and paid courses since
there are categories on the home page that take you to whichever selection you choose. Kaelyn
also thought that the tabs on the top of the home page were broken down in an organized way.
She noticed the shopping cart icon in the top right corner of the home page as well, so she made
the conclusion that there are items to purchase on the site.
Tester 2: With her first look at LaurenBateman.com, Bethany really liked how
Lauren's mission statement was front and center. She told me she liked that it immediately
acquainted her with Lauren and she was able to know more about her right away. She also liked
that the welcome video was on the homepage as well. As she scrolled down, she noticed the 3
big blue tabs for learning songs, doing the free guitar crash course, and buying Lauren’s courses.
She also noticed that Lauren put her most popular lessons and her latest lessons further down on
the homepage. She thought that it was good for people to be able to see her latest activity as well
as the lessons that other people use the most. Bethany also liked how Lauren linked to her
YouTube channel. Lastly, Bethany noticed at the bottom of the page that Lauren provided links
to her social media and an option to enter your email to receive her newsletter.
Similarities and Differences: Both of my testers immediately liked Lauren’s
homepage. They both thought that her welcome video and introduction were nice to have when
you first get to the site. Kaelyn took more notice to the top of the homepage, like the tabs,
whereas Bethany scrolled more to find information about the site. Also, Kaelyn noticed the
shopping cart icon and Bethany did not say anything about it. Bethany liked scrolling down and
seeing the latest and popular lessons as well as her YouTube channel, and Kaelyn put more focus
on the overall organization of the homepage. Both of my testers explored the homepage
differently, but they both had a positive reaction to seeing Lauren’s site for the first time.
Task 1: You want to understand the complete array of free lesson options at
LaurenBateman.com. For this task, look for information that explains what type of lessons are
free and how many free lessons are offered.
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Task Completion Process
This task took around 10 minutes for Kaelyn to complete. Beginning from the
home page, Kaelyn saw the blue button labeled “Get My Free Training” and decided to click on
that. Like we saw in class, it led her to a separate domain that asked for her name and email. She

5. decided to enter her information, and it led her to a very long video where Lauren goes through
the free training. After a few minutes, Kaelyn decided to return to the home page to find more
free lessons. Next, she hovered over the “Lessons” tab and clicked on the “Free Guitar Crash
Course.” She decided to do this since she was looking for free lessons, and this seemed to fit that
criteria. Kaelyn told me that she noticed the free beginner’s course was meant to make learners
confident in their playing. On this page, she wanted to investigate more so she clicked on the
“Opt In” button. This took her to a sign up page, and she chose not to sign up. Lastly, she
hovered over the “Lessons” tab again and this time clicked on “More Guitar Lessons.” On this
page, Kaelyn counted 25 free lessons, as well as articles near the bottom of the page. She told me
that she thought this page offered the most free options compared to the other pages she went to
during this task. She also noticed that the “Lessons” tab shows her YouTube lessons. Since
Kaelyn did not navigate to the free songs during this task, I gave her a success rate of 75%.
Kaelyn also thought it was kind of confusing trying to find all the free options when they were in
different places all over the site, and she gave it a satisfaction rate of 4. During this task, Kaelyn
used either the mouse or the up and down arrows on the far right side of the screen to scroll.
Tester 2 Task Completion Process
This task took only a few minutes for Bethany to complete. When I first asked her
to complete the task, she first looked under the “Lessons” tab since we were trying to find
Lauren’s free content. Under this tab, Bethany clicked on the “Free Guitar Crash Course.” On
this page, Bethany liked all the positive content that Lauren provides and how beginners can
learn guitar in no time. She thought that it seemed perfect for people who might be learning for
the very first time or for people who had tried before but had given up. On this page, she clicked
on the “Opt In” button that took her to the sign up page. She did not sign up, but she did say how
easy it was to get to that point. She chose to go back to the homepage after that to explore more
options. Next, she hovered over the “Songs” tab and clicked on “Beginner Guitar Songs.”
Bethany liked how the songs were alphabetized by the artist’s last name and that there was a
good variety to choose from. After that, Bethany said she was finished with this task. I gave her a
75% success rate because she did not find all the free songs, or any of the other free lessons that
Lauren offers under the “Lessons” tab. Bethany gave this task a satisfaction rate of 4.5 because
she thought it was easy to find what she needed, although I knew that she did not find all of the
free content offered.
Biggest Problem
I believe the biggest problem related to this task is how much content is offered
and the way it’s organized. Both of my testers thought they had found all the free content, but
there was so much more in different locations across the site. They did not even know how much
more there really was, and that led to them not finding all of it. I think this is a problem because
it could mean that Lauren’s visitors might miss a lot of the free content she provides.

6. Alignment to Heuristic: I think the flexibility and efficiency of use heuristic
matches this problem. This heuristic states that accelerators may often speed up the interaction so
that the system can cater to experienced and inexperienced users. I think having some sort of
filter or sorting mechanism would make it much easier for any user to find the content they are
looking for.
Task 2: You’ve decided that you may eventually want more serious guitar lessons from
Lauren than what is available for free. For this task, learn what Lauren’s 7 Level Beginner Guitar
System is, specifically, what are the 7 levels?
Summary for Both Testers:
Tester 1 Task Completion Process
Kaelyn began this task by first hovering over the “Lessons” tab but she did not
see the 7 Level System there, so she then hovered on “Products.” On this tab, she clicked on the
“Beginner Guitar Course” because she thought that is what the 7 Level System would be under.
The 7 Level Beginner Guitar System was under this tab, so she began to look around to find out
what the 7 levels are. While she was looking for this information, she noticed the encouraging
content and testimonials on this page. She thought that it seemed like a very good course because
of all the positive things mentioned on the page. She also liked how there were motivating
sections for people that might have given up on learning the guitar previously. Despite all the
information on this page, Kaelyn was unable to find what the 7 levels actually were. She noticed
that there were lots of lists and bullets that highlighted what would be taught in the course, but
there was not a comprehensive list that showed what the 7 levels really were. She did not like
how there wasn’t a simple explanation of what the 7 levels are, and she thought it should have
been organized to include that. This task took around 20 minutes to complete, and Kaelyn gave it
a satisfaction rate of 3. Since she only was able to complete the first half of the task, I gave her a
50% success rate.
Tester 2 Task Completion Process
To begin this task, Bethany began by looking under the “Products” tab. She told
me she was doing this because she was trying to find the paid lessons, and it seemed like it
would be within that tab. She clicked on the first item on the dropdown menu, which was
“Beginner Guitar Course.” She did this because the task was to find the 7 Level Beginner
System. This action did bring her to the page for this course. On this page, Bethany was
overwhelmed with all the content provided. There were lists of things, paragraphs of
descriptions, testimonials, and so much more. She told me she felt like the page just went on

7. forever as she kept scrolling. Despite how much content was on this page, Bethany could not
find what the 7 levels actually were. She scrolled and scrolled, but she just kept reading all the
things about what would be taught in the course, Lauren’s way of teaching, and a bunch of other
topics covered on the page. She did like the motivating and encouraging style of the content, but
there was just so much of it. She did not end up finding what the 7 levels were, and assumed you
would find out when you purchased the course. She did not like how it wouldn’t show it on this
page because if someone is planning on buying it, they probably want to know what the 7 levels
are first. For this task, she gave it a 3.5 satisfaction rate, and I gave her a 50% success rate. This
task took around 10 minutes.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem by far with this task was the amount of content on the 7
Levels Beginner Guitar System page. Both of my testers liked the nature of the content, but not
how overflowing it was. There was so much that they spent a long time scrolling to try to find
what the 7 levels were, but never could. They did not like how there was all that content but not
what they were looking for. This problem can not only be a cause of annoyance to users, but it
can lead them to not want to purchase the course if they don’t know exactly what the 7 levels of
the system are.
Alignment to Heuristic: I think the aesthetic and minimalist design heuristic
matches this problem. This heuristic states that dialogues should not contain irrelevant
information and this irrelevant content competes with the content that is relevant and diminishes
its visibility. With this task, there was just too much irrelevant information on the page the testers
were navigating. They did not really need to see ten different lists of bullet points or a bunch of
different testimonials. In general, that content is very relevant, but the amount of it caused it to
take away from the relevant information on the page. Every unit of the unneeded information
made it that much harder for my testers to find what they were looking for. This heuristic being
applied to this problem could include Lauren examining her webpages and deciding what
information to delete and what to keep on the page.
Task 3: Determine how much the 7 Level Beginner Guitar System costs and how long
you will have access to course materials.
Summary for Both Testers

8. Tester 1 Task Completion Process
This task only took around 5 minutes, and Kaelyn didn’t have much trouble
completing it. She was on the 7 Level System page from the previous task, so she started by
clicking on the “Buy Now” to see how much it costs. This took her to the payment page where
she was able to see that it costs $147. On the left side of this page, she saw that you would get
one-year access to Lauren’s Facebook group, Q&A’s, and be able to email her with questions.
Kaelyn also saw that whoever purchases this course gets lifetime access to the 7 levels, 90+
practice tracks, 57 page workbook, 30 day action plan, and The Practice Accelerator. Kaelyn did
not have difficulty completing this task because she could easily see the big blue “Buy Now”
button and the following page gave her all the information she needed to know. Since she easily
found this information, she gave it a satisfaction rate of 5 and I gave her a success rate of 100%.
Tester 2 Task Completion Process
This task also only took around 5 minutes for my second tester. Bethany was
already on the page for the 7 Level Beginner Guitar System, so when I asked her to complete the
task she just scrolled around on the page for a second before she found a blue “Enroll Today”
button. From here, it took her to a separate payment page on Lauren’s second domain that
showed her the price of $147. During this task and the previous task, Bethany never noticed that
Lauren’s courses are hosted on a different domain. Finding the price of the course was very easy,
so Bethany looked for how long a user would have access to the materials. On the left side of the
page, she saw that you would get one year access to Lauren’s private Facebook group, emailing
questions to Lauren, and monthly Q&A’s with Lauren. She then saw the bulleted list of
information that a user would have lifetime access to. This included the 7 Level System itself,
practice tracks, workbooks, and more. This information was very easy to find for Bethany, but
she thought all of this material was also available for one year, she didn’t notice that it was for
lifetime access. This “lifetime access” header is listed right above where the one year access
information is, but Bethany did not see it. Because of this, I gave her a 75% success rate.
Bethany gave this task a 5 for satisfaction, but she did not know she skipped over the lifetime
access information.
Biggest Problem
This task was pretty easy for my testers to complete, but one small problem with
it was the text size of the lifetime access material on the payment page. Since Bethany did not
see this, even if it was just because she wasn’t thorough enough, I think a bigger size text for this
information would be helpful. This is not a huge problem, but it could be helpful for people to be
able to see what they have lifetime access to a bit easier. I do not think that Lauren would be
losing any traffic or customers because of this though. It is really the only problem that occurred
with this task.

9. Alignment to Heuristic: I think the error prevention heuristic matches this
problem. This heuristic highlights the importance of a good design that prevents a problem from
occurring. If this heuristic was applied to this problem, there could be bigger text and division
between what is available for a lifetime and what is available for one year. This would prevent
users from lumping together the content and thinking it’s all only available for one year, or
thinking all of it is available for a lifetime. Ultimately, it would prevent users from perceiving the
information in an incorrect way or being confused on what they have access to and how long
they have access to it.
Task 4: You’re a fan of Tracy Chapman’s song, “Fast Car.” For this task, determine
whether or not Lauren teaches this song, and if so, is it a song for beginners?
Summary for Both Testers:

10. Tester 1 Task Completion Process
For this final task, Kaelyn began by heading to the “Songs” tab. By hovering over
that, she saw that there was a “Beginner Guitar Songs” option. Since the task asks if that song is
a beginner song, she told me she was starting there to see if Lauren teaches it. Kaelyn noticed
that the list was alphabetized, so Chapman would appear near the top if the song was there. She
did not see “Fast Car” on this page, but she did notice that there was a different Tracy Chapman
song on the list. Just to make sure she wasn’t overlooking it though, Kaelyn chose to use
Control+F to search the words “Fast Car” on the page. Nothing came up with her search, so she
decided to look elsewhere. She went back to the “Songs” tab and this time clicked on
“Intermediate Guitar Songs.” She said she did this because besides the Christmas songs that
Lauren teaches, this was the only other title that mentioned guitar songs. On this page, which
Kaelyn noticed was also alphabetized, she saw right away that “Fast Car” was there. She told me
she liked how the artists’ last names were in alphabetical order because it made it easy to find the
song she was looking for. She also told me she liked how there were separate pages that divided
beginner songs from intermediate songs so you know what level of song you would be learning.
This task took around the same time as the last task, around 5 minutes.
Tester 2 Task Completion Process
Since this task was asking if “Fast Car” is a beginner song, Bethany began by
looking for that information. From the “Songs” tab, she clicked on “Beginner Guitar Songs” to
see if “Fast Car” was on that page. Like she had seen in the first task, the artists’ last names were
alphabetized which she said again that she liked. Because of this, it was easy for her to see that
“Chapman” was on the list, but it was a tutorial for a different song, not for “Fast Car.” After
this, Bethany figured that if Lauren did teach this song, it would be under the “Intermediate
Guitar Songs” dropdown. After navigating to that page, she easily saw it near the top of the list.
This task only took a few minutes for Bethany to complete. She thought it was easy to find
because once she eliminated the beginner songs option, she knew it would be under the
intermediate songs section if Lauren taught it. I gave Bethany a success rate of 100% since she
fully completed the task, and she gave it a satisfaction rate of 5.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was the organization of the songs. Since there
are two separate pages for beginner and intermediate songs, a user has to use a process of
elimination to figure out what page a song is not on, and then navigate to the other page of songs
to find it. Like this task, for example, my testers had to eliminate the possibility of “Fast Car”
being a beginner song, and then went and found it as an intermediate song. This problem can
cause users to spend more time looking for content than they should have to. Although it is smart
to have the songs divided based on difficulty level, having two separate pages could cause
unnecessary confusion and navigation when a solution like organizing all the songs on one page
could be constructed.

11. Alignment to Heuristic: I think the heuristic that matches this problem is
flexibility and efficiency of use. Again, this heuristic states that accelerators can help users
navigate a site easily and more efficiently. If this heuristic was applied to this problem, all the
songs could be organized on one page and have an accelerator, like a filter, to show only
beginner songs or only intermediate songs or both.
Final Site Thoughts
Tester 1: Overall, Kaelyn said she enjoyed her time using LaurenBateman.com.
She thought the tabs on the top of the site helped her navigate through the tasks pretty well, but it
could get confusing at times. She thought there was a ton of information on the site, especially
the 7 Level System page, that it could get overwhelming. She said that since there was almost an
endless amount of information, she couldn’t tell when to keep digging for more or when to just
accept that she didn’t find something, like when she was trying to find what the 7 levels were.
She also noticed some overlap of information, like the homepage showing similar things to what
the “Lessons” tab does. Although this can be a bit confusing, the only truly negative thing
Kaelyn thought of her experience was not being able to find a description of the 7 levels. Other
than that, she told me she would use the site if she wanted to use online guitar instruction
because it seemed easy to sign up and that there was a lot of free content.
Tester 2: In general, Bethany also enjoyed her time navigating through
LaurenBateman.com. She thought it was well organized with the tabs at the top, and she usually
was able to find the content she was looking for. Bethany also really liked how Lauren
introduces herself and makes herself the face of the brand in a very personal way. She also liked
the amount of content and how much of it was free. The only thing she did not really like was
how long some pages were and how much content was on the page. She felt like a lot of it was
not needed, and she had to scroll a ton to find helpful information. Her final site thoughts agreed
with her initial site thoughts, but now she knows how Lauren’s site actually works and what she
liked and didn’t like.
Similarities and Differences: Both of my testers agreed on the fact that some
pages on LaurenBateman.com have too much content. They both thought it could be
overwhelming and hard to find what they needed. Kaelyn took more of a dislike to this; she
thought it was pretty annoying how much unnecessary content there seemed to be on some
pages, especially the 7 Level System page. Kaelyn also noticed the confusing organization more
often than Bethany did. They also both liked the organization of the site, and the tabs that helped
them navigate to where they wanted to go. Bethany took more notice of Lauren's personal way of
teaching throughout, just like she did at first in her initial site thoughts. Kaelyn liked it as well,
but it was not the main thing she noticed about the site. Overall, both of my testers were able to
complete a good portion of the tasks, but went about it in their own ways. Their final site
thoughts also verified what they first noticed at the beginning, but they did find some things they
disliked as they actually went through the tasks.

12. Recommendations to Improve User Experience
Single Problem Being Fixed
From these usability test results, I decided I will fix the “biggest problem” from Task #1.
Since my testers were not 100% successful in locating all free content available on
LaurenBateman.com, I would like to make it easier to find whatever content a user would be
looking for. My testers were not able to find all the content that the tasks were asking them to
find, and since there were many different places to find the content, they did not even know they
were missing it. I chose to fix this problem over other problems because I think it is the largest
one to tackle, and one that would definitely improve user experience. The solution to this
problem will make it much easier for users to find all of Lauren’s content and not have any of it
go to waste. Although the amount of information on some pages posed a large problem too, the
fix for that would be simple and not really need an explanation like the problem I am choosing.
Problem Improvement
To first fix this problem, I would combine the “Songs” and “Lessons” tabs to be one tab,
and that would lead to one page with all of that content. I would rename this tab “Learn with
Lauren.” The “Products” tab would be home to just her merchandise and other tangible items
that can be purchased. To fix the main problem of organization, I would add a filter to the left
side of the page on Lauren’s site. This filter would appear on the page that includes all of her
paid and free lessons, courses, and songs. Compiling all of her content into one page simplifies
where it is located and the filter would make it easier to find a specific item. This filter gives the
user the options to refine their search by showing paid and/or free courses/lessons, as well as
choosing beginner and/or intermediate songs, as well as genres. The blue “More” button would
drop down to include the less common genres of songs Lauren teaches. The images below show
before and after screenshots of what the tab would look like to get to “Learn with Lauren”, as
well as the filter placed on the left side of the “Learn with Lauren” page. Disregard the body text
on the “Learn with Lauren” page; I constructed it from a screenshot of her original songs page.

14. As shown in the before and after screenshots, the top part of the homepage that shows the tabs
has been changed to include “Learn with Lauren”, and the content page now includes the filter. I
believe that this fix will make it much easier for users to find the specific content they are
looking for. Right when they get to her website, the “Learn with Lauren” tab makes it obvious
that is where users will go to learn, instead of having a “Lessons”, “Songs”, and “Products” tab.
On the page with all the content, users can refine their search by exactly what they are looking
for. For example, a user could check the boxes for “beginner” and “country” if they were a
beginner who wanted to learn country songs.