User Vision conducted user research and usability testing over 6 months to help redesign the Visit Scotland website. Testing of the existing site found issues with search/filtering functionality, inaccurate content, and difficulty planning itineraries. Prototype testing showed improved itinerary planning and inspiring content. However, maps remained confusing without legends. Videos and rich imagery were very popular. The responsive mobile design enhanced the experience. Ongoing improvements to search and a planned itinerary tool should further optimize the user experience. The research effectively informed design changes to create a more customer-centered national tourism site.

1. Researching the Visit Scotland Online
User Experience
MRS Travel, Tourism & Hospitality ConferenceMay 2016
1

2. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Visit Scotland and User Vision
2
User Vision has applied its user research and user-centred design consultancy with Visit
Scotland for several years
 User Needs research
 Information Architecture
 Expert UX evaluations
 Website usability testing

3. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Visit Scotland and User Vision
3
We have also research the offline experience such as the visitor centre in Edinburgh

4. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Free leaflets area (1)

5. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Free leaflets area (2) – Areas of interest
Top racks with
“Where to
Stay” leaflets
Top racks with
“Scottish
Attractions”
leaflets
Middle racks
with “West
Lothian,
Edinburgh and
East Lothian”
leaflets
Middle racks
with “Explore
Scotland ”
leaflets
Bottom racks
with
“Edinburgh ”
leaflets

6. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
2012
2004 The evolving Visit Scotland
site

7. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Updating the Visit Scotland site
Visit Scotland’s existing site had performed well, but due to current digital trends and
user expectations, change was needed
 Significant growth from previous relaunch was beginning to plateau
 A new consistent Global Brand vision was not represented
 Functionality and content on competitor national tourism sites had increased
 Imagery was not as well utilised as possible
 Inconsistent experience between desktop site and mobile (not responsive)
8

8. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
User research and redesign plan
Three main sets of research
1. Expert evaluation by UX consultants on the current site to identify potential issues,
inform the design brief and start planning user testing
2. Usability testing of existing site to understand how well it served user needs
3. Usability testing of the prototype new site during development
9

9. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Usability test – First Round
Testing on the existing site with representative users from the UK, USA and Germany
Specifically, we wanted to look at the following aspects:
 What are users’ initial impressions of the home page and site navigation?
 What are their expectations of the site?
 How well does it support search for accommodation or attractions?
 User performing their own tasks as well as those as part of the testing
 Users recruited representative of the target users for travel experience interests and
consideration of Scotland as destination
 5 each from Scotland, England, USA and German (using German site)
 Think aloud protocol and depth discussions on their travel goals
10

10. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Findings – Round 1 testing
11
Top three problem areas we found:
1. Quick Finder and Search
Difficult to perform searches and refine results
2. Content often inaccurate or incomplete
Did not always match expectations or meet needs
3. Itinerary planning
Difficult to explore and uncover related content

11. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Example issue: Quick Finder search results
12
“This wouldn't be my first port of
call for accommodation… It’s not
as reliable as I’d expect it to be”
Reasonable search parameters return zero
results

12. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Example issue: Content not accurate or useful
13
“I don't think I'd stay on this
site. It's a shame, because I
would probably pre-book tickets.
If they had a link to do that I
would do it.”
Available information not always accurate or complete
Location information insufficient

13. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Post-test interview
14
“The focus on the
beatiful countryside”
“Visual images”
“Photos are outstanding,
very special”
“Visually I like the layout
of the homepage –
there’s a lot going on, but
it’s tasteful”
“It’s got lots of good stuff,
heaps of good stuff”
“It has a lot of
information”
“The search option”
“I love this, ‘Meet the
Scots’”
“It’s taken me on a story”
What did you particularly like about the site?

14. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Post-test interview
15
“It can be a little
overwhelming”
“There’s a little bit too
much information really,
I’m not sure which menu
I should be clicking on”
“I think it’s hard to
negotiate around it”
“The navigation bar, the
title and then the
subtitle, I think that’s
clunky and conufsing”
“I would just like it to be
a bit more informative
about what you can
actually do there”
“Content should be more
comprehensive”
“I wasn’t quite sure
whether I was being
taken out of areas and
into other areas”
“I don’t think it says
Scotland”
“I feel misunderstood”
What did you dislike about the site?

15. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Usability test – Second Round
Re-testing tasks as well as new tasks on the new site in development with users from
the UK and USA
 How well do users perform the same or similar tasks on the new site
 Has the new search functionality helped
 Are mobile layouts helping
 5 each from Scotland, England and USA
16

16. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Great First Impressions
17

17. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Phase 1 recap: usability testing
18
In Phase 1, the top three problem areas were:
1. Itinerary planning
Difficult to explore and uncover related content
2. Content often inaccurate or incomplete
Did not always match expectations or meet needs
3. Quick Finder and Search
Difficult to perform searches and refine results
In Phase 2, we found that:
1. Itinerary planning - much easier with the prominent
‘Explore’ and ‘What’s Nearby’ maps
2. Content - inspiring and informative
3. Search and filtering - still posed problems but improved
4. Maps presented some new usability issues
5. Imagery and videos – very successful

18. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Top level navigation
19
These subjects at the top are
good. Quite easy, simple and not
too fussy.
Top level navigation was straightforward and easy to use (P)
 Participants were easily able to navigate into categories relevant to their searches.
 Faceted navigation - Participants searched for accommodation with the
‘Accommodation’ or ‘Destinations’ menu. Both offered correct routes.
 ‘See & do’ a very successful first step to finding attractions
 ‘Holidays’ a successful entry for types of holidays providing inspiration

19. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Maps were difficult to understand
20
I don't know what that
arrow meant, I didn't know
what the circle meant, I had no
idea what they meant.
Recommendations:
Include a map legend explaining what the icons mean.
Consider replacing the flags with category-specific icons, such as houses for
accommodation, so that they are clearer to users.
Many participants did not understand the symbols on the
interactive maps
At least two participants went through an entire session of
using the website without figuring out what the numbers
represented.

20. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Video success and popularity
21

21. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Rich Imagery throughout set ambiance
22

22. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Mobile responsive design
Put in image on mobile, tablet
23

23. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Moving forward
This research supported a very successful redesign – but there is more to be done
 Ongoing improvements to the search functionality based on search queries
 Logged in / secure area of site for storing content and sharing – Itinerary planner
 Continuous improvements through current and ongoing site research
24

24. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Site feedback
25

25. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Conclusion
26

26. 55 North Castle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3QA
United Kingdom
Tel: 0131 225 0850
@UserVision
www.uservision.co.uk
Client
Logo
Chris Rourke
CEO
27
chris@uservision.co.uk
Video

27. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Submission
Research to improving the online experience of visitors to a national tourism body
Presenters: User Vision and Visit Scotland
In 2015 Visit Scotland sought to improve its consumer facing website www.visitscotland.com to grow visitors to Scotland whilst developing the economic benefit of tourism to
Scotland’s economy.
A new site was planned to inspire people to choose Scotland as their destination, provide information to plan a visit and make it easy to book with a strong focus on the visitor.
Visit Scotland wished to incorporate the views of users during the design to understand their experience of the site and what an ideal national tourism site should include. User
experience agency User Vision led the research into user needs to support the design.
Over the course of about 6 months our research included three main phases:
Expert usability evaluation of the current site for user experience and usability and competitive evaluation with reference to selected national tourism sites
Usability testing of the current Visit Scotland site with representative users performing a combination of information finding and booking tasks. Desktop and mobile platforms were
used and the site was tested with participants in Scotland, England Germany and the USA.
Usability testing the prototype new site during development and consultancy on implementing required changes
The results from the research were highly effective in shaping a more customer-centred design. Many insights came from the initial testing of the site, especially from the customers
abroad, that impacted the search, navigation design and the type of content promoted on each page. Several examples of these will be included in the presentation.
In our joint presentation we will describe the process for planning and conducting the user research, the tasks used in the usability testing, and how the findings from the research
were interpreted and applied by the Visit Scotland digital team.
Current status of site
At the time of writing (Dec 2015), the site is still in development (launch is planned for Q1 2016) but we are confident that the user-centred approach will reap rewards through
increased enquiries and bookings, more engagement on the website, and improved customer satisfaction. We will of course present the most current qualitative and quantitative
data on the changes between the previous site and the new site based on this research. We can also use Visit Scotland’s feedback back tool to get an indication of improvement in
terms of the NPS score before and after the new site.
Other research - Putting this research into context
This research for the new website was the most recent research conducted by User Vision for Visit Scotland. We would be glad to briefly mention some of the previous research
that we have conducted beyond this specific project. For instance we have conducted other research including eye tracking of the interior of the Visit Scotland tourist information
centred to better understand the placement of brochures and signage for a better customer experience.
28

28. MRS – Travel & Tourism, May 2016
Rough outline – 20 Minutes assumed
VS background and audience
Issues with previous site (images) , feedback that had been received
Project plan for the research, recruit parameters , tasks etc
How this was tested on existing site in R1 then prototype R2
Making the changes to the proto
implementing the final chages – the challenges etvc
How VS is managing it going forward
Other VS projects – the eye tracking in centre
29