The testers had several issues completing the tasks on the SunBasket.com website: 1. The pricing information was confusing as the Classic and Family menus allowed customizing different options. 2. They did not notice the default recipe selections and struggled to choose their own meals. 3. Shipping costs after the first order were not clearly displayed. 4. Some recipe names used unfamiliar terminology. 5. The website advised that those with serious allergies should not order due to potential cross-contamination in packaging. The testers had to search multiple areas to find this important information. Overall, inconsistencies in interfaces, fine print shipping details, specialized language, and buried allergy

1. Carly Hostetter
Jacquie Lamer
Intro to Web Publishing
23 October 2018
Usability Test for SunBasket.com
TestPreparation
Before I conducted these tests, I went through the tasks myself to see if they could
actually be done. The first task was to determine if $65 was enough to pay for a meal plan from
SunBasket.com each week. I found that the cheapest meal plan you can get is one from the
classic menu where you would order three meals a week, each meal having two servings. For
two people to get a meal three times a week from SunBasket.com, it would cost $73.90,
including tax. This does not include shipping because you receive free shipping on your first
order. SunBasket.com also has a deal where you could get $45-$35 off your first order and $10
off your second order. In this case, the $65 would be enough to get your first order and it might
be enough to get your second order, depending on how much shipping is, but, after that, Sun
Basket would be too expensive.
The second task was to put a meal plan together. I thought this task was going to be the
easiest, but I found that it showed one of the biggest neusances on SunBasket.com. To create a
meal plan, you start by going to the “Meal Plans” tab. From there, you can choose what kind of
meal plan you want (Paleo, Vegan, Diabetes-Friendly, etc.). After that, you pick which meals
you want to come in your plan for that week. This is where I got annoyed because, while there
are 18 meals to choose from, SunBasket.com selects the first three on the list as a default. Even
though it says, “Uncheck the default recipes if you want to change your menu selection,” on the
top of the page, I skipped over reading that because I assumed I knew what I was doing. I
realized that when I get to a website page that seems like it should be obvious what to do, I don’t
read the instructions or any other information on the page unless I have an issue. In this case, I

2. did have an issue because I couldn’t figure out how to select the meals I actually wanted. To do
this, I had to deselect the default selections to be able to choose my meals.
For the third task, we were to figure out the shipping cost for the first order and every
order after that. After picking a meal plan, I noticed that you do receive free shipping for at least
the first order. I tried to find out how much
shipping would be for my next order, but I
couldn’t find it anywhere. It wasn’t until I was
looking back on the website while writing this
paper that I found in small print under the “Order
Summary” that my total for my next order would
be “$80.89 including shipping and estimated
taxes,” so shipping would be around $7 or so.
The fourth and final task was to
figure out if you could place an order through
SunBasket.com that would accommodate a very
serious allergy. I found this information in two
different places on the website: the “FAQs” tab
and the “Help & Contact” tab. In the “FAQs,” you do have to scroll through 15 other tabs of
information before you get to the allergy information. If you go to the “Help & Contact” tab to
find the allergy information, it is the first thing you see. At the very top of the page, there is a tab
you can click on called “Allergy information” and it gives you the same information that the
FAQ does. Sun Basket does not recommend you order from them if you have a serious allergy
because “Sun Basket recipes are packed in a facility that handles gluten and all major food

3. allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans.” They
also state that, even though they do have a Gluten-Free meal plan, it is not recommended for
those with celiac disease because those meals are still prepared in the same facility as the meals
with gluten. At the bottom of the “Allergy Information” page from “Help & Contact,” there is a
link that prompts you to “Read More.” I assumed they would have more information about their
meals and what is being used in the facility that may be an issue for people with allergies, but
they just put the same exact information that was on the page before and the “FAQs” page.
Another place I found information on food allergies was on the “Meal Plans” page. There is a
question mark by the Gluten-Free meal plan option and when the mouse is put over it, it gives
you the same information as the “FAQs” and the “Help & Contact.”
Choosing Participants
Tester 1: Megan Broyles
Megan is a 21-year-old college student at Northwest Missouri State University
(NWMSU). She is a double major in Early Education and Special Education. Because of
her two majors, Megan is often too busy to go to the grocery store and prepare meals. She
spends all day either at West Nodaway R-1
teaching third graders or on the campus of
NWMSU for her own classes and
preparation for teaching, so when she gets
home, she often doesn’t have the energy to
go by the store so she has something to cook
for dinner. Although she enjoys cooking,

4. she said she just does not have the time for everything that goes into cooking. Megan was
not familiar with Sun Basket or SunBasket.com, but she was familiar with meal kits. She
said because she is so busy, she would be interested in subscribing to a meal kit service if
she could afford it. Megan said she considered herself a high-experienced internet user
and that she only spends about 30% of her time on the internet browsing. The other 70%
belongs to homework and social media.
Environment for Tester 1
● Location of test: We sat at Megan’s dining room table for this test. Her dining room is
connected to her living room, so she said she likes to sit at the table and browse on the
internet while she watches television.
● Physical environment: The test was done during the day, so the only lighting in the
house at the time was the natural light coming in from the window. Megan was in her
pajamas and her phone was on the table next to her, although it did not go off during the
test so it was not a distraction. The television was on in the background because that is
how she usually browses the internet, but she did not pay attention to it during the test.
● Technical environment: The test was done on Megan’s NWMSU laptop, which is an
HP, that is given to all full-time students from the school. She was using Google Chrome
as her browser and she didn’t have any extensions installed. She was connected to her
WiFi at her house, which is provided by SuddenLink.
Tester 2: Kaylee Hughes
Kaylee is also a 21-year-old college student at NWMSU, but she majors in Marine
Biology. This is a major that does not take as much time out of class as education does,
so Kaylee has a lot more free time than Megan. Because of the amount of free time she

5. has, Kaylee cooks lunch and dinner for herself more often than not. She loves to cook and
will also often cook for her roommates as well. Like Megan, Kaylee was not familiar
with SunBasket.com, but was familiar with other meal kit services. Kaylee said she
spends about 40 hours a week on the internet. She said half of that time is spent browsing
and half of the time is spent on social media. Her major does not require her to use the
internet that much, so she only occasionally uses it for homework. She said she considers
herself a high-experienced internet user, mostly because of being a millennial.
Environment for Tester 2
● Location of test: This test was taken in Kaylee’s room on her bed. She said this is where
she spends the most time on the internet, no matter what she’s doing.
● Physical environment: Kaylee has two different sets of colored string lights in her
room--one set is purple and the other is orange. For the lighting, she had her actual room
light off, but the string lights plugged in. The only distraction during Kaylee’s test was
that she kept getting Snapchats, so she was looking at her phone about every five
minutes.
● Technical environment: Kaylee used her personal MacBook Air for her test and used
Safari, the default browser for Apple products, but had to switch to Google Chrome
because of a problem during Task 2. She had an ad blocker installed on her Chrome
browser. Her connection was through her WiFi at home, also provided through
SuddenLink.
TestResults
Initial Site Thoughts

6. Megan and Kaylee both noted that, from the home page, it looks like Sun Basket only
offers healthy food. Megan came to this assumption because at the top of the page, it
says, “Healthy cooking made easy.” Kaylee noticed all of the times that it talks about
organic food, which is why she thought they had healthy food. They both also noticed
that they deliver the food straight to your door so you can cook it yourself. Megan said
she liked that they have information on the chef right on the front page. Kaylee pointed
out that SunBasket.com seems to have a lot of information on the homepage, but it is
actually just all about how healthy the food is.
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:
Highlights
1. The math to figure out the price per box on the “Pricing” tab was confusing. The
testers could not figure out why you could change the number of people, but not
the number of recipes per box for the Classic Menu and you could change the
number of recipes per box, but not the number of people for the Family Menu.
They noticed that if you get the same amount of recipes for the same amount of
people, the Family Menu would be $12 cheaper.
2. Testers were confused as to why you could only choose four people maximum,
especially for the Family Menu because there are lots of families that have more

7. than just four members. Megan decided to do some digging to try to figure out
why this is. She started off looking under “Meal Plans,” but had no luck. She then
tried looking at the “FAQs” and found information on the Classic Menu and the
Family Menu, but it still did not have the information she wanted, so she decided
she did not care enough to look any further and moved on.
3. The testers wanted to know why they could not order meals from the Family
Menu, but for only two people. Kaylee said, “Wait, so the Family Menu has
different food than the Classic Menu? I’m wondering why I wouldn’t be able to
order for two people but from the Family Menu. I feel like you should be able to
mix and match because what if I like the family food better than the classic food,
but I only want to order for two?”
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this first task was that the “Pricing” tab was just
confusing. You have the option to choose between two and four people for the
Classic Menu, but you have to order three recipes per box. On the other hand, you
can choose between two, three and four recipes per box for the Family Menu, but
you had to order for four people.
Alignment to Heuristic: Consistency and standards
Consistency and standards says that “users should not have to wonder whether
different...actions mean the same thing.” There are two elements on the “Pricing”
page that you can use to make different selections for your meal plan. One of the

8. elements is under the Classic Menu and the other element is under the Family
Menu. Although they look the same, they are not for the same option. If someone
was clicking through hurriedly, they may not notice that the two elements are
giving options for two different choices.
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:
Highlights
1. The testers did not realize that SunBasket.com has default selections for the recipe
selection for your meal plans. They grew frustrated when they could not figure
out why they could not select the meals they wanted, until they scrolled back to
the top and saw that the first three recipes were selected for them.
2. The “$45-$35 off your first order and $10 off your second order” deal came up at
a different time for me and the testers, if it came up at all. For me, it showed up as
soon as I got to SunBasket.com. For Megan, it came up once she got to the step
where you pay and it tells you your final price. For Kaylee, it did not come up at
all. When it came up for Megan, she was confused because on the “Pricing” page
it told her that it was going to be $71.94, but once she got to the end of this task, it
said it was only going to be $38.27.
3. The testers did not know what a lot of the menu options were. The names of the
recipes have some words in them that the average person may not know. Kaylee

9. said, “Lamb moussaka? Skordalia? What the f*** are those? Salmon alla
puttanesca with chard. I mean, c’mon.” They both said that the food seems like it
is more gourmet than it should be if Sun Basket wants to get the average family as
a customer. Kaylee then said, “Who’s actually buying these, f****** professional
chefs?”
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was that the recipes did not use language that
most people would be able to understand. After clicking on the recipe and finding
out the ingredients and how it is made, they were able to find out what some of
the recipes were, but they did not like that they had to do an extra step to figure
out that information.
Alignment to Heuristic: Match between system and the real world
Match between system and the real world says that “the system should speak the
users’ language.” In order to know what some of the recipes are on
SunBasket.com, you have to actually know quite a bit about food and cooking. A
lot of people coming to this website may not know what some of the ingredients
are, so they may be turned off or intimidated and not want to order from Sun
Basket.
Task 3: Determine the cost of shipping your first order and all subsequent orders.
Summary for Both Testers:

10. Highlights
1. Neither tester was able to figure out how much shipping would cost for any order
after their first one. I was able to find where the information was given later on, as
I showed in “Test Preparation,” but it took me four times going through this task
to finally notice the fine print that Sun Basket provides this information in.
2. The fine print that does include the shipping information does not tell you exactly
how much shipping will be. It tells you that your next order will be $80.89 (if
ordering from the Classic Menu for two people) including shipping and taxes.
You would have to know what tax is applied to this sort of purchase to be able to
do the math yourself to find out what just the shipping would cost.
3. The testers both originally thought shipping would be free for every box they
ordered because they could not find the information anywhere else on the website.
Megan started by redoing her meal plan customization, but she ended up back at
the same screen that said free shipping. After that, she looked through “Values,”
the homepage, “Menu,” “Pricing” and “Help & Contact” before saying, “It
doesn’t tell you,” and giving up.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was that the information on shipping was so
small that neither tester was able to figure out how much shipping would cost for
a box that was not their first order. They both assumed right away that because
they could not find the information, the shipping would always be free. Since this

11. is not the case, I believe SunBasket.com should show this information clearly on
the order summary.
Alignment to Heuristic: Recognition rather than recall
Recognition rather than recall says, “Instructions for use of the system should be
visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.” SunBasket.com does not do
this for their shipping information. Although the information is there on the page,
you may not see it unless you read every part of the order summary page, which
the average person tends not to do.
Task 4: Assume you have a very serious food allergy. Determine how to go about placing an
order that accommodates that allergy.
Summary for Both Testers:
Highlights
1. The testers thought that since the website gives the recipes for all of the meals that
include all of the ingredients, that you would be able to sort through the meals and
find ones that do not include things you may be allergic to. This is not the case
because in several different places, SunBasket.com says that if you have a serious
allergy, you should not order from them at all because all of their food is packed
in the same facility, so there could be some contamination.
2. Megan looked through “Menu,” “Meal Plans,” “Values” and “Pricing” to find this
information. She did not think to scroll to the bottom to look in the “FAQs” or

12. “Help & Contact.” If the information is not readily available, someone may skip
over using Sun Basket just to be more safe than sorry.
3. Megan said the information should be put at the top of the recipes. If one of the
recipes contains something that you may be allergic to, it should be easily seen at
the top of the recipe page.
Biggest Problem
The biggest problem with this task was not that the information was not on the
website, but that you had to go to a part of the website that you normally would
not to find the information. Somebody that does have a food allergy may know
exactly where to go to find the information, but because neither of my testers do
have a food allergy, they were not used to looking for that kind of information.
Alignment to Heuristic: Recognition rather than recall
Just like the shipping cost, the information for allergy accommodations is not
easily retrievable. As I said in “Test Preparation,” the information for gluten is on
the “Meal Plans” page, but you will only see it if you think to scroll over the
question mark next to the “Learn More” under the Gluten-Free meal plan.
Final Site Thoughts
The testers both thought the website was fairly easy to use. They both said their biggest
issue with SunBasket.com is that they are not straightforward with their shipping costs.
Kaylee said, “Maybe it’s really expensive. Maybe it’s, like, $20 for shipping and that’s
why they give it to you for free at first. It wouldn’t surprise me considering how
expensive one f****** box is.” Megan said that because of how easy to use this site
seems to be, she would consider using Sun Basket if it was not so expensive.

13. Recommendations to Improve User Experience
Single problem being fixed:
Task 2: The testers did not know what some of the menu items were because they
did not recognize the type of language used.
Problem Improvement:

14. “Menu”
“Recipes”
Before
This Burmese
home-style chicken
curry features
umami-rich miso,
fragrant
lemongrass paste,
coconut milk, and
cinnamon for a
unique, bold
flavor.
After
I think the best way to fix this problem is to add a feature where if you put your
mouse over the name of the recipe, an information box should pop up and give a
brief explanation of what the meal is. This way, those who do know what some of
the more complicated meals are will be able to continue on with their order with
ease, while those who may not know what the complicated meals are can easily
figure that out without having to click into a new page (the recipe itself).

15. “Menu”