Mark Becker Prepared for UXDC 2017 User Research Delivers for the U.S. Postal Service: The Impact of Customer Inputs on the Enhancement of USPS.com UXDC 2017 Listing: http://uxdcconference.org/sessions/user-research-delivers-u-s-postal-service-impact-customer-inputs-enhancement-usps-com/ Description: In this session, attendees will learn about a program of user research we have conducted over the past three years for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). This research has been part of a broad user-centered design approach to website enhancement implemented by USPS, with the overall goal of improving the usability of its website, USPS.com. (...)

1. User Research Delivers for the U.S. Postal Service:
The Impact of Customer Inputs on the
Enhancement of USPS.com
UXDC 2017, Washington DC
Mark Becker, UserWorks Inc.

2. Background
• Started in 2013, still ongoing with 2-3 tests a year on average
• Part of an effort by USPS to update and modernize their site and
web presence
• Multiple studies, various research methods
• Many areas of USPS.com and a mobile app

3. What’s the IMPACT?
• Influential impact
• USPS improving using an incremental UCD approach may inspire other
large organizations
• Business impact
• An improved user experience can be a competitive advantage
• Innovation impact
• USPS gains knowledge about its customers’ needs and wants, and can
develop new technology to serve that need
• Visual impact
• The changes to the site as a result of testing are highly visible

4. METHODS

5. Methods
• Moderated
• Usability testing
• Card sorting
• Unmoderated
• Tree testing
• First-click testing
Source: https://blog.prototypr.io/

6. Usability Testing
• Moderated, one-on-one
• Participants perform
representative tasks
• Note behaviors, ask
follow-up questions
A participant attempting a task during a session

7. Usability Testing: Pros And Cons
• Pros
• Directly observe participants
• Easier to control the course of the session
• Immediately follow up with questions or probes
• Cons
• Unless willing and able to travel, participants from limited geographic area
• Less convenient for participants
• Some may be uncomfortable in a lab setting

8. Remote Usability Testing
• Can get same insights as in-person sessions
• Remote participant controls our computer
• Audio via phone or VoIP
• Wider geographic area
• More convenient for participants
• Technical considerations
(which software to use, Internet speed, etc.)

9. Card Sorting
• Organize cards representing site
content into logical groups
• Either physical cards
or online
• In-person allows duplicates, omissions,
sub-groups, online does not
• Open
• No limit to number of groups
• Can name the groups
• Closed
• Limited number of pre-named groups A card sort with physical cards An online card sort

10. Card Sorting: Pros And Cons
• Pros
• Develop a content organization scheme
• See what content belongs together vs. what should be kept separate
• Group labels can inform how to label menu items in IA
• Cons
• No insight into layout, visual design
• Participants only see descriptions of content
• Have to be careful how to label the cards

11. Unmoderated Methods
• Tree testing, first-click testing
• Researcher sends email with link to access the tool
• Tool displays instructions, tasks to participant and collects data

12. Tree Testing
• Participants see only the hierarchy, or “tree” of topics and
subtopics that make up the site
• Tasks based around finding items in the hierarchy
• Can’t rely on visual design
• Provides data about how many:
• Successfully identified the correct location
• Went to the correct location immediately versus spent time exploring
(direct success vs. indirect success)
• Visited the correct location but didn’t select it
• Etc.

13. Tree Testing

14. First-click Testing
• Participants shown an image of a page, asked to click where they
would expect to find information
• Only the first click is recorded
• See heatmap of where participants clicked

15. First-click Testing

16. Unmoderated Pros And Cons
•Pros
•Larger sample size
•Asynchronous, participant does on own time
•Can get more data in less time
•Usually less expensive
•Cons
•Participant behavior may be ambiguous
•Rushers, cheaters, the unmotivated
•Help from others
•Cannot easily ask follow up questions

17. Testing On Mobile
• More USPS customers using
mobile devices to access
USPS.com and make purchases
• USPS wants to ensure their
mobile site has the same
functionality as their full site
A participant exploring the MyUSPS tool
during a test session

18. Mobile Testing: Pros And Cons
• Pros
• Interact with the site on the device it was designed for
• Test responsiveness of the design
• Compare between mobile and desktop versions
• Cons
• Additional technical considerations (stream screen or use overhead
cameras?)
• Privacy concerns

19. STUDIES

20. Participants
• Users of USPS.com, users of competitors, novices/first-time/never
used before
• Those who mail/ship from desktop, tablet, phone
• General public, business owners, mail marketers
• Frequency, recency of visiting USPS.com
• Reasons for visiting USPS.com (make purchases, print labels, find
information, etc.)
• Age (“millennials”), gender, Internet proficiency, etc.

21. Research Focus Areas
• Four main areas of USPS.com
• Homepage

22. Homepage Usability Test (2016)
Homepage prototype for desktop Homepage prototype for mobile

23. USPS.com Homepage
2014 2017

24. Research Focus Areas
• Four main areas of USPS.com
• Homepage
• Global Navigation

25. Global Navigation Baseline Usability Test (2013)
Recommended changes to the content organization

26. Global Navigation Card Sort (2013)
Online card sort example Recommended top-level changes

27. Business Card Sort (2014)
Example of subgrouping,
in-person card sort
Recommended changes to the second-level content

28. Tree And First Click Tests (2014)
Examples of the recommended optimized IA

29. Tree And First Click Tests (2014)
Example results from a first-click test

30. Global Navigation
2013 2017

31. Research Focus Areas
• Four main areas of USPS.com
• Homepage
• Global Navigation
• Mailing, Shipping, and Tracking

32. Shipping Usability Test (2013)
Excerpt from the test report

33. Tracking Usability Test (2013)
Comparison between the 2013 tracking page
and the redesign

34. Click-N-Ship (2014)
Excerpts from the test report

35. Pre-shipment Usability Test (2016)
Excerpts from the test report

36. Mailing, Shipping, And Tracking
2013 2017

37. Research Focus Areas
• Four main areas of USPS.com
• Homepage
• Global Navigation
• Mailing, Shipping, and Tracking
• Postal Store

38. Postal Store Baseline Usability Test (2013)
Excerpt from the test report

39. Postal Store Card Sort (2013)
Recommended categorization
and sub-categorization

40. Postal Store Usability Test (2015)
Excerpts from the test report

41. Redesigned Postal Store Usability Test (2016)
Example results from testing the iconography

42. Redesigned Postal Store Usability Test (2016)
Excerpt from the test report

43. Postal Store
2014 2017

44. Research Focus Areas
• Four main areas of USPS.com
• Homepage
• Global Navigation
• Mailing, Shipping, and Tracking
• Postal Store
• My USPS

45. MY USPS Prototype Usability Test (2016)
My USPS prototype on desktop My USPS prototype on mobile

46. MY USPS Registration Process Usability Test (2016)
Stages in the My USPS
registration process
Mocked up My USPS data used
for testing Informed Delivery

47. CONCLUSIONS

48. Conclusions
• Many changes over the years
• Today’s USPS more modern, better user experience
• Challenges remain
• Hopefully this work will inspire others

49. • UserWorks, Inc. performed the work described in this paper while
acting as a subcontractor to Aquilent. We gratefully acknowledge
their support and collaboration.
• Questions?
Thank You!
Mark Becker
UserWorks, Inc.
mbecker@userworks.com
301-431-0500
(Now Booz Allen Hamilton)