INTRODUCTION

1. RESEARCH: IDENTIFY PAIN POINTS IN THE USER JOURNEY

In order to identify the pain points in the user journey I have adopted the following techniques:

• experience mapping, integrated with empathy mapping
• usability testing, from remote and in person, on segmented users
• data analysis about funnel drop-off and features usage
• user interviews to develop personas

EXPERIENCE MAP

SafetyCulture Experience Map helped me to understand all the steps from users to customers and all the touching points involved inside and outside the apps. I built the map with UXPin, printed it on an A1 and added a couple of handwritten notes. I hanged the poster on a wall in a common area, asking for feedback to facilitate contributions from anyone in the company.

USABILITY TESTING

The information provided from the support regarding the common issues were extremely useful to define the path from new user to core users. Anyway in order to reduce the drop-off during the first day or week, the team needs to understand what a new user, someone that downloads the app for the first time thinks, says, feels and does. Not everyone calls the support or search the knowledge base to get started with an app that he has just downloaded.

I conducted usability testing on iAuditor iOS and on Android. The remote usability testing have been conducted using the platform usertesting.com. The marketing provided the demographics information to set the screening.

Below some answer to the question: "What was the most frustrating thing?"

2. TRANSLATE RESEARCH RESULTS INTO WIREFRAMES

After collecting all the research results from usability testing, marketing team and support, I have created a set of wireframes focusing on the FTUX. The wireframes provides quick wins to improve the current experience and provides examples of before and after on all the screens in the first level of navigation.

The high fidelity wireframes included:

• menu improved in order to show hierarchy and contrast (most of our users work outdoors)
• introduction of meaningful empty states with clear call to actions, examples and dummy texts
• addition of shortcuts to improve second level navigation
• more effective help section
• gamified user profile
• beautiful icons and delight elements

BEFORE

Problems identified in this implementation:

• long menu without clear hierarchy
• many empty screens with not clear call to action
• overwhelming help section
• not engaging profile page

3. build a meaningful WALKTHROUGH

There are many different types of walkthrough:  joyriding approach, do something approach, set up approach, everything at once approach. We have started from the minimum viable experience (MVE) for this feature: a static walkthrough. We measured the drop off from the walkthrough and it was quite very low so in the second iteration we have included a full tutorial about how to conduct audits. The tutorial has been built using the core features of the app: the template editor and the auditing view. When the user takes the tutorial, he is exposed to the auditing view in a controlled environment.

FIRST ITERATION: static approach

SECOND ITERATION: do something approach

4. introduce meaningful empty states

Empty states are an extremely powerful technique to guide users towards "coreness." When well integrated inside the overall experience, they  guide users to complete main actions in order to reveal the value of the product. Also, empty states are a great opportunity to add some delight, through meaningful and engaging graphics and animations. 

5.CUSTOMISED FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE

The Public Library is a collaborative space for all iAuditor users. It creates a large library of templates that users can download for free. The current problem is that the user in order to understand the value of the Public Library has to set the right filters to display informations that are relevant for the user.  The iteration on this area aimed to provide a first time experience that is customised by the user based on the industry he belongs to. In this way, the information displayed are meaningful and the value of the Public Library is revealed.

6. GRACEFULLY MANAGE COMMON ERRORS

iAuditor is widely used by people in their workplaces: airports, roads,  platforms in the ocean and so on. Contextual enquiries and survey revealed that  for many users, internet connection is not available.  . Internet connection is not always available. The Public is available to users only when they are connected to internet. In order to train users about this we came up with en error message that explain to the user why the Library is not loading.

7. PROVIDE CONTEXTUAL HELP FOR COMPLEX AREAS: TOOLTIPS

The Template Edit allows users to create and edit forms with drag & drop simplicity. While basic forms are easy to create without help, some advanced features inside the Template Editor require explanations. 

Usability testing on the tooltip in the template editor revealed that some people reads them during their FTUX, others close them immediately to come back to them in case of need.

8. MAKE SURE YOUR HELP, HELPS

In first place, product should be simple and intuitive. But, there are may conditions that require to be solved integrating a help section within the app. In the iAuditor case, the conditions are:

• the targeted users are generally not very tech savvy (some have never used iPad before)
• iAuditor is a very powerful product and the advanced features have a learning curve of a few days/weeks based on the user

In order to improve the help we run a survey to ask current users how they become proficient with iAuditor.  We collected information about their current behaviours ( organic search, knowledge base, contact support) and we asked them what is their favourite way to learn: reading articles, video trainings, FAQs, etc. 

Usability testing and surveys revealed that people where relying on the help inside the app to get started. The current help section within the app was a link to the Knowledge base. The amount of information available was scaring the users that were looking just for a quick way to get started. The marketing and the support teams built a series of Video Training that in 20 minutes covers all the basic features. Advanced users can still access the knowledge base from the bottom bar. 

9. INTRODUCE DELIGHT ELEMENTS AND GAMIFICATION

In order to engage users and to help them to understand the value of the overall app, I have identified certain key actions that unlocked gamified screens.

Because iAuditor allows to save hundreds of worker lives every years, it hasn't been hard to find an epic meaning or calling that could guide the gamification. If a user contributes to iAuditor uploading a custom template that will become available to all iAuditor users for free we make sure we make him feel part of the iAuditor community and we make him feel like our hero.

WIREFRAMES

10. VISUAL DESIGN MATTERS

Usability testing revealed us that some Android users thought that iAuditor was an "old App" because the visual design was not engaging and modern. After the launch of Google Material Design, we implemented  the new design standard. The change was quite consistent, so in order improve the design without upsetting some of our less tech-savvy users, I have created a timeline to implement the design in various iterations. The whole redesign was deployed in three months and was well received by Android users.

summary

The examples above are some of the iterations that have been more successful.  The results have been:

• a decrease of the drop-off during the first month
• a decrease of tickets for the support regarding basic actions, basic features, request for help or solving common problems
• usability testing shows that the time to complete tasks to the aha moment is now 10-15 minutes shorter on average

Not everything that has value can be measured:

• the marketing team is happy to contribute to the product development providing researches and metrics
• the support team is happy to participate to the product development helping to define common problems and priorities
• users appear way less frustrated during usability testing on the first time experience

LINK TO LIVE PROJECTS

The next case study is about Information Architecture and how to Increase Revenues improving user flows.