thetimes.co.uk Top level review of subscription & pay wall

Introduction - This a top level review of the thetimes.co.uk website - The slides present one typical persona (site user) and their journey through the site – the steps of the journey are described in orange boxes. - Pages of the site are annotated with the usability issues that have been identified, and comments where improvements can be made.

Persona: Customer - George is married with 2 children and 1 grandchild - He lives in Bristol with his wife Jean - He is recently retired, but used to work as a University lecturer. His wife still works part time at a bookshop - George enjoys spending time with his family, and takes an interest in politics. He is a sport fanatic and particular enjoys golf, cricket and football - George uses the internet quite regularly to: read the news, listen to the radio, find directions, use his and Skype to call his son who lives in New Zealand

User journey: Looking for the latest cricket score and read the latest news

Favourites: thetimes.co.uk User journey: User has the website already available on his favourites, as it is his preferred newspaper

Homepage To find the cricket score the user clicks on the sport link

Pop up Screen Site logo used at the top of the pop up, good to reassure audience and maintain trust. Minimal text content used, doesn’t make the pop up overbearing for the user. Content is also well structured into three clear options. As this is the first time George has had to subscribe to view content, he decides to click on the “Find out more – video tour” Clear and bold message immediately stating that content is only available exclusively by subscription. All background information is greyed out, making the pop up the main focus to the user. Close button visible if the user doesn’t wish to subscribe to the site.

Video Tour Good layout of the page, offering the user the option to sign up once they have watched videos. Page content is very simple and easy to understand. Differences between the two videos are not made clear enough. Maybe ad a caption at the top of each or a short description. Good use of colours for the buttons – the pink contrast really stands out on the black background Big and bold use of text that is reduced to the essentials, makes it easy for users to focus. George then clicks to view the tour of the website and then proceeds to sign up

Product options Good layout of the different packages, immediately shows the benefits of the subscription against the 1 off pass. Simple and easy to understand. As George is a regular user of the site, he clicks to sign up for the subscription service Good variable option of changing the currency for the prices. Not neglecting expatriate users from viewing the site. Probably their target audience, giving them the highest benefit Step by step menu, to indicate where users are within the site. Shows the user how long it will take to complete transaction.

Personal Details The user is required to submit their address and is then asked for the same information again on the next screen, making this step redundant. George enters his address and continues to fill out all of his Personal details Tick fields are used to confirm to the user they have entered in their details correctly The form is well structured into different sections but is very long and requires a lot of scrolling, which can make it seem quite daunting for users.

Personal Details continued The marketing preferences section is quite wordy which can be off putting for users, so they are more likely to overlook it without reading. Asterisks are shown in the other sections stating that they are a required field but this is not indicated in this section. Once George completes the form he proceeds to register

Payment Details The initial step is for users to set up a direct debit to pay for the subscription. To pay using a credit card the user is asked to then click to another screen. This should be available on the same screen. User unlikely to read this text regarding direct debit legislation. Maybe could be condensed down into bullet points to make it more easily scanable, with the full version to print out. George fills out his details and completes the transaction

Summary Clear design and layout used on the subscription sign up screen, with all content concise and very easy to understand. Good use of video content to explain what the new subscription service is all about, in an engaging way so users can get a good overview without reading too much text. Structure of the Personal Details form could be improved, as the ‘enter ’ page currently seems redundant and the main registration form requires too much scrolling and in-depth information on one page. The Payment Details page could be made more user-friendly by displaying alternative payment option on the same screen, without requiring additional clicks. This report has presented key top level findings and the main points are summarised below:

Conclusion Overall the user journey is very smooth and well designed, with clear sign posting guiding users through to subscription. The registration form could be improved slightly to make it more user-friendly. In conclusion – it is easy to subscribe so all that remains to be seen is whether The Times online offers sufficient value for users to sign up to this service.