1. Generation Nexters’ Financial Learning Environment
Knikki Crenshaw
Hank Henry
Nancy Rice
Tom Sakell
Ben Yzaguirre

2. Agenda Introduction Focus Group Usability Test Final Prototype
Focus Group 1 Findings
Focus Group 2 Findings
Usability Test
Final Prototype 
Recommendations
Conclusion

3. Focus Group 1
Face to Face
GMU classroom
19 – 20 years old

4. Focus Group # 1 – Home Page

5. Home page - First round of Revisions

6. Second Level Page

7. Revised Second Level Page

8. Facebook Page

9. Revised Facebook Page

11. Conducted using Adobe Connect
Three participants, slightly older average age
Did these users have a similar reaction to the sites as the first focus group?
Did our iterative changes improve the user experience?
The second focus group was conducted online using Adobe Connect. We again had three users in this session, however two of them were in their 20s. Using the same script of questions from our first focus group, we asked these three participants to evaluate the different aspects of the Dollars & Sense website and Facebook page. Although all of the questions were important, we were particularly interested in how the users reacted to our iterative changes since the first focus group.

12. Reactions to Iterative Changes
Users understood the purpose of the site more clearly
Liked the addition of more visible multimedia
Still confusion over tabs on second level page
Still some confusion on Facebook page
Lets talk about their reactions to our changes from the initial focus group first. In general we made good progress and our changes seemed to help the overall user experience. For instance, users in the second focus group had no trouble identifying the purpose of the site. They knew it was a site with content about “financial tips for young adults.” They were also pleased to see actual videos embedded within the pages, and not simply hyperlinks. This made the content seem more engaging to them. In addition, the “college planning” heading seemed to make much more sense to them.

13. New Insights from Focus Group 2
Needed even more video and multimedia
Information was good, but make the sites more “personal”
There is a real interest in the “Bigger Picture,” it’s just a matter of getting the users there
Users want an up-to-date site

14. Changes Made for the Usability Test
Add more podcasts
Live chat
Multimedia icons
Add more videos
Add more pictures
Tweaked color scheme of the second level page
As you’ll see in a minute, we took the data from our focus groups to make even more changes to the website and Facebook page prior to the usability tests. Many of these changes were cosmetic, or had to do with adding in more interactive features. This was because, for the most part the users found our existing information quite useful. It was chunked well, and the topics appealed to them. Again, they just needed an extra push to help them stay interested in the site, and return to it multiple times.

15. Usability Testing / Methods
One-on-one testing
Two rounds, two tests each
Working from same script, questions and tasks
Tracking Users - eye tracking, talking out loud
Talking Beyond the question
After we’d completed our focus groups and made our online work even more functional, we sat down as a group to figure out our Usability Testing. Nancy wrote a tremendous script. We each selected individual testers and went off into our corners, testing each of our users in person. The tests took about 30 minutes, and the testing spanned two weeks. We used the same script of about two dozen questions and a few, very specific tasks. Like:
Find a tool related to buying a car
In Facebook, How would you navigate back to the D&S website?
Find a podcast
Where would you click if you wanted to see a video on this topic?

16. Usability Testing / Iterative Changes
Live Chat
Multimedia Icons
Podcasts
Video Images
Content Images
Color Coordinating
More, More Video
Our testers were brutally honest and critical. We learned quickly that honest criticism delivered plainly – w/o qualification – was the best criticism. Coming out of the focus groups we learned users wanted:
Video
More Video
A chance to talk directly to Agora Financial advisors.
Better organization of our right side – multimedia, resources and collaboration.
A better way to organize the colors on the site – to help users see what goes w/ what.
In Facebook, information that matters to us (the young users)
Our tools and resources are going to be the primary reasons young users will come back to our website. The corrections we made to the site could solve this issue; our usability testing would tell us if we were successful.

17. Usability – Second Level Page
First, we created a prototype of what a Live Chat would look like. We put it in the top right of the inside pages for maximum visibility. Agora could deliver this in Ajax or Actionscript. We asked our users to simply hover over this area and the dialogue would begin. We wanted to make it clear: Agora says this, you say that. Our testers completed this easily enough. We had one tester in a focus group who asked for this function, saying if I’m on this site, I want to talk to someone. In my usability test, my user said he wouldn’t click on this. He understood the function, but said, why would I want to talk to a salesman? Let’s take a look at our Resources area. We put our Podcasts here and our video here. Our testers were able to accept our style easily enough: Click on the text links, and the delivery will come up in a new window. One tester wanted to click on the icon to see Multimedia. That was interesting. You’ll see here, clicking on podcasts leads to the iTunes channel. The video links lead to YouTube, where we have the opportunity to brand and market Dollars & Sense in another medium. For video, we used text AND image links, which really helped the users point to video delivery. In fact, the image gave us another art element. Now look over here. We’re already showing users our NEXT Dollars & Sense video. This is some pretty sweet stickiness. Back to our page. Our testers told us they needed more guidance on what we meant by Big Picture. Basically, it’s the key topic in each of our website areas. In our College area, it’s choosing the right major for today’s job market. We rebuilt the tabs to make it clearer which is which – Article vs. Big Picture. To reinforce that point, we put the specific title of the topic – in HTML – next to the tab. Within our rounds of iterative testing, we found it wasn’t clear enough. So we put the title right in there, right w/ the image in the tab. It did a lot better there. People got it. Of course, to be successful, we had to be consistent. Next slide, please.

18. Usability – Big Picture
The subject of this page is the Stimulus-era Job Market. Says so in the headline and on the left navigation. Our users agreed that it was a consistent experience. From header to headline to navigation, we used the same words. Also, see how the background color has changed to match the Big Picture tab.
OK, next slide, please

19. Usability – More, Bigger Video
Slide 5 Let’s take one more look at video. We tested video on the side, at the bottom. Big video, smaller video, more video. Basically, we asked the testers, what do you prefer.
And our users said, yes. Agora should continue testing different video models. Back in our focus group, we had one tester say she preferred if the video read the content to her instead of her reading it.
That’s fascinating.
Our users said they understood that if our video said YouTube, that it was an embedded video. If they clicked Play, it would start playing right then and there.
Different formats / looks for video

20. Usability – Facebook Information “chunked” Relevant Information Obama
Clickable
Visible URL
Audio
Relevant Information to this Audience
Video / YouTube
Slide 6 Let’s go to Facebook. Facebook is a tough layout. The right side goes to advertising, so it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate our content from “spam” ads. We improved the logo, and users said, yes, they could use it to back to our website. Testers also recognized our improved content in Facebook.

22. Final Prototype
Navigation

23. Recommendations Target Audience Preferences Content / Delivery
Out of Scope Web 2.0 Tools
508 Compliancy
Agora Brand

24. Conclusion