Client Project
BridgeCare
White Label Child Care Data Provider
Team
Inderjit Kaur, Christopher Martin, Jo Watson, June Jung
My role: UX Research Lead
Overview
BridgeCare is a white-label child care data and community management platform - made for organizations that serve providers, families, or both. They work with Counties around the country that provide and collect child care data. They emphasized their need for research and usability testing on the current template website to streamline the search experience for parents. The client also provided raw data from Hotjar that we could use for our research.
Tools
Figma, Google Drive, Slack, Hotjar (provided by BridgeCare)
Scope and Constraints
BridgeCare does not have any frontend developers and relies on Veutify to assist with their frontend works. We needed to provide solution with this technical constraint in mind. The project was also a 2.5 week sprint. As the client wanted us to focus on research and testing within the time constraint, we needed to conduct thorough usability testing, synthesize the data, and present next steps and some design solutions based on the findings.
Problem Statement
BridgeCare has two user groups: the counties that use their white-label template and the parents who use the website to look for child care services in their county.
The counties need a template for their child care service website because they want to help parents in the county find child care services that fit their needs, collect data on supply and demand, and provide funding.
The parents need a way to effectively browse available child care services near them that meet their needs so they can go to work without worrying about their children’s safety.
However, since parents are the ones that interact with the search functions of the website, the research and usability testing will focus on the parents as the primary user for this project.
What does the Hotjar data tell us about the user’s experience?
The Hotjar data we received from the client were raw data that was not synthesized or organized. When we put the observation from the Hotjar videos into data points, we learned that nearly 55% of the users who visit the current website were unable to finish their search flow to get to the results page. This is a big problem for a single-page template website where the only function of the landing page is to get people to use the search bar to get the result for child care services near their location.
Usability Test Round 1
We got to recruiting users right away to gain insight into how users would interact with the search function of the website, support data found within Hotjar videos and understand what areas of the website were confusing or frustrating to use. We recruited 5 participants who are parents including 3 mothers and 2 fathers and used BridgeCare’s Allegheny County website as a primary testing site.
Key Insights
Users are confused why they cannot hit the submit button after entering the address.
Users are mistaking the feature cards as clickable CTA (call to action).
Users want to learn more information about safety.
Users try to interact with description images to search, use filters, etc.
Although minor, more technical issue, search by zip code does not look up zip codes.
See images below for reference.
Users think these cards are interactive.
Users think the description image to the right is an actual search bar and try to interact with it.
What’s causing all this confusion? We decided to look more into the competitors.
As far as direct competitors are concerned, BridgeCare is a platform for child care providers and parents. These companies include Care.com and Winnie. However, it is also important to look at other comparative competitors that excel in utilizing their search feature as the main function of their site such as DoorDash, Yelp and Airbnb. Another thing we looked for was any interactive or informational items on the competitors’ websites and observe how the competitors are differentiating between the two.
GrubHub interactive cards
Yelp interactive cards
Right from the start, we were able to identify common design patterns and one of them was the interactive image cards. It is a common design pattern which means the users are already accustomed to seeing these image cards to be clickable. This explains why our users repeatedly try to click on informative cards on the client website.
Design Studio
Based on the findings from the first round of the usability test and C&C analysis, my team and I conducted a design studio to brainstorm solutions to tackle the problem areas. You can see a number of design attempts to differentiate between informational and interactive pieces on the website. Another trend you may notice is the way the search bar is presented.
Utilizing mobile first approach and wireframing
Clickable prototype and preparing for the second round of usability test
Changes we made on our prototype
Some of the changes we incorporated in our prototype based on the first usability test are:
Added asterisk to indicate required fields for search filters
Change the images used to describe how to use the website
Changed the order in which the search filter is listed from address, method of transportation, children’s age to address, children’s age, method of transportation
Usability Test Round 2
For the second round of the usability test, we were able to recruit 3 participants, 2 male and 1 female, who were not yet parents. For the second test, the main goal was to test if the iterations we made from Round 1 helped solve the problems. We also wanted to see if participants would behave differently with this iterated prototype and gain insight on what the prototype does well and what could be improved upon. The findings from Round 2 would also help us plan out our next steps.
Key Insights
We found that by adding an asterisk to any form field indicates that the field is required users knew that these fields must be filled out before proceeding to the next page.
Users found that the images in the informational section of the page were not clickable
Although, users wanted these items to be clickable so to increase efficiency when searching for a childcare.
Users did not understand the purpose of the Method of Transportation function.
More specifically users did not understand the Along Commute function.
Syetem Usability Score (SUS) before and after
Before Redesign
Average Score: 63/100 (4 users)
Poor usability
3 of 4 users scored below the average usability standard score (68/100)
After Redesign
Average Score: 73/100 (3 users)
Good usability
2 of 3 users scored below the average usability standard score (68/100)
2 of 3 users thought it was unnecessarily complex but overall users thought that the site was easy to use, were confident using the site, and thought that the sites functions were well integrated.
Next steps for BridgeCare
Test prototype with more users
Test prototype with users who are parents
Perform usability tests on the ipad & desktop prototypes.
Integrate iterations on the prototype based on key insights gained from Round 2 of Usability Testing
Clarifying terminology in the search function as some users had difficulty understanding what they meant.
Being more direct about the purpose behind gathering information for childcare funding by the county
Giving users the option on the homepage to bypass the three search features and making the information section interactable.