eBay GivingWorks
eBay GivingWorks enables members of the eBay community to support their favorite charities by buying, selling or making direct donations. The GivingWorks pages were about to get a major redesign and my role was to support the redesign effort through user experience research.
I worked directly with their Design Team, Marketing Team and Product Manager to create a multi-phase research strategy to address the research questions imperative to a usable, attractive and engaging user experience that would motivate users to make a difference for the causes they believe in.
Project Overview
Research Strategy
Addressing the right questions with the right methods for targetted user groups
After stakeholder meetings with the team, a set of research questions was produced which I analyzed and categorized by priority and impact for a redesign project.
Due to our short 11-week conception-to-delivery time, I aided the team in prioritizing and focusing on the most impactful research questions that we could answer considering our time, resources and budget. I then formulated a strategy which includes using both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Three unique user segments were identified as target user groups after extensive research into the database of current and potential users. Defining characteristics were noted and I worked with the recruitment team to reach out to the different segments which would participate in our studies.
Lab Sessions Phase 1: Participatory Design
Getting to the needs and goals of unique user groups
I developed protocol a for 18 in-person lab sessions. The participatory design method was chosen as a primary goal of the research was to understand user needs and user wants which were unclear to the teams. Careful probing and design exercises were conducted.
The Design Team were an intimate part of the process - sketches were made during observation of the first half of participatory design exercises. Low fidelity designer sketches were presented, and participants were able to incorporate or reject sketched feature-modules.
An analysis of sketches, revealed patterns of each user groups' unique needs and goals. Results & suggestions were presented to design team for wire-framing development for Phase 2.
Survey
Market segment research to cast a wider net of information from users
Running concurrently with the lab sessions, online surveys were developed with the Marketing Team to address research questions related to awareness, reception and motivations for charitable behavior.
Data from over 4000 respondents was analyzed and presented to the teams.
Lab Sessions Phase 2: Snap Test & Usability Testing
Testing first impressions and usability of semi-functional prototypes
15 in-person lab sessions with protocols chosen to test early-stage designs. First impressions are important, so snap tests were conducted to reveal initial reactions to new design and layout of home page. Participants revealed their perception of the value proposition and the perceived ease-of-use based on quick visual scans of the website.
Semi-functional Balsamiq wireframes underwent usability testing to uncover potential usability issues. In areas where interactions were not supported yet, careful probing revealed the intentions and motivations behind user interactions.
Time-on-task methods were used in areas critical to efficiency - such as form-filling and goal-based searching.
Data Triangulation & Presentation
Putting it all together for the teams
Data from both research phases was triangulated with the data from the survey. Research findings were delivered to teams with a focus on areas where interface improvements would lead to an enhanced user experience.
Before & After
The previous home page
The new home page. Refreshed!