Top Three Findings

1. Navigation

Once users were on the primary level after leaving the homepage through the main menu, they tended to get stuck in that level due to the main menu not being visible once they scroll down.

2. Finding Daily Demos

Users who were not on the Visit page often missed the scrolling "Daily Programs" schedule.

3. Finding shuttle information

Users had a hard time finding shuttle information under the Accessibility section because they associated it with disability.

Participants

I tested with seven college students from ages 18 through 23. I used both an Android phone and an iPhone so I can get a better overall picture of the mobile website, or to see if there were any differences depending on the operating system.

Constraints

I would like to acknowledge here that all participants were my friends because this was an unpaid internship, and I could not rely on guerilla testing to secure participants within the amount of time I allocated for the testing sessions (since the internship took place during school).

As such, the results of this study can only be generalized to tech-savvy young adults with a college education, which would only be a subset of all users of the zoo's mobile website.

The Tasks

To determine what tasks should be asked of the users, I came up with a preliminary list of tasks that users might want to do on the zoo's website, and created a survey asking users how likely they are to perform each task. I shared the results with my two supervisors and asked them to weigh in on what information is most important and came up with the following list of tasks for user testing, presented in scenarios:

1. You are visiting some friends in Washington, D.C. for the holidays and want to go to the Zoo on New Year’s Day. Check if the Zoo is open for the day and find out how much admissions will cost.
2. Now that you know that the Zoo will be open on New Year’s Day, find the driving directions to the Zoo. What is the parking situation at the Zoo like?
3. You wonder if there is a shuttle operated by the Zoo. Find the information about where it stops and its schedule.
4. You want to make sure everyone gets to see their favorite animals. Can you check if there are stingrays at the Zoo? What about capybaras?
5. You not only want to see the animals, but want to see them in a more interactive environment. What kinds of demos/opportunities are there?
6. You prefer having the map of the Zoo on your phone to carrying around a physical copy; find the map of the Zoo on the site.

Bugs

On iPhone, there was a bug on the Animals A-Z page where if users tap on the ______ multiple times after choosing the type of animal, the site will throw a "" error.

Usability Problems

Navigation

Other Feedback