First she did the 4 tasks on the PnP website
Task 1: Buy some dog food for a puppy.
> First my mom clicked on the big ‘shopping’ button at the top
> She skimmed over the page, then she tried to click on the heading image ‘shopping’ which had no effect
> Then she clicked on the Pick n’ Pay Online Shopping button, which opened up in a new tab.
> Then my mom looked around this new site (she thought she would have to register to shop online, or log in) she thought about clicking on General Merchandise, but instead decided to slick on Product Search, and typed in “puppy food”
> She clicked ‘Go’
> When the results came up, my mom was confused by the 3 columns, which obscure the results and made her have to scroll (but I have a very small screen)
> Then she saw the lists of products and she said that she’d have to click ‘add to trolley’
no. of clicks: 6
Task 2: Find out when the PnP closest to you closes on a Sunday.
(From the pnp.co.za site, she was on the shopping page)
> My clicked on the ‘Store Search’ drop-down arrow.
> Then she clicked on ‘Gauteng / Free State’
> Then she clicked on ‘Go’
> My mom scrolled down to find the Boskruin Mini Market, then she clicked on the ‘click here’ under the Trading Hours heading, this opened a new page with a list of the trading hours for the shops in Gauteng, but did not include the Boskruin Mini Market.
(I don’t think they actually have the trading hours for this particular PnP, but I think it would have been here if they did)
no. of clicks: 4
Task 3: Find the recipe for a chicken salad.
(This was after my mom had found the Dog Food, so she was still on the PnP Online Shopping website www.pnponline.co.za)
> My mom did not know that she must click on the old tab to go back to the PnP site, she did say, “I want to go to ‘Kitchen’, how do I go there?”
> She clicked on ‘home’ which took her to the PnP Online Shopping Home.
> Here she clicked on Recipe Center, under the Services Heading
> The three columns thing came up again, and my mom clicked on the ‘Recipe Search’ tab.
> She typed in the key words “Chicken Salad” and clicked ‘Search’ (she did not notice the results)
> So she clicked on the ‘Browse Recipes’ tab, then clicked on chicken (she did not realize that she then needs to choose a sub-category, she just scrolled down until she saw the Avocado Lemon Mousse With Chicken Salad recipe and decided she likes that one)
> So my mom clicked on that recipe
no. of clicks: 7
Task 4: Find out who the CEO of PnP is.
(my mom was still on the PnP Online Shopping site)
> My mom looked around and said, “there should be an about us?”
> She clicked on the ‘Contact Us’ and looked through that for ages before I explained that she has 2 tabs open (my mom’s PC never opens pages in a new tab, so she didn’t know how that works)
> So she clicked on the PnP tab to switch to http://pnp.co.za
> Then she clicked on ‘About Us’ (struggled to click on letters, instead of whole button)
> She looked around for a bit, then clicked on the CEO link on the left and found his name (Nick Badminton)
no. of clicks: 4 (with some help)
Then we did the same 4 tasks on the Woolworths site
Task 1: Buy some dog food for a puppy.
> First my mom clicked ‘Online Shop’
> Then she clicked ‘Food and Wine’
> She tried to click on the ‘Product or Category’ option for the search, which was already selected, so it didn’t work.
> Then she clicked in the search bar and typed “Dog Food” then she clicked ‘search’
> Lots of dog foods came up, including those for puppies (however searching with the key words “puppy food” provided no results)
no. of clicks: 5
Task 2: Find out when the Woolworths closest to you closes on a Sunday.
> First my mom clicked on ‘Store Locator’
> Then she clicked Gauteng
> There was no listing for Boskruin, so she found Randridge, but there was no time info.
> My mom clicked on the ‘our stores’ tab, not realizing it was already selected.
> So she clicked on Gauteng again and saw the same list of shops.
no. of clicks: didn’t work
Task 3: Find the recipe for a chicken salad.
> My mom clicked on ‘What We Offer’
> Then she clicked on the ‘TASTE magazine’ link
> Here she clicked on more info
> And then she Gave Up.
no. of clicks: didn’t work
4. Find out who the CEO of Woolworths is.
> My mom clicked on ‘Our Company’
> Then she clicked the ‘our business’ tab (which had no effect) so she clicked on the ‘An Overview’ option
> Here she was discouraged by the amount of info she had to read
> She clicked on ‘Holdings’ but could not find the CEO
> So said she would look in History, but wouldn’t want to have to read through their whole history to find the CEO’s name. So she Gave Up
no. of clicks: didn’t work
Conclusion:
In all fairness we did write up these tasks with the Pick n’ Pay website in mind and didn’t even check if these things were possible on the Woolworths site. Plus my internet connection is super slow and my mom was getting really worn out by the time we were doing the Woolies site. (although that does teach us to keep in mind people with lame internet connections)
So what were some interesting things I found:
- Having the new url open up in a new tab/window was catastrophic!! My mom had no idea how to get back to the other one and how to switch between the two.
- Also why is there a recipe thing on both sites!?
- Have clickable things looking distinctively clickable! (eg, the heading looks just like the link)
- To my surprise, my mom reverted to using the search quite often, rather then browsing for something.
- If we use the 3 columns thingy in any way, it must clearly prompt the user what to do at each step of the way.
- Keep in mind that many people in SA have really lame internet connection (like me)
- Don't repeat things, such as having the same menu at the top and the bottom of the same page, my mom says that's confusing coz she had to read through both to make sure that they are the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment