For reflection on the usability process, please see Week 7: Usability Testing.
With usability testing, I used the opportunity to recheck a few assumptions. 92% of participants stated they had used meetup products before. 38% of participants thought verified accounts were ‘kind of important’, while 31% stated it was ‘really important’. One participant noted that a verified account is ‘not at all’ important as verification doesn’t make people nicer.
Testing revealed that, while most participants wanted verified accounts, they felt uncomfortable sharing private details such as phone numbers or ID numbers without assurance their data would be protected. One participant even stated:
“I felt pretty suspicious and insecure”
Therefore, I will redesign the onboarding flow to build trust by stating the product’s data protection and community policies before asking the user for private information. I will also focus on clear copy that communicates that the data will not be stored any longer than the verification process. Several participants stated in their feedback that insecurity was why they skipped verification rather than usability problems.
Verification was skipped deliberately rather than accidentally
The test also revealed that system feedback during onboarding is essential (when can you click next), that the skip button should be more prominent, and that the progress bar was a greatly appreciated feature. Additionally, the individual usability score was high for every screen apart from the verification screens, which people were skipping.
Feedback from buttons was not obvious for some users
Basic progress bar identifying all steps of the onboarding process
German vocabulary of the week
Verified – Verifiziert