Rover App Usability Study

Project Overview

Most usability testing for mobile apps does not occur in labs. It is more common for a design team to "coffee shop" test mobile applications. I was assigned to put myself in the shoes of a usability test facilitator, and record usability test sessions using my mobile phone. A couple years after the course was over, I came back to the project and made mock-ups of my recommendations.

My Contributions

Moderated Usability Testing
Screening Survey
Data Analysis
Hi-Fi Wireframes/Mock ups

Executive Summary

Goal

Test the usability of the Rover app's primary functionality: find somebody to walk or watch a pet
Create wireframes for the next iteration of the Rover app

Scope

Face-to-face moderated usability sessions using screen capture and audio recording
The usability testing took place over the course of 3 weeks in the Spring of 2020. The mockups were created in the Spring of 2022.

Key Findings

Users dislike introduction slides to use an app and will skip them
The current search filters cover most of what users want when using a filter, but not everything
Sorting search results is a non-existent functionality
"Sitter's" profiles are dense and contain inconsistent information

Key Recommendations

Provide users with a guided walkthrough instead of a slide deck upon opening the app for the first time
Create additional filters for searching
Allow users to sort search results
Provide cleaner and more consistent "sitter" profiles

Recruiting

The first thing my team did was reach out to friends and family to be participants and to create a screener to ensure our participants were representative of who the users actually were. Our target user group was, "people who have used a mobile app to purchase a good or service in the past, currently own a pet, and are first time users of Rover." The screener was hosted on SurveyMonkey (now Momentive), and the questions can be seen below.

1) What is your age range?

18-24
25-34
35-44
45-64
65+

2) What gender do you identify as?

Male
Female
Other: ____________
Decline to Answer

3) How often do you use mobile apps?

Daily
Multiple times per week
Once per week
Multiple times per month
Once per month
Never

4) Have you ever used a mobile app to purchase a good or service?

5) Do you currently own a pet for whom you are primarily responsible for?

6) Have you ever boarded your pet while you were away?

7) Have you ever paid somebody to walk your pet?

8) Have you ever used a mobile app to find goods or services specifically for your pet?

9) If you answered yes to the previous question, which app(s) did you use?

Wag!
Rover
Host a Pet
Fetch! Pet Care
Other: ____________
I answered "No"

Running the Tests

While we waited on the user responses to the screeners, our group discussed what 3 tasks to assign the users. We considered the primary functions of the app to be scheduling a dog walk and finding a puppy sitter. Sitting services could be scheduled either in the users' home or in the sitters' home. At their core, the primary functions were too simple, and we knew the average user would be wary to leave a family member with a complete stranger or may not have an extra $50 to give a dog walker, so we added a layer of complexity to each task to give the users a larger feeling of realism.

Task 1)

You think that George, your 5-year-old, 120-pound, Newfoundland, might need a bit more exercise than you have time for in your busy schedule. Since you are working with a tight budget, set up a weekly dog walking services on Mondays for the cheapest rate you can find starting immediately.

Task 2)

You are going on a vacation during the first week of June, but you cannot take George with you. You want to leave him in the care of a sitter, but you also want to make sure George will be well taken care of. Find a high rated dog boarder (at least 4.5 stars) available to care for George while you are away.
Note: George does not do well with cats, and is too big for an apartment.

Task 3)

The more you think about your vacation, the more you worry that George will not do well in someone else's home. Since he has only been left alone for short periods of time in the past, 4 hours at the most. Find a highly rated house sitter (at least 4.5 stars) to come and care for George while you are away in the first week of June.

Findings & Suggestions

#1

The first thing we found was something we weren't even testing for: Every single tested user skipped through the slideshow the first time the app is opened with quotes such as,

"I don't care about all of this,"

and

"Yes! Skip Please!"

The slideshow was mostly about what the app was and not how to use it. We discussed and decided that any user who downloaded the app would already know what the app is used for. A recommended solution to this was to do away with the slide deck and include the pertinent information when the user performs the relevant task. Pictured is the recommended solution to the replacing the final slide (left) by using the verification badges and information available on Rover's webpage as of March 2022 (right).

#2

The second finding we recorded was that every user mentioned they wished there was a sort option or more expanded filtering options. The results seemed to be randomly sorted, and as it stood (and still stands), there was no way to sort results at all. Filters only consisted of Location, Dates & Times, Price, Services, and Organizations; there were no filter options for ratings or number of reviews. The recommended solution to this is adding an option to sort the filtered results (right) and expanding the filter options (not pictured).

#3

The final discovery we made was that the sitter profiles were inconsistent in the information they provided (left). One user stated,

"The app is not intuitive because it lists different information for different pet sitters."

The recommendation to fix this was to simply display all the same categories, even if they were not filled out (right). This extra layer of consistency would improve the users comprehension of the app.

Lessons Learned

The most important lesson was the reaffirmation that users need consistency. Upon revisiting the app and images I captured, I noticed that the sitters' profiles actually did display all the same information in the same order, but because some of that information was hidden if the sitter didn't fill it out, the users were confused. Another lesson learned is that apps based on strangers providing a service need a clear and obvious statement that each provider has gone through some sort of vetting process and has been deemed acceptable to provide the service. If users had not skipped through the introductory slides, they would have seen that all users had been vetted as safe and responsible by the app. Instead, users were easily able to miss this important information and may have solely relied on the number of reviews each stranger had.