Moderated Usability Test:
Allstate Select & Protect
I supported a future subscription based product called Select & Protect while assigned to Allstate’s life insurance team. After establishing an understanding of user needs with discovery interviews and surveys, I designed and conducted a series of moderated usability tests to uncover high, medium, and low impact usability errors for the homepage, product page, checkout experience, and user account portal as they became available in clickable prototype form. Below is the 4th and final test before designs were finalized.
Methods
Moderated Usability Test via UserZoom
Interviews
Qualitative data coding
Research Questions
1.) Do users understand the products and benefits of the Select & Protect plan?
2.) Are any user tasks causing significant frustration?
3.) Are the pathways and tasks within the new dashboard experiences logical?
4.) Are there any changes that could improve the overall experience?
Testing Plan
Usability Error Identification, Coding, and Rating
After reviewing my sessions for self-reported and non-verbal usability errors, I coded them into discrete data points and rated their impact based on frequency and severity. In the deliverable, I presented them by order of user completed tasks to show exactly when these issues occurred.
Key Insights Identified
With my errors identified, I created a 5 point executive summary that captured the overall findings of the test along with prioritized recommendations and background information.
Impact
With my comprehensive recommendation slides that encapsulated all measured usability errors, our team’s lead designer was able to incorporate several changes to the prototype:
Content and visual adjustments to the homepage and product selection pages.
Clearer labels and new designs for presenting Allstate’s secondary portal on the account dashboard homepage to reduce confusion.
After improvements were made following this final moderated usability test, Select & Protect was considered MVP ready by our business stakeholders.