ACCA Case Study

Brief

An ad display campaign was generating good traffic to the ACCA.ie, to ensure the site was optimised and user friendly ACCA asked us to review the usability of the microsite and the Irish portal on their global site.

Audience

Prospective students 20 to 35 years old.

Strategy

To complete the project in a short time period and to reduce the risk of biased recommendations from any one research method, we carried out complimentary research and analysis in the form of an Expert Review, Site & Search Analytics Analysis and Remote Research.

Expert Review

We started off with an Expert Review to assess the usability of the websites. Our usability expert reviewed all the typical journeys a user was likely to take while browsing the website, using his expertise to highlight usability problems and recommend changes. Our audit provided a review of how well the website supported typical user journeys.

Analysis of Site Analytics & Search Activity

We also carried out an analysis of ACCA’s website analytics and search activity to identify opportunities to make improvements to their sites usability. This approach allowed us to analyse historical user behaviour to compliment our Expert Review.

Remote Usability Test

Finally we carried out some qualitative research to further compliment the quantitative analytics data and the Expert Review.
Based on ACCA’s objectives and target user definition, we got real customers who visited the website to participate in a remote usability test. This method allows us talk to people in real time, just as they’re about to perform a task on the website we’re interested in observing.
Users with real motivations for their tasks provided us with insights into how people actually use the website and what problems they encountered.

Results

The key benefits ACCA experienced from this usability test:

• Received clearly prioritised guidance – on how to improve the website and adhere to usability standards.
• Prioritised content – users needs can change seasonally, we helped ACCA prioritise what their homepage should display and when.
• Comprehensive analysis & testing – Complimentary research and analysis reduced the risk of biased recommendations.
• Low cost & quick turnaround – Remote Research provided an excellent alternative to expensive lab usability tests, and allowed us to quickly interview real customers.
• Video of customers – actual footage of their customers experiencing the ACCA website.