Findings

User 1 Usability Test Findings

Pros:
(4:07) User 1 quickly noticed the sale going on sitewide with the presence of banners advertising the sale. (7:45) The website seemed to confirm to other shopping websites, specifically the Adidas website. This made navigation easier and intuitive for User 1. (8:05) He found the website to be clean and the categories well organized. He concluded that finding a category would be easy and straightforward. (10:05) User 1 noted that having diagrams of the shapes of rings made finding the desired diamond shaped easy since he might be able to recognize the shape of the diamond but not recall the name. (14:30) User 1 noticed that details that may be unnecessary to most user were hidden but easily accessible. The information of where the diamond for a ring was grown was easy accessible when needed but kept tucked away as default.

Cons:
(4:45) User 1 took some extra time find the left and right arrows to scroll through one of the available categories listed on the home page. The arrows where small and not in the user's expected place. (11:00) The user quickly notice that he could not select multiple price points. He wanted to view all the options that where within in his budget rather than the system's predetermined range. He noted that the cheapest price point did not return anything to him. (18:10)He did notice that the lower price filter did something but not what he expected. The lack of trust in filters made user 2 take roundabout ways to access other rings that he was interested. User 2 mentioned that if site with filters was not working for him, he would look somewhere else for a ring. (32:00) When the filters did work, there was no clear labeling that the filter was set. (12:15) He noted that the discount was different than what was advertised in the home page. (13:00) The user found the application of the discount to ambiguous and confusing. The website promised a 15% discount across the store. The ring was already significantly discounted. At checkout, the final price did not reflect this 15% discount. (23:00) User 1 had difficulty putting the size of the ring and its diamond into perspective. There was the option to Try it on via AR. This option was not very noticeable, and User 1 missed it. The letters for Try it on are bold but still small in a thin box with no contrast.

Conclusion:
Ultimately, User 1 determined that in-person shopping at a brick-and-mortar store is his preferred method. While shopping at Helzberg.com is not ideal, it remains an acceptable alternative.

User 2 Usability Test Findings

Pros:
(7:18) The user found Helzberg's navigation and categorization straightforward and well organized. He liked the option to shop all, which allowed him to browse through all the products. (8:50) The engagement ring category was easily accessed through the clearly labeled sections in the navigation menu. (12:23) When examining a ring or any other product, users appreciated the ability to hover with their mouse to view a magnified version of the item, with the product image moving in response to cursor movement. This provided a more efficient and seamless browsing experience compared to the need to click repeatedly to inspect different areas of the product.

Cons:
(5:50) He observed that there were too many banners on the homepage along with many promotional elements, making the homepage feel crowded. This made it distracting difficult to find where to click. (6:50) User 2 noted that there was some confusion from the lack of women's category when there was a men's category. (24:00) User 2 had difficulty viewing many of the product images with his browser's preferred setting of Dark Mode. (17:00) User 2 struggled to verify the final cost when viewing the cart due to website's requirement to create an account and input zip code. (11:46) Some rings could be configured to have varying carat weights, or different precious metal. When the price filter was applied, the filtering system did not automatically adjust these configurable products to a configuration that fell within the selected price range. This issue was significant for User 2, leading him to express his frustration regarding the matter.

Conclusion:
Ultimately, User 2 appreciated the convenience of online shopping for a ring and preferred it over in-person shopping. The efficiency of browsing through the selection was more significant to him than the issues encountered while completing his tasks.

User 3 Usability Test Findings

Pros:
(5:25) For the User 3, the website seemed well organized, and everything seemed to be its proper place. (6:00) He emphasized the usefulness of pictures to help understand the product available, particularly for individuals like himself who may be unfamiliar with the names and various types of jewelry and their individual components. (8:00) The user found the diagrams of each shape to be useful in identifying that type of ring. He was unfamiliar with any of these shapes. (13:00) The user found the tools for the breakdown of the metals and fineness to be informative and relevant.

Cons:
(9:45) The user found there was a 15% discount sitewide* to be unclear. Some products have a discount applied to them but not others. (10:30) There is a deal for Diamond Days but the specific details are not clearly presented. Some diamonds seem to be discounted by some arbitrary percentage. (8:00) The joint category of Engagement and Wedding Ring may mislead someone who is unfamiliar with rings, like user 3, to consider both categories to be the same. When presented with shopping by style or shape, user 3 realized that he was not familiar with any of these two categories. He wanted to see all engagement rings but clicked in one of the shop all link under the column titled wedding rings. Many of the rings had diamonds but they were wedding rings, not engagement rings. User 3 selected one of these rings thinking he had chosen an engagement ring. (16:10) User 3 found some buttons like edit or remove item were small and slightly difficult to find. (17:30) When in the clearance category, User 3 expected a filter for the category of wedding ring or wedding band, but none was present. User ended leaving the clearance for this reason to the regular priced items, where there was a filter for wedding bands. (19:00) When selecting for black bands under a certain price point, the user had to select the color first and then the price. Selecting the price first, eliminated the color filtering option. The user also chose a black ring that was below $500 from shop all filters. When using the filters with black and under $500, there were no options given. All the rings were not labeled correctly if the filtering system cannot sort all of them correctly.

Conclusion:
If the User 2 knows his ring size, he would prefer to shop online in order to access the full range of available products.