Sprint 06 Christmas tree ePermit research results January 3, 2018

Hypotheses tested

Do people know they are buying a Christmas tree permit from the 'Find a forest' page? (SEE BELOW)
Do people find the maps to be helpful when finding a forest? (SEE BELOW)
Do people think the rules should be on the buy permit page? YES!
Do people understand why an email address is required on the purchase permit form? (SEE BELOW)
If people cancelled their transactions, where would they expect to be redirected? (SEE BELOW)
Do people prefer the scrolling single page or multiple page application design? (SEE BELOW)
What email applications do most people use? (SEE BELOW)
Since this application isn't finished yet, is there anything you would like to see in the final version? (SEE BELOW)

Participants

Five people were familiar with the Christmas tree permit application and were recruited from friends and family of the project.
All five people have never participated in any of the previous usability tests.

Do people know they are buying a Christmas tree permit from the 'find a forest' page?

Well, not really. When people who had never visited the website before and were unfamiliar with the project were asked WHAT the purpose of the find a forest page was, they had no problems with associating it with locating a forest. What most of them could not answer was WHY they were using this page to look for a forest. Only one person identified the Christmas tree permit link located in the breadcrumbs and assumed the overall website's purpose. The other four people failed to associate the find a forest page with viewing Christmas tree permit information for a forest.

"The only thing there is the breadcrumb...and if overlooked, I might not know it was finding a forest for Christmas tree permits. I wouldn't know why I am finding a forest at all [laughing]"
"If that's what it's for....the Christmas tree permit section should be in much bigger print."
"I would say no. It does not lead me to believe that I am here to purchase a Christmas tree permit."
"Ahhh……no."

Do people find the maps to be helpful when finding a forest?

Well, not really. One person found the maps to be useful as navigation and quickly identified them as links to specific forests. The other four people didn't find much value from them and missed associating them with hyperlinks. Three people felt the maps were too busy and bulky on the page. They suggested presenting the maps in a uniformed pattern and visually define them as hyperlinks.

One person suggested "If these are links, you might want to have them say 'Click here for xxx' to show they are links".

Two people wanted a list of National Forests, divided by state, so they could browse available forest options by state. Currently National Forests can be searched by entering a state, but people are not offered the option of viewing all forests located within each state.

"I would assume that they [the map images] are going to show me the areas I can go to find Christmas trees in this forest?"
"They're to help me navigate and find applicable forests from which I can get a Christmas tree permit so I can then purchase for removal."
"You see the map, but there is not a whole lot of value there."
"I don't know if it's actually useful that you see them, because you can't really tell the detail with the images at the size they are ..some of them are bigger ..but it's still hard to find anything."
"I would expect to see a map of all 50 states and then drill down into the state to find all the forests. I don't know any of the national forests around me, but I do know the state where I live."

Do people think the rules should be on the buy permit page?

Yes! Yes they do. All five people thought the rules were should be located on the buy permit page. Three people said they would print them if the option was present. One person suggested the rules should be offered as a downloadable file, so that people could save to their mobile devices. This would allow people to view them without the need of cell service when visiting the forest.

Three people noticed the word "Rules" in multiple places. This generated some confusion about whether it was the same content and some frustration at the continuous repetition of Rules content.

"Oh..here we go with the rules again..[laughing]"
"I thought the rules were on the other page?"
"Yeah, it's to acknowledge the rules. That's pretty standard." [referring to the placement of the rules on the buy permit page and use of the checkbox]
"I don't think having the rules on another page would make me read them again, I think having them here is fine. It's kind of like the terms and conditions."

Do people understand why an email address is required on the purchase permit form?

Well, sort of. Most people overlook the content that explains why an email address is needed when purchasing their permits. Two people understood a copy of their permit would be emailed to them at the address they provided.

"Yep. It's right there. I would get my permit by email."
"Yes. Now that you asked and I read the text here again [returning to the email input on the form], but I overlooked it completely."
"Yes. I don't know how it could be any more clear than that. However, could that be easily overlooked? Possibly. You might want to have some bold text or an outline to call it out if it's a concern."

If people cancelled their transactions, where would they expect to be redirected?

Three people expected to be redirected to the forest's information page after they cancelled their transaction. They thought this redirect would allow them to continue reviewing forest-specific information. Two people expected to return to the find a forest page, which would allow them to select a different forest to purchase a permit.

"Back to the buy permit page."
"Preferably back to where I selected a forest."
"I would be redirected back to the front forest pages [referring to the find a forest page]. Because you have decided to change your mind at that point."

Do people prefer the scrolling single page or multiple page application design?

Scrolling! Definitely the scrolling single page design. Most people mentioned they would view the website on a mobile device and preferred the single page design as a result. One person commented "I like it easy on my phone...so the single scrolling page works." Most people also recounted experiences of long page load times when navigating websites with multiple pages and getting lost in content when browsing from page to page.

"Absolutely a single page. No one likes to wait for another page to load....ever. It's ridiculous."
"Actually, I do prefer this kind. [referring to the single scrolling page design]..then you don't have any load times...some of them you start clicking through pages and you get into old wait mode…."
"Ummm...thats's a good question, because sometimes it's annoying to go from page to page versus scrolling one long page. You tend to get lost when you from page to page."

Since this application isn't finished yet, is there anything you would like to see in the final version?

All people had definite ideas on improvements they'd like to see, ranging from better graphics to additional content. Two people mentioned entering their zip code into the Search box on the find a forest page, so they could locate the closest national forest.

"How about some pictures of some ….uhh…Christmas trees [laughing]?"
"What you have here is pretty good...but I guess a image of the full size tree wouldn't hurt. [while reviewing the 'How to choose your tree' section]"
"Being able to print out the instructions [aka descriptions] and photos of these trees...images of the entire tree and just it's branches." [When reviewing the 'How to choose your tree' section]

What email applications do most people use?

Gmail. Gmail. Gmail. All five people use Gmail as their primary email client and receive HTML emails frequently.

"Gmail..all online on my phone."
"Strictly web based…mostly on my phone"
"I use Gmail...online based email. My wife uses a Gmail application on her Macbook."

Issues on the site in general

Four notable issues appeared during usability testing and should be addressed.

Permit definition
Pre-permit purchase tree selection
Choose your tree section title
Permit payment options

First, the application currently lacks content defining what exactly the Christmas tree permit is and what it provides to the purchaser.

"There's no definition of what the permit is...does that mean I get to take care of one [referring to a tree]...like adopting a highway? Does the permit mean I get to chop down one and take it home? Does it mean I get to choose my tree first? I just don't know."

"I would want to know what I was purchasing....If there is a limitation of what kind of tree I can cut down with that permit or what I purchased that permit would tell me what that was. If that's a limitation...I don't know. If there is, then I would want to know that I can cut down this type of tree and this type only."

Second, two people were confused on which tree they had purchased a permit for, after they had completed the purchase permit process. They believed they had missed or somehow overlooked the option of specifying the type of tree they were going to cut down within the forest. This is most likely because of the lack of content explaining the permit will allow any of the non-prohibited trees to be cut within the forest and because of the section that outlines the various tree species available for cutting.

Third, the title of the "How to choose your tree" menu item and section confused some people. They expected to have information on how to choose the right tree that meets their needs but felt the contents were more focused on how to identify your tree.

"I think you could change the label to 'How to identify your tree' and it would make a little more sense. I was looking for information on how tall of a tree might fit in my home."

Lastly, all people believed they would have multiple payment options when buying their permit.

"Do you get to pay with lots of different things when you go to the checkout? Usually if I am at a website that I am not that familiar with, I use PayPal. I stopped giving out my credit card info a long time ago. [when arriving at the buy permit page]"

"Most websites offer PayPal as an alternative."

Currently, there is no content indicating that the only payment accepted is credit cards.

What problems were most severe

Missing content

Most people were unaware that the permit was only valid if printed. They all mentioned downloading the permit to their phones for use during their trip to the National Forest.

Better defined entry point into the Christmas Tree Module

The entry point into the module, which is currently the find a forest page, needs content that makes clear the module is for buying Christmas tree permits.