About the Project
Overview: The Cooper Union Library site is a rich resource available to students as well as faculty, alumni and the public. It is part of an esteemed university consortium with nearby New York University and the New School which offers its collective group of students intercampus borrowing privileges.
My team was engaged by Cooper Union Library to perform analysis on how well their new site was performing in targeting users and generating traffic. Through thoughtful analysis we were able to effectively communicate informative insights and actionable recommendations to further enhance their users experience through the website (https://library.cooper.edu/home). Addition we presented opportunities on how to increase the effectiveness of their Twitter account (@Cooper_Library) in promoting and generating traffic to their website.
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Discipline
User Experience (UX), Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Team
- Marta Miklaszewicz
- Wenjun (Juno) Zhou
- Yiqiao (Karen) Li
- Armon Burton
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Duration of Study: Approximately 4 weeks
Discipline: Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Tools: Tobii Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Sketch
Team
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Duration of study: Approximately 5 weeks
Discipline: Web Analytics, SEO
Team: Alex Jackson, Char Johnson, and Armon Burton
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Discipline
User Experience (UX), Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Team
- Marta Miklaszewicz
- Wenjun (Juno) Zhou
- Yiqiao (Karen) Li
- Armon Burton
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Duration of Study: Approximately 4 weeks
Discipline: Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Tools: Tobii Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Sketch
Team
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Tools: Ubersuggest, Woorank, Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Sheets, Google Data Studios, and Tableau
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Perform SEO analysis on Website
- Consolidate findings and recommendations
- Craft a presentation deck and evaluation report
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A slide deck which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, and recommendations proposals.
- Evaluation Report - A detailed report with in depth breakdown of study goals, approach, findings and recommendations proposals.
- Interactive Dashboard - A customized interactive analysis dashboard populated with data from the Cooper Union Library Twitter Account.
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Discipline
User Experience (UX), Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Team
- Marta Miklaszewicz
- Wenjun (Juno) Zhou
- Yiqiao (Karen) Li
- Armon Burton
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Overview: The Pratt Institute Library website supports graduate students, undergraduate students, and scholars in their research and learning endeavors. The library undoubtedly is a vital resource for the varying needs of Pratt's student and faculty body.
The purpose of this usability test is to evaluate the effectiveness of the current map functionality in helping Pratt students to find items in the schools Brooklyn and Manhattan Libraries. Through evalutative user research we hoped to answer the following questions:
- How users understand and interact with the map?
- How users understand the role of Reference Desk?
- Identify what can be improved and provide actionable recommendations
Duration of Study: Approximately 4 weeks
Discipline: Prototyping, Usability Testing, Eye Tracking
Tools: Tobii Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Sketch
Team
My Role
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Plan and conduct usability testing on 2 target users
- Analyze usability test results to uncover problems/issues
- Consolidating recommendations to tackle the usability problems/issues
- Craft a presentation deck, problem list, and highlights reel video
- Present findings and recommendations to the client/stakeholders
Deliverables
The following final deliverables were developed and provided to the client at the end of the study.
- Presentation Deck - A report in slide deck form which summarizes the study goals, approach, findings, detailed feedback and recommendations.
- Problem List - A document outlining each usability problem with a short text and assigned severity (Nielsen Norman Group’s Severity Ratings for Usability Problems)
- Highlights Reel Video - A video reel containing our findings with supporting video recordings of users during usability test.
Project Timeline
The entire study took approximately 5 weeks to complete; from the time we met with Cooper Union Library to the day we presented the outcomes of our analysis. The below diagram outlines the steps and outcomes of each step during the 5 weeks:
Our Process
Earlier this year (2020), the Cooper Union Library rolled out a redesign of their library website that improved upon the user experience of the users. My team was engaged by Cooper Union to perform analysis on how the new site was performing and relay any insights or findings they could use to further enhance their users experience. In addition to analyzing their website, they also wanted us to take a look at their Twitter account which they use to promote and highlight news, events, and information related to the library.
Period Analyzed: Cooper Union’s Library Website (Nov. 18th - Dec 9th 2020) & Twitter (09/30/19 - 10/31/20)
Goals of Analysis: Present actionable recommendations to help improve the quality and quantity of traffic to CU Library website from search engines and their Twitter account.
Our data analysis was conducted into 2 key areas of focus…
To capture and collect data during this study we used an eye tracker tool called Tobii Pro Lab which accurately captures and tracks users' eye movement. With this tool we were able to observe and understand where and how users are looking.
As with any test/study, prior to testing with actual users it is important to run a pilot test on all the tasks to ensure things run accordingly. This test was no different. The intial pilot test proved valuable in tweaking the test, procedures, and tasks.
One thing we found to be helpful during the test sessions, is asking the user to 'think aloud' as they worked through the various task during the test. Encouraging users to verbalize what they were thinking is a great way to capture what they are thinking/feeling and helps to add context to they what/why of what they do. Overall, this approach provided us with richer qualitative insights backed up with real time user reactions.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of Website
- Site Indexing
- HTML Title Tags
- Site Speed Overview
- 404 Error Page
Cooper Union Twitter Analytics
- 2019 vs 2020 (8 months)
- Media Views and Replies
- Engagements
- Likes, Retweets and Impressions
- Links and Hashtags
SEO Methodology and Tools
The importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is extremely important to the success of a company, school, or organization’s website. A well optimized website can help to achieve higher rankings in a search engines’ organic results and this in turn will increase incoming traffic to the site.
To capture and collect data during this study we used an eye tracker tool called Tobii Pro Lab which accurately captures and tracks users' eye movement. With this tool we were able to observe and understand where and how users are looking.
As with any test/study, prior to testing with actual users it is important to run a pilot test on all the tasks to ensure things run accordingly. This test was no different. The intial pilot test proved valuable in tweaking the test, procedures, and tasks.
One thing we found to be helpful during the test sessions, is asking the user to 'think aloud' as they worked through the various task during the test. Encouraging users to verbalize what they were thinking is a great way to capture what they are thinking/feeling and helps to add context to they what/why of what they do. Overall, this approach provided us with richer qualitative insights backed up with real time user reactions.
We utilized several tools to analyze the technical and on-page SEO for Cooper Union Library’s website:
To capture and collect data during this study we used an eye tracker tool called Tobii Pro Lab which accurately captures and tracks users' eye movement. With this tool we were able to observe and understand where and how users are looking.
As with any test/study, prior to testing with actual users it is important to run a pilot test on all the tasks to ensure things run accordingly. This test was no different. The intial pilot test proved valuable in tweaking the test, procedures, and tasks.
One thing we found to be helpful during the test sessions, is asking the user to 'think aloud' as they worked through the various task during the test. Encouraging users to verbalize what they were thinking is a great way to capture what they are thinking/feeling and helps to add context to they what/why of what they do. Overall, this approach provided us with richer qualitative insights backed up with real time user reactions.
Given the complexity of SEO, we decided to narrow our focus on the following two areas:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the process of ensuring that a website meets the technical requirements of search engines in order to improve organic rankings. For this we analyzed:
- Site Indexing
- XML Sitemap & Robots
- Internal and External Links
- Site Speed Performance
- 404 Error Pages.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing web pages to earn organic traffic and improve a website’s rankings in the SERP (search engine results pages). For this we analyzed:
- Heading HTML Tags
- HTML Title Tags
- Meta Descriptions
- URL Readability.
Twitter Methodology and Tools
For this study we were supplied with 8 months worth of data from the Cooper Union Library’s Twitter account (@Cooper_Library). Having this set of data we would be able to capture a full story of the Library’s Twitter activity and usage. We measured and synthesized the following metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators):
- 2019 vs 2020 performance comparison
- Engagement (Media Views, Likes, Replies, and Retweets)
- Tweet and Hashtag Performance
- Impressions
To ensure we adequately and accurately analyzed this amount of data we used major data analysis and visualization tools and all together these tools were essential in breaking down each and analyzing the KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) for this study:
To capture and collect data during this study we used an eye tracker tool called Tobii Pro Lab which accurately captures and tracks users' eye movement. With this tool we were able to observe and understand where and how users are looking.
As with any test/study, prior to testing with actual users it is important to run a pilot test on all the tasks to ensure things run accordingly. This test was no different. The intial pilot test proved valuable in tweaking the test, procedures, and tasks.
One thing we found to be helpful during the test sessions, is asking the user to 'think aloud' as they worked through the various task during the test. Encouraging users to verbalize what they were thinking is a great way to capture what they are thinking/feeling and helps to add context to they what/why of what they do. Overall, this approach provided us with richer qualitative insights backed up with real time user reactions.
SEO Findings and Recommendations
The website for Cooper Union’s Library features at the top of relevant searches including google callouts for the facilities. The site benefits from being recently rebuilt as it brings new content and traffic to the website. The site also benefits from falling under Cooper Union’s larger web network. This creates several related sites that link to the library homepage boosting its status online.
SEO helps boost the profile and navigability of websites in search engines - one of the largest sources of internet traffic. Cooper Union’s Library has many well performing elements for SEO. This section focuses on a few technical recommendations to maintain the websites position.
Allow for Comprehensive Indexing
Finding 1: Users had difficulties with wayfinding while using the maps.
Finding: Indexing refers to how well a search engine is able to crawl a website and map its content to match relevant searches. This is the first step making the site findable. A site specific search revealed that only the homepage was available through google. Most of the site was not being indexed. While this is not large enough of an issue to affect the overall SEO standing, this could be more impactful over time as the website ages. Furthermore, it blocks current users to search directly for the content on the website past the homepage. This is illustrated below against a search for the Pratt Institute Library.
Recommendation: To improve SEO longevity and overall site navigability it is recommended to allow site indexing to occur. Since search engines rely on indexing, all other recommendations in this section are secondary to this finding.
The homepage for Cooper Union Library's website contains instructions for search engines not to crawl or index the pages. This was likely left over from the site’s construction as to not share incomplete content or unsecured databases. Once the instructions are removed there are several components that can aid in site indexing for easier searches in the future.
Woorank describes the Robots.txt file is a simple text file that is placed on your site’s root directory. This file uses a set of instructions to tell search engine robots which pages on your website they can and cannot crawl. The robots.txt file is usually the first place crawlers visit when accessing a website. Even if you want all robots to have access to every page on your website, it's still good practice to add a robots.txt file that allows this. Robots.txt files should also include the location of another very important file: the XML Sitemap. An XML sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of all pages on a website that you want robots to discover and access.
The Cooper Union Library website already has an XML Sitemap and a robots file to guide indexing on the website. After the indexing restriction is removed from the main pages code, these files can be valuable tools with controlling what is and is not shown in larger search engines.
Help users find their way out of dead ends
Finding: Upon testing, we noticed you do indeed have a 404 page prompting the user they’ve come to a page that doesn’t exist. The links of the homepage and search near the middle of the page are great ways to redirect the user back to the Library’s main page. However, a user maybe confused as to where they are as there isn’t any branding of the Cooper Union or the library.
Recommendation: A creative 404 error page to raise your conversion rate and increase traffic, turning passers-by into leads. Similar to the main page of the Cooper Union, our recommendations is to enhance the library's 404 page by including some additional elements to help user find what they looking for:
- Link to the homepage (already included)
- Links to the most visited pages of the site
- An HTML sitemap
- A search box (already included)
Providing context helps with click-throughs and wayfinding
Finding 4: Users were confused about the meaning and labeling of some of the icons.
Finding: Per WordStream, a meta description (sometimes called a meta description attribute or tag) is an HTML element that describes and summarizes the contents of your page for the benefit of users and search engines. While meta data isn't as important for SEO rankings as it used to be, the meta description still plays a significant role in on-page SEO. Currently the Cooper Union Library homepage does not provide a text meta description leading to search engines results displaying with only the title tags.
Recommendation: Adding a compelling meta description could raise the click-through rate of your organic search results which would be a quick way to boost on-page SEO performance while providing wayfinding for users searching for library features.
Twitter Analysis Findings and Recommendations
For the analysis of the Cooper Union's Library Twitter Account (@Cooper_Library) we utilized two major data analysis tools, Google Data Studio and Tableau, to ensure we captured the full story of their activity during 2019 and 2020. We also took advantage of Google Sheets and the Numbers app as they are both powerful tools for cleaning and organizing data. This section covers the findings and recommendations based on our analysis in the following areas:
- 2019 vs 2020 (8 months)
- Impressions + Engagement (Media Views + Replies)
- Increase Engagement
- Increase Impressions
The Cooper Union Library's Twitter Activity Overview in 2019 vs 2020
Between 2019 and 2020, we saw major improvements to the effectiveness and performance of their Twitter account. Increase usage and quality tweets lead to overall improvements across the board with it's followers. Below is a high level overview of the areas they improved the most:
The # of Tweets increased by 195%
Media Engagement & Impressions increased by 390%
Media Engagement & Impressions increased by 390%
The # of Likes increased by 302%
The # of Retweets increased by 439%
Timely Tweets reap the benefits
Finding 4: Users were confused about the meaning and labeling of some of the icons.
Finding: Optimizing tweets will rely heavily on when we post them. We can see that midday is prime time for posting as both media views and replies are up.
Recommendation: Being intentional about when we post is just as important as what we post. If there are two or more people handling the twitter page it may be useful to stick to a schedule.
Finding: Our avg engagement rate is highest on Sunday but has the fewest tweets. We see a balance on Wednesdays with the number of posts coinciding with the percentage of engagement but again Tuesday has one of the highest amounts of tweets with the least engagement.
Recommendation: As we can see more posts doesn’t mean higher engagement. Scheduling posts for Sunday midday to late afternoon would be highly recommended. Also utilize hashtags and urls on the days that aren’t hitting the mark could be impactful.These tools could also be used to drive traffic back the Cooper Union Library’s website.
Finding: Our avg engagement rate is highest on Sunday but has the fewest tweets. We see a balance on Wednesdays with the number of posts coinciding with the percentage of engagement but again Tuesday has one of the highest amounts of tweets with the least engagement.
Recommendation: As we can see more posts doesn’t mean higher engagement. Scheduling posts for Sunday midday to late afternoon would be highly recommended. Also utilize hashtags and urls on the days that aren’t hitting the mark could be impactful.These tools could also be used to drive traffic back the Cooper Union Library’s website.
Hashtags and URL Links Finding and Recommendation
Finding: Posts with more context, person, place and thing faired better than posts with a brief framework and image.
Recommendation: Utilize hashtags and links when you can as it makes the post more engaging. A “learn more here” link back to the library’s website would also increase traffic to the site. Continue posting with photographic montages as they really increase both engagement and impressions
Outcomes
Happy clients!
The digital analysis of Cooper Union Library's website was a great success as our client was extremely happy with the findings and recommendations we provided. They were specifically excited to have supporting analytical data and analysis and insights to support our recommendations. They appreciated the high level overview/summary provided in the powerpoint but liked that we deep dived into greater detailed in a evaluation report. The were excited to see actionable solutions and directions they could take on both their website and Twitter account.
The usability study of the Pratt Institute library was a great success and our client was extremely happy with the findings and recommendations we provided. He was specifically excited to have supporting data such as video recordings, heat maps, gaze maps to back up and support our recommendations. It was especially satisfying from our client that all of our recommendations were actionable and will can implemented shortly our presentation.
Through this study and course, I've learned that the more you can tell a complete story and by having videos of the user and seeing them work through the tasks and running into issues is extremely impactful.
What I'm proud of...
We were able to come up with recommendations that both satisfied our clients and met our users needs.
We managed to coordinate and work through the process with actual users and sort through fairly complex data on two platforms (website and Twitter) within a really tight timetable.
What I wish was better...
During the data collection phase, we ran into some unexpected issues with the type (and quality) of data we were recieving from our client. We assumed they were still utilizing Google Analytics to tracks and monitor traffic on their new website (similar to their old website)...however we were suprised to find they were no longer using Google Analytics and instead using another 3rd party application which they didn't have full access to. Because of this, we weren't able to pull a full set of good data perform an indepth analysis. Nonetheless my team adjusted and refocused our efforts and analysis on how to optimizing it for search engines instead which didn't require statistical website data and instead used tools/apps (Ubersuggest, Woorank, PageSpeed) to perform the analysis.
We were on a tight timeline and I'm happy with the analyis my team and I did, but I still wish we could have had more time to go further. There were more trends within Twitter which we could've analyzed as well as several other types of SEO we could've explored such as Off-Site SEO (Backlinks, Branded Searches) and Keyword Strategy.