An interactive system is an application that allows different users to perform various functions with it. These systems include the E-commerce Websites, Games software, Electronic devices, video players, photo editors among others (Alassaf, 2011). The interactions of these applications is determined by various factors that determine its usability capabilities (Selvaraj, 2011). These factors include; the look and feel of the graphical interfaces, the consistency of information and design of the application, the ease of navigation across the applications, the clarity and visibility of the functions and contents of the applications and finally the ease of use.
This report therefore focuses on a human interaction usability test carried on a Bata E-commerce website. This website allows Bata Customers to view their products online, place an order and pay for their goods through online platforms. The report analyses this website through observation of how the participants perform their tasks as well as using questionnaires to capture the users view. It also provide a thorough evaluation of the findings and recommendations given by the participants of this research.
Bata Brand is a wholesale and retail multinational shoe and fashion manufacturer in the world. This company sells about 1 million shoes per day and it consists of different varieties of shoes and fashion accessories for various users ranging from kids, ladies and men. This company has many branches in Africa and outside Africa and its products are mainly made from leather hence attracting most customers. In order to increase their sales and foster marketing products, this company has developed an e-commerce website that serves all of its customers across globe where the company has set its root. The website contains all the company’s products collection divided into different categories (Danino, 2015). This website therefore allows the customers to view products from their respective country, add it to the cart, make an order and wait for it to be delivered. The following use case diagram shows various ways in which the customer interacts with the system while making an order of their choice.
Based on the above use case diagram, the customers interacts with Bata E-commerce website in various ways before one completes successfully making an order for the product of their choice. Therefore, for the purpose of this report usability test evaluation, all the functionalities of this e-commerce website will be looked at except the payment module. The test will look into how easy the application to use, consistency of the graphical user interface, visibility and clarity of information among others.
The Usability test evaluation methodology for this website was based on created scenarios to guide the participants in analysing the functionalities and usability features of this system. A total of 5 users with no experience with Bata e-commerce system were used to complete several usability tasks (Affairs, 2018). Each user was allocated 30 minutes each while the researcher observe how they were performing the assigned tasks (Molich, 2015). The tasks were mainly related to all the functionalities offered by the system to its customers which included: account creation, login, and product selection, all the way to creation of an order. A total of seven scenarios were created hence each user had to perform one task at a time. The following are the seven scenarios used to carry out the usability test.
A user was required to visit the homepage section of the Bata E-commerce website (https://www.bata.com/), select country of choice, click on Shop Online to navigate into the main e-commerce section where once can view various categories of the product available in the Bata E-commerce website (Main Homepage).
This scenario entailed navigating through the application’s top bar which included menus such as School, Safaris, Ladies, Men, Kids, PataPata, Sports, Brands, Blog, Giftcard and Design Apprentice. The aim of this scenario was to test the usability of the main navigation bar to transverse to different parts of the application.
Here the users were required to selects items from School and Safaris menu bar view their details and add a minimum of two items from each category to the shopping cart.
This scenario involved visiting a number of webpages at least six within the E-commerce application and looking at the consistency of the design as well as the clarity of the text used in those webpages. Here the user was required to note down the visited webpages and to state what those web pages entailed and whether the content was representing the relevant information as per the functions of this applications.
Under this method the user was required to go to Gift card section and create a gift card for a recipient of their choice by choosing the design of the gift card, providing the recipient information and paying for the gift card using credit card.
All the above activities were performed interchangeably by all the users and this provided a great experience and opportunity to get what the users take on the Bata E-commerce was. The scenarios focused on analysing the usability of the entire application, consistency of its graphical user interface, relevance of the content used in different webpages and ease of navigation across the different parts of the E-commerce application. The scenarios also provided a guideline and a step by step approach of how users were to interact with the application and this ensured that this ensured that it was easy to conduct the analysis more effectively.
Upon successful execution of the mentioned activities, the five users were required to fill a questionnaire with general usability questions related to the above scenarios given to them. The questionnaire was aimed at getting the general view of the users on this application in addition to what their experience was while navigating through the E-commerce website (Bias, 2009). Each user was also required to rate the specific tasks performed out of 5 points and say whether it was a success or fail.
This evaluation methods were preferred since they provided a direct interaction or touch of the users with the application and through observations and reading of gestures it was easy to deduce a genuine feeling of the users on this application (Bravo, 2017). Also with the questionnaires it would be easy to know what the users felt about the application something that could not be observed during the execution of the above scenarios. Hence the methods were regarded most effective and appropriate for this research.
Based on the above tasks performed, a number of key issues were observed and various results deduced from the questionnaires filled (Nielsen, 2013). All the selected users participated all the above scenarios (the tasks were conducted interchangeably until every participant had performed every task outlined in the methodology section above) in the whole process successfully and the following results were obtained from the entire process (Muniz, 2016).
This scenario was aimed at testing the ease of navigation form the Bata homepage where the user started by selecting their country of choice for shopping, then chose where they wanted to go whether shop online, stores or Bata Corporate (The selected destination was shop online where they could access Bata Products). During this process it was observed that majority of the users though did not find it hard to navigate through, they did not find it necessary to have such a long process in trying to get access to the Bata products. 3 out of 5 cited the process unnecessary and lengthy as most of the user always want to be taken directly to the Products section without being subjected to other processes such as this. The homepage is as shown below.
It was also noted that all the participants were not satisfied with the design of the Bata homepage and majority cited that the webpage is dull and has little information to communicate what Bata really entails and the following table shows their ratings on the design and the whole process at large.
|
Participants |
Design and contents (out of 5) |
Necessity of the Process (out of 5) |
Ease of navigation (out of 5) |
|
1 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
|
2 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
|
3 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
|
4 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
|
5 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
From the above table it can be seen that majority of the participants with an average of 2 out of 5 points were not contented with the way the homepage was designed and the contents it contained. It also evident that no one could give the necessity of the process a 5 out of 5 hence most of the participant felt that the process was long and added no value to the application. On ease of navigation all the participants found it easy as it was straight to the point.
The aim of this task was to test the ease of navigation using the main menu bar and to find out whether the content of the navigated webpages were relevant and also check on the consistency in design of the visited webpages (Sceviour, 2010). During this process all the participants were able to navigate to different webpages easily ranging from School, Safari, Ladies, Men, Kids, PataPata, Sports, Brands, Blogs, Gift Card and Designer Apprentice web pages. When asked about the design of the webpages they visited they cited that the design was good and was direct to the point as it contained the relevant information related to the navigation tab menu. The participants also in unanimity agreed that the webpages were consistent in both the look and feel and one could relate with them easily without encountering difficulties. Some of the webpages visited by the participants included.
From this tasks, the participants also noted that it was easy to keep track of which page one was as well as it was easy to navigate back to the previous web page. This was made possible by the fact the application showed the current webpage right below the main menu bar and also it had an icon that could take you back to the home page.
For this scenario, all the participants said it was a success and gave it an average of 5 out 5 points to express their satisfaction on how easy and appealing it was to perform the task.
This task was aimed at testing how the participants find it to select a given category of product, view the existing products and adding selected items to the shopping cart before placing an order. With this task 4 out 5 participants were able to successfully add four items to the shopping cart while one didn’t. Even though majority succeeded in performing this task, they all faced a common challenge in adding the size of the shoes before adding the items to the cart. It was observed that the participants forgot on selecting the size of their product and only did so after they were prompted after clicking Buy Now button.
Even though the challenge was encountered all the participants did not find it an issue and acknowledged it as part of the process in ordering for the right product. An example of the interface for adding the Item to the shopping cart is as shown below.
The purpose of this scenario was to test the clarity and relevance of the information represented in various web pages and analyse every detail and feature present. The participants chose random web pages and it was observed that it was so easy for them to move from one page to the other. Some of the web pages visited were.
The layout of all these webpages were satisfactory and the participants acknowledge that there were other features that made the application more usable in selecting the appropriate product from any category. Some of the features noted included:
Refine by color
This allowed the users to select a product depending on the colour of their choice. From the colour chart provided, the participants were able to select their colour and a collection of the product of the chosen colour would be displayed. This authored well with the participants as it made it easy to search for the right product.
The search field feature at the topmost part of the webpages also made it possible for the users to type and locate their product without having to navigate through to all products.
The participants therefore expressed their great satisfactory on how the web pages were segmented and the amount of functionalities provided to aid in selection of an item before placing an order. Therefore those task was rated successful and very important in achieving the objectives of this application.
This task required the participant to create a gift card to a friend or any recipient of their choice. All the participants performed this tasks and 3 out of 5 were able to create the gift cards successfully. /the other two could not complete the process by fears of using their credit cards but were also able to navigate through the process. The gift card interface was as shown below.
From the above scenarios, it was possible for almost all the applicants to perform all the tasks using the Bata E-commerce system. Based on the observations and results obtained from the questionnaires, 80 percent of the participants which translates to 4 out of 5 could perform the task without supervision while the rest 30 percent which is just 1 participant needed a little help to perform the allocated tasks. This gave the Bata E-commerce application a great approval ratings of 4 out of 5 participants even though they all had an issue with the layout of the hompage and the process involved before accessing the E-commerce section where one could view the products. The overall usability test result is as shown in the graph below.
From the results obtained above, it is therefore appropriate to say that this application has a greater usability rate as it can be seen in the graph above. This section therfore looks at the overall human intercations usability factors results such as consistency, visibility or clarity, ease of use and functionalities obtained from the five questionnaires filled by the participants.
When asked of the overall design of the interfaces and the alignment of the web components for the Bata Ecommerce application, all the participants expressed their satisfaction by giving it an average of 4 points out of 5. The one point that expressed lack of satisfaction was based on the homepage and the subsequent page where one had to select where to location such as Shop Online, Store and Bata Corporate. All the participants recommended that this section be reviewed and the information provided here should give an overview of what Bata entails in order to attract more curiosity on wanting to find out more than rather providing a dull page with very minmal content. The paticipants proposed the use of features such as a slider that contains images scrolling horizontally showing a summary of products and services offered by Bata Organization.
The contents of the webpages were found to be relevant and easy to understand. The alignment of the features such as sort by, refine by size, search among others were more visible and one could locate them easily. From the findings obtained alomost all the participants successfully understood the information needed while executing the tasks and only one person needed little help. Therefore, from the results obtained from the questionnaires, all the participants indicated that they could understand the content of the application as well as locate relevant feautures without experienceing great challenges.
From the results all the participants were able to succesffully navigate through the different parts of the webpages and execute the functions effectively. It was therfore recorded that the applications were simple to use and interact with as there were very minimal challenges encountered during the process. Otherwise, the participants proposed an intergration of a video or a help section to provide guidelines to those users that are stuck when using the application as it was the case with one participant who needed help in performing some tasks.
80 Percent of the participants recorded that this applications functionalities were easy to execute while 30 percent felt that they needed help to execute some of the functions. The various features helped most of the applicants know what to do at what place when interacting with the application. It was evident that majority of the participants were able to select items, add them to the shopping cart and place an oredr by following a step by step approach displayed in the applications.
The following are some of the recommendations made dring the human interaction test for the Bata organization to implement in their application in order to make it more appealing and usable.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is therefore evident that a good and quality interactive system, is the one that is easy to use and navigate through while executing given functions. The application should be appealing to the user and should contain relevant information that dictates the main purpose of the application. Like witnessed in the Bata E-commerce application, a quality interactive system should provide assistive features like search engines, ways to filter or sort content and also features to help the user locate their current location as well as navigate to their previous webpages. The design shoulld be well organizaed such that it is easy to trace information or a functionaliy without straining. All these factors are put into consideration in order to enhance quality interactions of users with given interactive systems. An application that observe this usability factors is likely to attract more users hence improving the business operations of the given organiation such as Bata.
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