Usability Study

 

Yelp Usability Study Report

 

Project Overview

A usability study was conducted on the Yelp app, in order to determine favorable findings, discover functionality issues, and provide recommendations for improvements.  The full report can be located by selecting the link on this page. Two Android users and two iPhone users were recruited for testing.  The users that agreed to participate in the study signed an audio consent form prior to testing.  In addition, prior to testing, each participant took a pre-test questionnaire to better understand each participant.  Each participant was given three task scenarios and a total of 10 tasks to complete.  After all tasks were completed, a post-test questionnaire was completed.  

The following favorable findings were discovered:

  • The participants found the navigation clear and easy 
  • The participants liked the number of filters available in the app.  This feature significantly helped searches
  • The layout and design of the app was both aesthetically and functionally pleasing
  • The search bar was available in multiple places on the app, making searches easy and convenient

The following problem areas were discovered:  

  • When looking for reviews, participants had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see.  They could not click on the star ratings to go to reviews.
  • In the Support section, when manually typing the question in the search field, the results did not answer the question
  • The Support section of the Yelp app was difficult to locate

The following is a list of recommendations for improvement: 

  • Have reviews more accessible to users
  • Improve functionality of the search field in the Support section 
  • Increase the findability of the Support feature on the app

Skills Gained

The skills gained from this project include analysis, observation, and reporting. The ability to interpret data, develop a strategy with recommendations for improvement for products and services, and the ability to create reports and graphics which visualize the findings of the data were obtained from the project.  These skills will be used to prepare products and services for release, as well as locate issues on a current version in order to make improvements for the next release.