UXR Case Study 3:
Improving dog-training website so users can easily & enjoyably find the training tips they seek
1) Ease dog-owners ability to find training-tips by learning what information users search for (e.g., specific behaviors or general approaches),
2) Simplify training tips so people can quickly start training their dogs.
3) Compare novice vs. experienced dog-trainers to learn whether their search behaviors differ.
Goals & Hurdles:
In the initial discovery phase, I discussed with various dog-owners ways in which dog-training site 2020Hound.site could be improved. A high priority request was for tips on training dogs to stop common behavioral problems like barking & excessive pulling on dog leash. New-puppy-owners with minimal dog-training were mostly interested in the basics-- "sit, stay, come-here." Those with some experience were more curious about learning concepts that might generalize to different behaviors. A common pain-point brought up by many dog-owners pertained to finding topics on a dog behavior that they were currently working on. For dog-owners with previous training experience, they were often interested in finding info on why they were running into trouble with certain training techniques, what learning principles could explain these challenges & help them teach their dogs new tricks.
Common themes that emerged centered around:
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New trainer vs. experienced trainer needs
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Improving the site's categories for better findability
Methods
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Observations & interviews regarding sought after training tips.
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Experiences represented in journey maps for novice vs. experienced dog-owners
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Card sort (to evaluate & redesign website for optimal categories & new info-architecture)
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Tree-testing (to evaluate category hierarchy & determine (general to specific) topic design to be used in new prototype.)
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Heuristic evaluation &
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User-testing (to evaluate findability of new information hierarchy in prototype web design)
Findings
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Interviews show that dog-owners new to dog-training search for specific dog behaviors or dog-commands (such as "sit," & "come-here"). And dog-owners with some familiarity with dog-training search for more general dog-training strategies.
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All users appreciated humor interjected into text & especially photos.
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Card-sort & tree-tests showed common approaches to organizing training tips into a hierarchical structure that should improve findability of specific dog-training tips. (A sample of the topic hierarchy is shown below.)
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Remote user-testing of prototype web-pages showed dog-owners with some familiarity with dog-training also search for more general categories.
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Post-test interviews showed this was because owners familiar with training are interested in understanding what underlies training specific skills so that these concepts can be generalized to training new skills.
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This interest in general learning concepts was most evident in experienced trainers who spent the most time reading information about learning principles behind dog- training.
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Topic hierarchy used in prototype design
Sample of general category & specific behavior :
Increasing frequency of good behaviors
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Come-here
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Stay
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Loose-leash
Stop bad-behaviors
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Stop leash-pulling
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Stop-barking
Getting dog’s attention
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Strategies (e.g., dog name + treat; abrupt sound)
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Applications: Strategy + targeted behavior (e.g., Sit, Loose-leash or any specific behavior above)
Understanding different training approaches
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Learning principles (e.g., Positive vs. Negative reinforcement)
Insights & Implementation
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Dog-owners with different training background seek out different dog-training information -- those new to dog-training search for specific training tips, whereas experienced dog-trainers seek out more general categories.
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Owners familiar with training are interested in understanding what underlies training specific skills so that these concepts can be generalized to training new skills.
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These insights were implemented in a prototype design where we continue to assess the validity of our findings. As findings are confirmed we are incorporating changes into the new dog-training web site.
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Finally, since all dog-owners gave feed back that humor made sites engaging & enjoyable, we are currently adding more humor to the new version of the dog-training web-site.