FINISHED Usability Testing of the platformOS Onboarding Process

Date

September 2019

Goal

This was a remote usability test session for the platformOS onboarding process. The onboarding section connects the Documentation site and the Partner Portal where users can select one of three journeys based on their programming experience.
The goal was to learn how users with different technical knowledge levels reacted to the three journeys. Are they able to identify what’s in those journeys and if yes, how do they follow them?

Method

During the usability study, we asked users to do several short tasks using a prototype of the planned features built with Figma. We used both moderated and unmoderated remote usability testing techniques, and conducted additional tests with platformOS team members to verify the represented business, technical, and content goals.
We conducted six moderated remote usability tests in two rounds and set up three unmoderated remote usability tests. These tests were separated into three rounds and after each round we updated the prototype with the test results.

Results

Based on the test results we decided that instead of showing three options to the users we show the two quickest options: 1-click install and Build a basic ‘Hello world’ app. This helps them to decide faster which is a better fit to try and at the same time they can try out platformOS basics quickly. Then, if they want to, they can check out our third journey, the Get Started guide that explains how to build a to do app.

We redesigned the Instance welcome screen to help users identify the next steps. Based on the results, we had to optimize the UI copy to make it comfortable for non-technical users as well.

As the flow connects two sites and shows the product, the main goal was to show that the user is on the right track and still in the selected journey. We achieved this by showing the steps of the journey upfront, using consistent wording and allowing the user to step back and forth.