THE NEW SCHOOL MOBILE APP
AT A GLANCE
BUSINESS PROBLEM:
The New School's IT Department manages a mobile app for the school, serving 10,000 students. To help make better sense of their analytics showing some drop off in usage after initial download, they sought someone who could help them understand the customer experience.
MY ROLE & METHODS USED:
I was connected to the IT staff by our Senior Director of Communications as a consultant to elaborate on student experience. In need of feedback in a week's time, I volunteered to collect some rapid data from customers.
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I drafted a script for moderated in person usability testing asking customers if they had the app, why they downloaded the app, and asking them to talk us through using the feature they most preferred.
- I trained two assistants to help with the usability interviews, providing them with a script and form to fill out.
- Together we collected data from 20 customers
SELECTED OUTCOMES:
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I analyzed the collected data and put together a presentation for the Vice President of IT and the designer and technical experts working on the app that was well received.
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Analysis of trends indicated that most students obtained the app for finding classes in the beginning of the semester, but stopped using it after they memorized their class routes.
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I also shared the feedback that most students found the home screen to be overwhelming and cluttered.
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We discussed piloting push notifications with a select group of students, and I plan to be involved in assessing this feature in Fall 2020.
challenge
The New School IT department was seeking input on improving the official New School app, available to 10,000 students. I was asked to be part of the committee to better understand the student experience in relation to the app.
process
I asked the team to share more about what they wanted to know and what they knew already. They shared that there was an activity spike at the beginning of the semester, that would taper off sharply soon after. They also noted that they wanted a general sense of students' experience with the app. I volunteered to conduct research focusing on these concerns.
With a very short period of time to gather information, I initiated a plan of user research involving direct interviews and usability testing with a sample of students.
After developing a script and reporting form, I trained two assistants to help carry out in-person interviews / usability tests with students over the course of two days.
Together, we interviewed 20 customers, asking about their experiences with the app, including attitudinal and behavioral based questions. We also asked them to pull up the app, walk us through the feature they last used / would use and give us their thought process along the way.
OUTCOME
I collected the information we gained from interviews and compiled it into a report for our IT committee, consisting of an interaction designer, a technical expert, the Assistant Vice President for IT, the Senior Director of Communications for Student Success.
The results shed light on the main uses students had for the app, gave ideas on how to improve these uses, and confirmed aversion to the design of the app.
Currently, we are planning on piloting a more advanced notification structure with a subset of users and I will be closely involved in assessing student response to this feature.