Chainmail UX Study

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Chainmail UX study

Chainmmail is an Email service client allowing users to send and receive emails. Growth has come to a halt for the company and they have come to the conclusion that part of the problem is the User Experience. So they got help from a UX Designer to find the exact problem as to why user adoption of the product has stopped so they can solve it and get on track to becoming the next leading Email Service provider.

Project summary

The purpose of this document is to increase Chainmail’s user base shortening the amount of time it takes for users to sign up and to also improve upon the existing interface to make for a more pleasant user experience. We will do this by analyzing collected data to find a design solution.

Background of UX study

Chainmail has been operational for a year now, but does not see any growth in its user base and the CEO suspects it’s because of the User Experience. Users need to fall in love with Chainmail and want to use it. I am here to help them have faster sign ups and have a higher conversion rate.

Problem set

Users want an Email service that is secure and provides protection of their personal information. They want it to be fast, easy to use and hassle free. They do not want to be stuck in processes that take too long or require that they get additional assistance. They want to feel their way around the interface and intuitively know what to do. Strenuous tasks or processes should be omitted from the UX/UI.

Stakeholders involved

Methodology

Company information:

I gathered information about the company so that I could familiarize myself before meeting the people or getting into the project. I read up on their history, target market, current client base and then i spoke to some of the employees to give me key insight.

Stakeholders

I individually met up with each one of the stakeholders and I also familiarized myself with each person’s role and how they fit into the puzzle.

Personas

I found two willing participants (Young and old) who fit the companies User base, but used their emails for different reasons.

Research

I compiled research on the company’s current UX using methods such as HEM and my User questionnaire.

Prototypes

From the research I gathered I created prototypes of the interface with a new User Experience.

Research process

Hem:

HEM METHODOLOGY

I used this method to analyze the technical aspects of the interface and what would and wouldn’t work. The Outcome is Users only want suspicious emails flagged, users do not want to be sent OTPs every time they send an attachment, they do not want to be logged on when the interface is left idle and they want their emails to reach recipients almost immediately.

Questionnaire:

I used this method to analyze the UX/UI of leading email service providers (Yahoo and Gmail). I found aspects from both interfaces that work really well and used those to inform my own Design process.

For instance my users liked how Yahoo's sign up form is in the middle of the page and in the form of a mobile screen. And from the Goggle interface they liked how Gmail had information in the form of illustrations of other services they offer along with the email address you can. They felt that this got them even more excited to use the product.

User Tests

From the System Usability Scale I found out that the leading competitors in the email space have systems that are not complex, all of the functions within the systems are well integrated, users felt very confident using the system and they felt that they were very intuitive so they did not have to spend a lot of time navigating through the UI to fulfill tasks. This was very insightful for me because this is what i wanted to achieve with my design.

Measurable Requirements

Here i found out that Gmail and Yahoo have close to perfect systems. No bad features were recalled, few to no errors were encountered and completing tasks is quick and easy.

Personas identified

Since my users Vary in age and occupation I picked Andrew a working professional and Thato a young high school student to be in my user tests.

Hypotheses

The users are 18 – 65 year old males and females. We assume they have moderate to little Knowledge on emails. Some use it for their business needs to correspond with clients and some use it for personal reasons to keep in touch with people no matter where they are. They use Chaimmail to store/share confidential information and documents and that is why security is paramount.

Findings

- Users want a secure email service.

- Users want to be able to sign up and sign in quickly

- The interface should be intuitive and easy to understand users should require little to no help at all

- All unnecessary processes in the sending and receiving of emails should be omitted.

- Although Chainmail is completely different Design Choices should be somewhat informed by current competition e.g. Yahoo and Gmail

- It needs to work across all platforms and devicesVarious functions in the system need to be well integrated.

Recommendations

Visual Designer:

The font family that we will be using is Segoe. We will be using one font in different weights to create a unified design.

The colors that we will use are orange, white and yellow. I chose orange because it evokes feelings of optimism and energy. I chose yellow because it evokes feelings of happiness, optimism and loyalty. I also chose white in order to balance the colors and white is also associated with safety.

Technical Developer:

All the buttons need to work as intended and should lead the user to the intended destination as quick as possible. Security should be a high priority but so should the speed at which user are authenticated. Chainmail should work seamlessly across platforms and devices.

Wireframes

The most important page will be the sign up page as Chainmail wants to increase the amount of users they have through a quicker process. I paid particular attention to this page incorporating elements from two of the leading Email Service Businesses that my users liked the most during the testing phase. I incorporated from my competitors which i found worked really well to create something new.