Phase One - Discovery

Scoping out the business

In engaging with our client we were given four key target audiences:

1. People suspected of having glaucoma

2. People recently diagnosed with glaucoma

3. People living with glaucoma for over 12 months, and

4. Family or caretakers of those with glaucoma

In our business analysis, we had discovered that that the website mainly catered to the first two groups of people as they are the ones who would need the most guidance in dealing with the disease.

This is also reflected in our website analysis where the information that is presented on the home page is about finding out what the disease is and how to get support from the organisation.

Talking to the people and getting them to test usability

Once we had a look through the site we made a list of questions to interview current users before conducting a usability test with the same users. We also ran a survey alongside these methodologies to discover what the website is doing well and what, if any, pain points were that we can take a look at.

Getting the client involved in discovery

We asked the client to take part in the affinity mapping process so that they can see our progress and also see what their user base is thinking and experiencing when interacting with the new site. Having this affinity map helped us find the common issues faced and to come up with strategies to address them.

Phase Two - Brainstorming solutions

A solution for everyone

We used a viability quadrant to organise all of our proposed solutions so that we can determine what would be the most beneficial solution that we can accomplish within the allotted time. These quick wins would then be presented to our client. Because the majority of the volunteers for the interview/usability testing and the survey were of varying degrees of the target audience, we had determined that having a holistic solution would address the issue of confidence for everyone.

Phase Three - Changing the copy, linking pages, and revamping the form

Working with what we have in front of us

Since the majority of participants didn’t find any major faults as a whole, we decided to add small, impactful changes to the online shop, donation page, and get support pages.

The online store

For the online store, we added a paragraph that added information on where there proceeds go. We also made suggestions to add a description on the correspondence cards and the eye drop applicator. Having more information allows users to know when they purchase something from the store, the proceeds fund Glaucoma Australia’s work.

Donation Page

We added a short sentence to the donation page that links to the ‘How You Can Help’ page. This link will direct people to a page with more specific examples of where donations have helped in Glaucoma Australia’s work. Doing this will give users an easier way to see where donationsb are going to.

Get Support Page

We removed the ‘Join Our Community’ title as this was a major cause of confusion with what the form was for. We also added the ‘Meet Our Educator’ from the ‘Your Support Network’ page to emphasise that the person contacting the use will be the specialist.

Simplified form

As for the form, we reduced the amount of personal information needed to be filled out so that it’s quicker and people won’t feel overwhelmed by the number of fields they need to fill. We also added the purpose for the ‘About Me’ so that users know that this section is important to receive a tailored response from the specialist.

Next Steps

Testing our solution

As these solutions were focused on the users as a whole, we recommend testing them out on the different target audiences to see if they meet their needs or if they would require a more targeted solution.

Something for those who have had glaucoma for more than a year

In interviews with people who have been living with glaucoma for over a year, we discovered that the majority of the website was not useful to them. In order to have these group of people be more inclined to use the website, we recommend that making this group’s priorities (group gatherings, new technologies/medicines) be easier to find or even have the ability to share articles that they’ve read from the website to their network.

Reflections

Managing client expectations

Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we planned. As we kept in good contact with our client, we were able to let them know that some of the outcomes we had given them would not be feasible. We had to work with what we had - and that’s ok.

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