Williams Sonoma Test

Amy Bell

September 22, 2023

Introduction
Williams-sonoma.com is a website used to drive traffic to the comapny,
Williams Sonoma. The company provides high end home appliances such as
cookware, furniture, and bakeware.

A usability test is intended to determine the extent an interface facilitates a

user’s ability to complete routine tasks. Typically the test is conducted with a
group of potential users either in a usability lab, remotely (using e-meeting
software and telephone connection), or on-site with portable equipment.
Users are asked to complete a series of routine tasks. Sessions are recorded
and analyzed to identify potential areas for improvement to the web site.

A marketing student conducted an usability test using a live version of

Williams-sonoma.com using the participates laptop. A phone was used to
keep track of the participant’s face, comments, and choices they made while
using the website. The test administrator was present during the test and was
keeping note of all navigational choices, time it took, satisfaction ratings, and
any questions the participant had.
Executive Summary
The marketing student conducted the usability test in a secluded room on
September 22, 2023. The purpose of this test was to assess the usability of
Williams-sonoma.com, specifically the navigation, design, process to check
out, and how easy the website was to use overall.

There was one participate and the test took approximately 30 minutes.

The test identified the participate found willliams-sonoma.com easy to use but
found a few issues.

The test identified only a few minor problems including:

Lack of description on the categories

This document contains the participant feedback, satisfactions ratings, task

completion rates, ease or difficulty of completion ratings, time on task, errors,
and recommendations for improvements. A copy of the scenarios and
questionnaires are included in the Attachments’ section.

Methodology
Sessions

The test administrator contacted and recruited participants through

text message. The test administrator took a volunteer that she
knew used the internet and website daily. The test administrator
was also aware that the participate mostly shops online through
 many different websites. The usability test took approximately 30
minutes from start to finish. Before the test began the test
administrator asked the participate some background questions. These
questions included:

What is your occupation?

What do you do all day?

What do you do if you are not working?

How many hours would you say you spend on the internet everyday?

How many times a week would you say you buy something online?

What kind of sites do you search for when browsing the web?

What are some of your favorite websites?

Have you visited this website before, if so were you satisfied with your
experience?

The participate was asked to Find a baking sheet for under 50 dollars. Go
through the process of selecting and purchasing the product. Stop once you
reach inputting your credit card information. The participate was also asked to
Find a set of silverware for under 150 dollars. Go through the process of
selecting and purchasing the product. Stop once you reach inputting your credit
card information.

After each task the test administrator was asked 3 questions on a Likert scale with
measures ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. Post-task scenario
subjective measures included:
How easy it was to find the information from the home page.
Ability to keep track of their location in the website.
Accurateness of predicting which section of the website contained the
information.

After the last task was completed, the test administrator asked the participant to rate the
website overall by using a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) for
eight subjective measures including:
Ease of use
Frequency of use
Difficulty to keep track of location in website
Learn ability - how easy it would be for most users to learn to use the website
Information facilitation – how quickly participant could find information
Site content – site’s content would keep me coming back
Look & feel appeal – homepage’s content makes me want to explore the site
further
Site organization
In addition, the test administrator asked the participants the following overall website
questions:
 What the participant liked most.
What the participant liked least.
Recommendations for improvement.

Participants

There was one participate. The one participate took the test on September
22, 2023. The participate was a 21 year old male, who is enrolled in college
and working full time as a construction worker. He spent a few hours a day on
the internet everyday.

Role
Medical
Federal State / Public Federal Research * Other
Institutio
Staff/Agency Health Department Grantee Institution Organization
n

0 0 0 0 0 1

Evaluation Tasks/Scenarios
The test administrator, marketing student, created the task scenarios.

Test participants attempted completion of the following tasks

Find a baking sheet for under 50 dollars. Go through the process of selecting
and purchasing the product. Stop once you reach inputting your credit card
information.

Find a set of silverware for under 150 dollars. Go through the process of
selecting and purchasing the product. Stop once you reach inputting your
credit card information.

Results
Task Completion Success Rate
The participant successfully completed task 1 (finding a baking sheet under 50 dollars). The
participant also successfully completed task 2 (finding a set of silverware under 150 dollars).

Task Completion Rates

Participant Task 1 Task 2

1 √ √

Success 1 1

Completion
100% 100%
Rates
 Task Ratings
After the completion of each task, participants rated the ease or difficult of
completing the task for three factors:
It was easy to find my way to this information from the homepage.
As I was searching for this information, I was able to keep track of
where I was in the website.
I was able to accurately predict which section of the website
contained this information.

The 5-point rating scale ranged from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly

agree). Agree ratings are the agree and strongly agree ratings combined with
a mean agreement ratings of < 2 considered as the user disagrees that the
information was easy to find, that they could keep track of their location and
predict the section to find the information.

Ease in Finding Information

The participate disagreed that it was easy to find a baking sheet under 50
dollars. However the participate agreed it was slightly easy to find a
silverware set under 150 dollars.

Keeping Track of Location in Site

The participate found it easy to keep track of their location in the site while
finding both a baking sheet and silverware set.

Predicting Information Section

The participate slightly disagreed that it was easy to predict where to find a
baking sheet. The participate agreed it was easy to predict where to find a
silverware set.

.
Test 1 – Mean Task Ratings & Percent Agree
Ease – Location in Predict
Task Overall
Finding Info Site Section
1 – Find a baking sheet 2 5 2 3

2 – Find a silverware set 3 5 3 3.67

*Percent Agree (%) = Agree & Strongly Agree Responses combined

Time on Task

The testing software recorded the time on task for each participant. Some
tasks were inherently more difficult to complete than others and is reflected
by the average time on task. Task 1 took the longest at 223 seconds.

Time on Task
 P1 Avg. TOT*
Task 1 223 223

Task 2 118 118

Overall Metrics
Overall Ratings
After task session completion, participants rated the site for eight overall
measures. These measures include:
Ease of use
Frequency of use
Difficulty to keep track of location in website
Learn ability - how easy it would be for most users to learn to use
the website
Information facilitation – how quickly participant could find information
Look & feel appeal – homepage’s content makes me want to explore
the site further
Site content – site’s content would keep me coming back
Site organization

The participate agreed that the website was easy to use. The participate
disagreed they would use the site frequently. The participate agreed it was
easy to keep track of the location in the website. The participate agreed it
would be easy for most users to learn to use the website. The participate
disagreed it was quick to find the information. The participate agreed the
homepage’s content makes him want to keep exploring the site. The
participate disagreed the site’s content would keep him coming back. The
participate agreed the site was organized.

Post-Task Overall Questionnaire

Strongly Strongly Mean

Disagree Neutral Agree
Disagree Agree Rating

Thought Website
1 4
was easy to use
Would use website
1 2
frequently
Found it difficult to
keep track of
1 4
where they were in
website
Thought most
people would learn
1 4
to use website
quickly
Can get
1 2
information quickly
Homepage’s
content makes me
1 4
want to explore
site
 Strongly Strongly Mean
Disagree Neutral Agree
Disagree Agree Rating
Site’s content
would keep me 1 2
coming back
Website is well
1 4
organized
*Percent Agree (%) = Agree & Strongly Agree Responses combined

Likes, Dislikes, Participant Recommendations

Upon completion of the tasks, participants provided feedback for what they
liked most and least about the website, and recommendations for improving
the website.

Liked Most
The following comments capture what the participants liked most:
The participate liked that there were so many categories because he was not
familiar with the website.
Liked Least
The following comments capture what the participants liked the least:
The participate did not like that there was no description and the product was
not where he thought it would be.

Recommendations for Improvement

The participate recommends adding a description for each of the categories.

Recommendations
The recommendations section provides recommended changes and
justifications driven by the participant success rate, behaviors, and
comments. Each recommendation includes a severity rating. The following
recommendations will improve the overall ease of use and address the areas
where participants experienced problems or found the interface/information
architecture unclear.

Change Justification Severity

Add a description for each The participate found it difficult to find a specific High
category item because it was not where he thought it would
be. He suggested adding a description to the
categories so he can easy find the category an
item would be under.

Conclusion
Implementing the recommendations and continuing to work with users (i.e., real lay
persons) will ensure a continued user-centered website.
The participate found the website to be easy to use, well-organized however found it a
little cluttered with not many descriptive words. Having a centralized site to find
information is key to William Sonoma’s consumers. Implementing the recommendations
and continuing to work with users will ensure a continued user-centered website.