Sitemap Success for South Australia's Oldest Motor Club
RAA (Royal Automobile Association), a leading Australian motor club, engaged Nomat to undertake research to inform sitemap navigation via card sorting and tree testing.
Sitemap Success for South Australia's Oldest Motor Club
RAA (Royal Automobile Association), a leading Australian motor club, engaged Nomat to undertake research to inform sitemap navigation via card sorting and tree testing.
Sitemap Success for South Australia's Oldest Motor Club
RAA (Royal Automobile Association), a leading Australian motor club, engaged Nomat to undertake research to inform sitemap navigation via card sorting and tree testing.
Background
Established in 1903, RAA has provided member services to South Australian and Broken Hill residents for over a century. RAA offers a broad range of motor, home and travel services, including roadside assistance and insurance products. The organisation is also involved in education and advocacy work.
RAA wanted to increase the discoverability of the content on their website. Overall, the organisation wanted to give users an intuitive sitemap and navigation experience. Nomat was brought in to help RAA better understand the information architecture of the website. To inform the redesign of this information architecture, card sorting and tree testing methods were implemented. Nomat was able to leverage previous information architecture research conducted by RAA to better understand where improvements could be made.
Background
Established in 1903, RAA has provided member services to South Australian and Broken Hill residents for over a century. RAA offers a broad range of motor, home and travel services, including roadside assistance and insurance products. The organisation is also involved in education and advocacy work.
RAA wanted to increase the discoverability of the content on their website. Overall, the organisation wanted to give users an intuitive sitemap and navigation experience. Nomat was brought in to help RAA better understand the information architecture of the website. To inform the redesign of this information architecture, card sorting and tree testing methods were implemented. Nomat was able to leverage previous information architecture research conducted by RAA to better understand where improvements could be made.
Background
Established in 1903, RAA has provided member services to South Australian and Broken Hill residents for over a century. RAA offers a broad range of motor, home and travel services, including roadside assistance and insurance products. The organisation is also involved in education and advocacy work.
RAA wanted to increase the discoverability of the content on their website. Overall, the organisation wanted to give users an intuitive sitemap and navigation experience. Nomat was brought in to help RAA better understand the information architecture of the website. To inform the redesign of this information architecture, card sorting and tree testing methods were implemented. Nomat was able to leverage previous information architecture research conducted by RAA to better understand where improvements could be made.
What we did
Nomat collaborated with RAA to facilitate three rounds each of card sorting and tree testing. As a result of this research, a new sitemap was proposed with core structural changes suggested. These changes included new navigation options, labelling adjustments and additional surfaced header links. Navigation design recommendations were also provided.
What we did
Nomat collaborated with RAA to facilitate three rounds each of card sorting and tree testing. As a result of this research, a new sitemap was proposed with core structural changes suggested. These changes included new navigation options, labelling adjustments and additional surfaced header links. Navigation design recommendations were also provided.
What we did
Nomat collaborated with RAA to facilitate three rounds each of card sorting and tree testing. As a result of this research, a new sitemap was proposed with core structural changes suggested. These changes included new navigation options, labelling adjustments and additional surfaced header links. Navigation design recommendations were also provided.
Card sorting
Using an online tool called Optimal Workshop, Nomat conducted three rounds of card sorting to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation. The website content was represented as ‘cards’, with each card containing a descriptive label. Participants were asked to group the cards into groups that made sense to them, before assigning each group a name.
Across the three rounds, research participants were given content from three different parts of the website to organise into groups. The cards were edited to be more descriptive for the purposes of testing. Additionally, references to RAA were removed from card names.
Once the card sorting rounds were completed, the data was synthesised to better understand the mental models of participants. In particular, the commonalities across groupings were analysed, along with the language used for group labelling.
The results were reviewed with RAA stakeholders to include the business needs perspective. Following this, a draft sitemap was proposed.
Card sorting
Using an online tool called Optimal Workshop, Nomat conducted three rounds of card sorting to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation. The website content was represented as ‘cards’, with each card containing a descriptive label. Participants were asked to group the cards into groups that made sense to them, before assigning each group a name.
Across the three rounds, research participants were given content from three different parts of the website to organise into groups. The cards were edited to be more descriptive for the purposes of testing. Additionally, references to RAA were removed from card names.
Once the card sorting rounds were completed, the data was synthesised to better understand the mental models of participants. In particular, the commonalities across groupings were analysed, along with the language used for group labelling.
The results were reviewed with RAA stakeholders to include the business needs perspective. Following this, a draft sitemap was proposed.
Card sorting
Using an online tool called Optimal Workshop, Nomat conducted three rounds of card sorting to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation. The website content was represented as ‘cards’, with each card containing a descriptive label. Participants were asked to group the cards into groups that made sense to them, before assigning each group a name.
Across the three rounds, research participants were given content from three different parts of the website to organise into groups. The cards were edited to be more descriptive for the purposes of testing. Additionally, references to RAA were removed from card names.
Once the card sorting rounds were completed, the data was synthesised to better understand the mental models of participants. In particular, the commonalities across groupings were analysed, along with the language used for group labelling.
The results were reviewed with RAA stakeholders to include the business needs perspective. Following this, a draft sitemap was proposed.
Tree testing
In order to validate the proposed sitemap, Nomat conducted three rounds of online tree testing using Optimal Workshop. This provided an opportunity to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation.
The Benchmarking Round tested the live sitemap of September 2023.
Round 1 included the same tasks as the Benchmarking Round, but instead tested the draft sitemap that had been proposed (instead of the live site).
Round 2 introduced almost all new tasks, alongside a slightly updated proposed sitemap.
Each round saw participants given a list of 8-12 tasks, such as:
Imagine that you need to buy a subscription to roadside service in case your personal car breaks down. Where would you go?
To complete each task, participants were given a list of navigation options to select from which reflected the proposed sitemap. They then nominated which location they believed to be correct.
The results were analysed by looking at scores for each task. These scores measured success (identifying the correct location) and directness (navigating without having to move backwards through the sitemap).
Tree testing
In order to validate the proposed sitemap, Nomat conducted three rounds of online tree testing using Optimal Workshop. This provided an opportunity to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation.
The Benchmarking Round tested the live sitemap of September 2023.
Round 1 included the same tasks as the Benchmarking Round, but instead tested the draft sitemap that had been proposed (instead of the live site).
Round 2 introduced almost all new tasks, alongside a slightly updated proposed sitemap.
Each round saw participants given a list of 8-12 tasks, such as:
Imagine that you need to buy a subscription to roadside service in case your personal car breaks down. Where would you go?
To complete each task, participants were given a list of navigation options to select from which reflected the proposed sitemap. They then nominated which location they believed to be correct.
The results were analysed by looking at scores for each task. These scores measured success (identifying the correct location) and directness (navigating without having to move backwards through the sitemap).
Tree testing
In order to validate the proposed sitemap, Nomat conducted three rounds of online tree testing using Optimal Workshop. This provided an opportunity to measure and compare changes to the current sitemap navigation.
The Benchmarking Round tested the live sitemap of September 2023.
Round 1 included the same tasks as the Benchmarking Round, but instead tested the draft sitemap that had been proposed (instead of the live site).
Round 2 introduced almost all new tasks, alongside a slightly updated proposed sitemap.
Each round saw participants given a list of 8-12 tasks, such as:
Imagine that you need to buy a subscription to roadside service in case your personal car breaks down. Where would you go?
To complete each task, participants were given a list of navigation options to select from which reflected the proposed sitemap. They then nominated which location they believed to be correct.
The results were analysed by looking at scores for each task. These scores measured success (identifying the correct location) and directness (navigating without having to move backwards through the sitemap).
Services provided by Nomat:
• Kick-off workshop
• Review of existing research
• Online card sorting
• Online tree testing
• Stakeholder workshop
• Navigation design recommendations
• Reporting
Services provided by Nomat:
• Kick-off workshop
• Review of existing research
• Online card sorting
• Online tree testing
• Stakeholder workshop
• Navigation design recommendations
• Reporting
Services provided by Nomat:
• Kick-off workshop
• Review of existing research
• Online card sorting
• Online tree testing
• Stakeholder workshop
• Navigation design recommendations
• Reporting
Outcome
Analysis of the tree testing activities informed a range of updates and improvements to the proposed sitemap. Overall, it was discovered that the proposed sitemap showed a stronger performance across all tasks when compared to the benchmarking round, indicating an improved member experience. This will assist RAA in reducing the cost to service their members.
RAA has taken on board the research findings and is working on implementing the changes to the live website.
Outcome
Analysis of the tree testing activities informed a range of updates and improvements to the proposed sitemap. Overall, it was discovered that the proposed sitemap showed a stronger performance across all tasks when compared to the benchmarking round, indicating an improved member experience. This will assist RAA in reducing the cost to service their members.
RAA has taken on board the research findings and is working on implementing the changes to the live website.
Outcome
Analysis of the tree testing activities informed a range of updates and improvements to the proposed sitemap. Overall, it was discovered that the proposed sitemap showed a stronger performance across all tasks when compared to the benchmarking round, indicating an improved member experience. This will assist RAA in reducing the cost to service their members.
RAA has taken on board the research findings and is working on implementing the changes to the live website.
Interested to know more? Let’s Talk.
Interested to know more? Let’s Talk.
Interested to know more?
Let’s Talk.