Sprint 4: Email research March 2016

[Research Plan] (#research-plan)
[Conversation Guide] (#conversation-guide)
[Learnings] (#learnings)

Research Plan

Email redesign project goals:

• Develop a unified visual treatment for C2’s current and future emails
• Provide the content and clear direction necessary to move a request forward
• Identify opportunities for future email improvements

Before launching C2's redesigned email templates we needed to validate updates were improvements for users.

Key questions:

• Are users able to accomplish the tasks of their role with the redesigned emails?
• Is anything missing?
• Does the new email content meet the needs of recipients?
• Does the recipient understand why they are receiving the email, what the status of their request is, and what their next action is?
• When / how do recipients want to receive emails?
• How do emails impact users’ overall experience of the process — e.g., do emails help reduce impact of stressful situations?

Conversation Guide

###Introduction (5 minutes)

Hi there! Thanks for agreeing to talk to me — I really appreciate it. My name is [X], and I’m joined by my colleagues [X].

Before we begin, I’d like to cover a few key topics and give you an overview of what will happen during this interview.

First — and you may already know this — I wanted to let you know that I work for 18F, which is part of the General Services Administration. 18F is a digital consultancy and design firm within GSA, and our goal is to build beautiful, useful digital products and services for the public. Right now, we’re working on improving certain aspects of the C2 platform to make it even easier to use.

Today, we’re going to ask for your thoughts on the emails you get from C2 as part of the request and approval processes. During this interview, we’ll share updated versions of the emails you already receive from C2, and we’ll ask you about how you interact with these emails and the information you gain from them. Your stories will help us understand how we might make these emails even more informative. Please note that this is not a test — there are no right or wrong answers! Your honest opinions and observations will help us improve these emails as much as we can.

Your participation is totally voluntary, and you’re free to leave at any time. With your permission, we’re going to record this session and take written notes. We will only use the information you share with us for research and analysis, and we will not share it with anyone outside of 18F. Additionally, we’ll make sure not to include your name in our notes or recordings.

We recently emailed you a consent form — did you receive it? (Do you have any questions about it?) Please sign the form and return it to us by the end of the day.

We’re just about ready to get started. The interview should take about an hour. If you need to take a break, just let me know, and also let me know if you have questions at any point in the process. At the end of the interview, I’ll ask if you have anything else to add, and my colleagues might also ask you some additional questions. This will be a great time for you to elaborate on topics you’d like to discuss in more detail.

Do you have any questions?

Let’s get started.

###Current (non-C2) email practices (10 minutes)

• What service do you use for your email?
• How often do you send email? To whom/under what circumstances?
• In general, how do you feel about using email to communicate (as opposed to using another communication method)?

###C2 general questions (5 minutes) Great! Thanks for sharing that. I’d now like to ask you a little bit about your experience with C2.

• How long have you been using C2?
• How many requests do you process a week?
• How would you describe the overall experience of using C2?

###C2 email questions (20 minutes) (Ask these questions for each email the interviewee receives/each step of the flow we’re covering)

Now, we’re going to talk more specifically about the emails you receive from C2 as part of the [process name here] process.

• When and how do you check your email from C2?
• Generally speaking, how urgently do you need to respond to/act on this type of email?
• Please take a minute to share your screen (we have to make them presenter)
• Now we’d like to walk through the emails your receive as a [role]:
• Prompt: Send emails (vary by role)

Open your inbox. You should have received an email from us. Before you open it, take a look at the subject line. What are your thoughts on it?

• Now, take a minute to open the email and read through it.
• What would you do next?
• What are your thoughts on it?
• What is this email about?
• How do you feel after reading it?
• Is this what you would expect?
• Is anything missing? What information would you have liked to see?
• Is there any information here you don’t need?
• Do you have suggestions for a better way of saying this? Any terms that may be unfamiliar to people?
• How does this compare to the emails you currently receive? (try to get to design vs text)

Return to top of section

• If you could change anything about the emails you receive from C2, what changes would you make? Frequency? Relevance?

###Wrapping up (5 minutes) Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. The information you shared today will be extremely helpful as we work to improve C2’s emails.

• Do you have any questions for me? Or are there any topics we covered that you’d like to discuss in more detail?
• Do you have additional thoughts about C2 emails that we didn’t get a chance to discuss today?

Excellent! Have a great day.

Learnings

###Summary
The purpose of this research was to validate improvements made to the visual redesign of C2's email templates. The synthesis of this research resulted in minor adjustments to the layout and design of the emails prior to launch.

###Participants
A cross-functional team from 18F conducted 6 1hr sessions with a range of current C2 users.

• 1 Requesters
• 1 Approvers
• 2 Budget Analysts / reconciler
• 2 18F

###Top Insights

1. Primary interaction with C2 for many users is email
2. If emails contain necessary information approvals can be made from email
3. Frequency and quantity of emails should be further researched
4. "Completed" has different means for users and can be confusing
5. Button in the middle of an email can lead users to assume the email is over
6. There is confusion around who a "comment" goes to and who someone is "replying to"
7. Knowing who the requester is is important, even if they are not the person submitting the request
8. Subject line customization needs further research—needs vary by role
9. Users requested the ability to "disapprove", have reminders for people to complete CL#s, and requesters to update request from "do not exceed" to exact amount
10. The simplicity of C2 is what users value—users are work in gmail and google spreadsheets all day
11. “I just want see my approval and if it’s moving.”
12. Timestamp is more useful than relative date—exact details are important because it is a record

View our work. Synthesis board