Case Study
TheLadders
TheLadders is an online community of more than 8 million professionals and 95,000 employers nationwide to help job seekers and employers connect.
TheLadders introduced a mobile app for job seekers, called Job Search by TheLadders, and when they wanted to create an app for recruiters they turned to us to conduct the user research.
Competencies
Longitudinal User Research Surveys Remote Mobile Usability TestingIn 2003 TheLadders started as a community that helps job seekers and employers connect to fill $100K+ jobs. Since then, the company has expanded to provide reliable tools, services and insights to help all professionals, at all stages of their careers succeed.
Project Goals
The purpose of this study was to provide firsthand feedback from end users on whether or not TheLadders’ iOS application, Job Search, meets their needs and is easy to use.
Methodology
A longitudinal user research study was conducted with twelve end users (i.e. job seekers) over a period of six weeks. Every week there was a scheduled remote interview with each participant to learn how they are using the application and what their level of satisfaction is with the experience thus far.
Media
TheLadders Job Search app screen shot (1)
TheLadders Job Search app screen shot (2)
TheLadders Job Search app screen shot (3)
Project Kick-off
TheLadders has an Agile development process and we needed to figure out a way to fit end user feedback into their one-week sprints.
Usable Interface worked with the stakeholders of this project to define the research goals and craft a longitudinal user research study that would provide the needed feedback from end users throughout the development release cycle.
Longitudinal User Research
How do you gauge the end users level of engagement and know how your product is being used over a longer period of time? Conducting a six-week longitudinal study with twelve participants was our answer. A weekly interview with the participants was performed by Usable Interface to learn how they were using the application and what their level of satisfaction was with the experience.
Surveys
A weekly online survey was conducted with the participants in order to collect data in between the weekly scheduled interviews and keep up the level of participation in the study.
Remote Mobile Usability Testing
During the weekly interviews we had the participants connect to an online meeting and use Reflector to mirror their mobile devices and show us how they’ve been using the app. During some of these interviews, we would also have prototypes of new designs for them to try it. Being able to remotely observe the participants using the prototypes on their own devices was just invaluable.
Project Completion
After each week of research interviews, Usable Interface conducted a debrief with the design and development team and documented the findings. At the end of the six-week longitudinal study, we had a release that was built by incorporating feedback from real end users that everyone felt confident in.
"I hired Kyle to run a 6-week user testing study while my team iterated on an iOS app we are getting to market... There were many moving parts, and a lot of data to collect. Kyle's ability to organize the participants, adapt to our 'lean' approach, professionally moderate the calls, and immediately turn around findings in an easy to digest format was instrumental to the success of the study... She effortlessly established a rapport with my team and with the users; and was always punctual, professional, and extremely organized. Kyle made a hard job seem easy, and made invaluable contribution to our project work. I wouldn't hesitate to hire her again."
Michelle Zassenhaus
Director, UX & Design
TheLadders