OMB Clearance Request

United States Mint

QUANTITATIVE CONSUMER RESEARCH

Website and Mobile Application Usability Focus Groups

OMB Clearance Request

8/18/2016

1. Introduction / Purpose of the Research

This request is for the United States Mint to conduct research with United States Mint customers and non-customers about their opinions concerning usability of the United States Mint’s Website and United States Mint mobile application. This collection was fielded in FY16 under OMB control number 1525-0012-0201.

The purpose of this research is to:

• Obtain users’ feedback on the United States Mint website and United States Mint mobile application.

  • Impressions of look and feel?

  • Easy to use? Easy to navigate?

  • Information organized logically?

  • Efficient site structure (too many clicks)?

  • Content written for web and easy to scan?

  • Terminology and labeling familiar and intuitive to users?

• Measure the users’ abilities to perform specific tasks on the website including satisfaction ratings in completing those tasks.

• Identify difficulties in using the website

• Are users able to successfully complete the top tasks?

• Can users efficiently complete tasks and are not lost on the website?

• Does it take users longer to find information than it should?

• Can users purchase products without difficulties?

• Do users get frustrated using the site?

• Provide recommendations in order to improve the website for consumers.

Part of the United States Mint’s mission is to produce and make collectible coin products available directly to the American public. Executive Order No. 12862 (September 1993), titled “Setting Customer Service Standards,” establishes a mandate for the government to improve and adhere to best practices when providing customer service directly to the American people, such as by conducting research to determine satisfaction with existing services and to ensure the kind and quality of services offered are aligned with those the public wants (Section 1b). To effectively accomplish these goals, the United States Mint utilizes a combination of accepted research methods that shed light on the awareness, satisfaction and preferences among the public as they relate to collectible coin products and services. The United States Mint Website and Mobile Application Usability Focus Groups is one of these instruments.

Conducting market research in advance of introducing new products and services, or before making changes to existing products and services, is vital to ensuring those decisions are as likely as possible to enhance customer satisfaction and maximize organizational efficiency. The United States Mint knows from experience that making new product and service decisions in the absence of a reliable information collection is likely to lead to undesirable outcomes in terms of customer satisfaction and organizational performance. The United States Mint is placing renewed emphasis on advance testing of new product concepts and changes to existing products to inform our decision making and improve customer and operational outcomes.

The consequence of not performing this research is the United States Mint’s diminished ability to maintain product related service levels that satisfy customers.

2. Qualitative Research Topic Outline

The topics planned to be discussed are:

1. Participants’ background and experience using the United States Mint website and United States Mint mobile application.

2. Participants’ initial reactions on current website and mobile application aesthetics, content and functionality.

3. Participants’ ability to perform various tasks on the website and mobile application such as navigation, searching and purchasing of products.

4. Participants’ overall impression of the United States Mint website and mobile application.

3. Sample Design and Methodology

A total of no more than 72 web usability interviews will be conducted during the next 12 months. A small portion of the interviews will be conducted remotely (16), and the remainder of the interviews (56) will be conducted in-person in multiple cities.

Participants will be comprised of those who will use the desktop version of the United States Mint website as well as those who will be asked to view the website on a mobile device, including iPhone and Android users. All of the interviews will be conducted with a mix of United States Mint customers and non-customers and will have a mix of demographic characteristics, including age, gender, education, ethnicity, internet experience, and geographic location.

The purpose of usability testing is to learn how visitors to the United States Mint website browse products and to evaluate users’ satisfaction with the website. The usability test will be used to gather data on how users interact with the website in order to measure current performance and satisfaction of the website, and to help inform improvements that can further enhance the usability of the website.

Usability interviews are facilitated by a professional moderator and different techniques are used to elicit feedback. A discussion guide/test plan will be utilized and serves as an outline that is prepared in advance and covers the topics and issues to be explored. The plan is designed with the overall research questions in mind and is constructed to ensure that topics covered in the usability interviews relate to these research objectives. Each session will last approximately 60 minutes.

When the participant arrives, the facilitator will briefly explain the test activities and ask the participant several pre-test questions to gauge their experience with coin collecting and with the U.S. Mint website. During the test session, participants will provide their initial impressions of the website, perform a series of specific tasks using http://www.usmint.gov/, and then provide their reaction to using the website. The tasks are designed to represent the most common user goals (e.g., making a purchase, finding a product, etc.), which the Mint web team has identified as mission-critical tasks. The usability testing will measure and report actual performance on the tasks.

These qualitative insights are used to understand the range of opinions and concerns that exist on a research topic, not to precisely quantify insights provided by respondents. Reports clearly indicate that the collected information is not generalizable and that it should be used solely to provide directional insights.

Usability interviews and other qualitative studies are an important complement to our quantitative research in that they provide deep insights into website usability, underlying consumer attitudes and preferences and are frequently used both to help explain observable trends and to provide direction for applied research topics. They are an important tool used to help develop and plan changes to products, policies and marketing activities.

4. Methods to Maximize Response Rates

We expect one out of every seven customers contacted will agree to participate in the study. Appropriate screeners will be set up to guarantee selection of the right type of customers for the study. A monetary incentive will be offered. This is a common industry practice.

5. Estimate of the Burden Hours

The collection of information will involve up to 72 web usability interviews. A total of 72 respondents will participate in the focus groups. These focus group interviews are expected to last 60 minutes. Total estimated burden hours are:

	Web Usability Interviews - Annual
All respondents	72
Average interview (mins)	60 min
Total estimated burden (hrs)	72 hrs