“WebMotors” Comparative Usability Test + Eye Tracking Study

Client: WebMotors

Created in 1995, at the beginning of the Brazilian internet, Webmotors has conquered over time the position of the largest Brazilian website in the automotive segment (Ibope Net View June / 2013).

In 2002, Webmotors was acquired by ABN AMRO, and now belongs to Grupo Santander Brasil, one of the largest banks in the world, and a major supporter of the Brazilian car market through its financial, Santander Financiamentos .

Webmotors offers classified vehicles for sale – with more than 200 thousand offers per month -, preventive vehicle maintenance programs and specific products specially directed to Vehicle Sales and companies operating in the automobile segment, such as vehicle and auto parts manufacturers, and others companies that operate in this segment.

Webmotors also provides users with extensive editorial content, such as tests, comparisons, purchase guides, releases and secrets; behavior, well-being in traffic and market news. It also has renowned and specialized employees in the automotive world.

UX Team:

Joana Andrade – UX Leader / Fhios Brazil – UX Consultancy Agency
Antônio Mozelli – UX Designer / Fhios Brazil – UX Consultancy Agency

The Usability study objective:

The project investigates and compares the friendliness, communicability, and ease of interfaces of four car purchase research websites (WebMotors, iCarros, MercadoLivre and MeuCarroNovo) focusing on the Individuals profile.

The research project aimed to investigate users’ perceptions regarding ease of use, design, and efficiency of the search and registration processes and the location of contents, complemented by the use of the Eye Tracking tool. All participants completed the same tasks on the WebMotors website and other competing websites such as “iCarros”, “MercadoLivre” and “MeuCarroNovo”.

WebMotors has established the following project objectives:

Evaluate the usability of the WebMotors website to your competitors to analyze the effectiveness of your vehicle search and ad purchase processes.
Establish an analysis of WebMotors and competitors through usability testing with the following criteria:
- Navigation
- Ease of use and location
- Functionality
- Use of Interaction Devices – Features
- Feedback
- Consistency
- Efficiency
- Memorization
- Graphic Design / Layout
Investigate through Usability Test the ability of WebMotors to drive users to the end of the search processes, registration, publication, purchase and ad tracking.
Establish a general and qualitative user preference with regard to WebMotors and competing websites surveyed.
Evaluate elements such as navigation, real state, location of ads, buttons etc, through the quantitative measure of the pupil focus of the users surveyed: Eye Tracking.
Check participants’ reactions to the visual stimuli in the main WebMotors pages and evaluated competitors and verify their ability to identify titles, links, relevant information and contents, among others.

The following research methodologies were used in this study:

In-depth interview
Observation of participants
Verbal Protocol ‘Think aloud’ (participants are invited to verbalize their thoughts while interacting with the tools)
Tasks performed during the study
Eye Tracking analysis
Reporting of interviews with participants
Completion of questionnaires (expressions of preference)
Participants were invited to complete the tasks and then evaluate the interfaces of the sites based on their experiences during the tests.

The Eye Tracking Analysis:

Eye tracking data was captured during all test tasks. The eye tracking data is displayed as:

Heat maps
- Images with thermal graphics that illustrate the visual tendencies of most participants, eg demonstrates the standard behavior of the sum of the participants.
- Areas in red and orange represent areas of high visual attention.
- Useful for determining regions of interest and disinterest within the sample or group.
Gaze plots
- Graphical processing of a sequence of data from the look of a single participant.
- Movements of the captured eye:
  - Fixings or records (pause in the movements of the eyes to perceive the content). Humans perceive content through fixation.
  - The data is useful for analyzing cognitive intent, interest, and emphasis on screen elements.
AOI’s (Areas of Interest)
- Areas of Interest (AOI’s) can be scored on any stimulus.
- AOI’s can be used to quantify eye movement data. By relating eye movement data with certain objects on the screen, it is possible to obtain meaningful statistics of single or multiple recordings.