From news-focused & serious
to bold & tech forward
PREVIOUS DESIGN
Gather qualitative feedback to assess user’s expectations, understanding & perception from old to new design. Utilize this feedback to inform design strategy and future A/B tests.
Goal
Method
Iterative moderated & unmoderated user testing. Sourcing participants that have visited CNET within the last 30 days and those that have not visited CNET recently. Tested across mobile & desktop to understand any difference by device.
Key findings
Positive first impression
After a 10 second test, the majority of users identify the site experiences as focused on tech news & reviews. A higher percentage of users are able to recall the brand name with the new design (68%) than the existing (47%).
Ad frustration
Users expressed frustration with the top-of-page
ad treatment & mistake in-page elements as ads. Concerns around paid placements decrease trust
in the experience & may discourage use.
The page should show the breadth of our coverage, encourage users to explore & discover new content without overwhelming by providing too much. While users appreciate the helpful content, they desire information to be structured in a way that supports discovery & search.
Intentional article placements
Navigation structure
Topics across the top navigation bar support a
user’s ability to understand what CNET covers.
Users want more visual prominence on the existing
nav. They expect to hover and the options appear.
More secondary navigation links than necessary
& some questions on the grouping of topics.
Impact
Nav. click through rate
+23%
Affiliate click through rate
Pages viewed per session