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Scan Events Content Audit

User Insights, Evaluations and Opportunities

April 2022

Catherine (Chea) Bryce | UX Writer

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Overview

Summary
Methodology
Findings
Opportunities

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Summary

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BACKGROUND

Most users access our website and app to view their tracking status, displayed via scan events. These scan events appear throughout our channels in their current form with no customization.

Here's the current landscape of the scan events:

6+ years since the last content audit
Haven't been reviewed holistically
New event scans are added to the repository, and existing ones are updated on a case-by-case basis.

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Identify content gaps by conducting a content audit for the scan events.

PROJECT GOAL

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Several high-impact scan events are not user friendly after reviewing them both individually and holistically.

OVERALL FINDINGS

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Methodology

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UX Content Scorecard Template (From Strategic Writing for UX by Torrey Podmajersky)

UX CONTENT SCORECARD

5 criteria for evaluating content:

Accessible

Purposeful

Concise

Conversational

Clear

For the content audits, my focus was on the content scans that have the highest business impact, such as the track delivery. I've used the UX Content Scorecard Template (From Strategic Writing for UX by Torrey Podmajersky) as a rubric.

As mentioned in the book,��"There is subjectivity in scoring, just like there is subjectivity in grading an essay or judging a dog breed. If we keep in mind that the points are not an absolute evaluation of an experience, we can avoid the moral overtone of "good" or "bad" UX. Instead, we will use any of these measuring techniques to focus on finding which parts of an experience to improve. Using the scorecard before making changes, and then using it again to measure suggested changes, can help the team estimate the impact they think the changes will make."

Looking at the usability part of the scorecard, you'll see there are five criteria: Accessible, Purposeful, Consise, Conversational, Clear.

In the next slide, I'll give a brief definition for each one.

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Available in the languages the people using it are proficient in.
Reading level is below 7th grade (general) or 10th grade (professional).

Accessible

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What the person should or can do to meet their goals is clear.

Purposeful

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Information presented is relevant at this moment in the experience.

Concise

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The words, phrases, and ideas are familiar to the people using it.
Directions are presented in useful steps, in a logical order.

Conversational

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Actions have unambiguous results.
How-to and policy info is easy to find.
Error messages help the person move forward or make it clear they can’t.
The same term means the same concept, every time it’s used.

But 'USPS waiting item' sounds like friendly, it can show its personality~

In general, I like the idea of the name of the carrier being included in the message. Especially if you are dealing with many carriers.

"Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item" is clear and describes next steps.

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Numerous "item processed" events with different meanings (e.g., processed at a sorting facility or destination facility)
Users may think it says the same thing (if they don't notice location) could lead to customer service calls

CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 3

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Numerous "item processed" events with different meanings (e.g., processed at a sorting facility or destination facility)
Users may think it says the same thing (if they don't notice location) could lead to customer service calls

CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 3

Item processed doesn't tell me much.

"Item processed" is concise, but doesn't really say much.

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CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 3

FedEx

High average score: 7.4, 7

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CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 3

FedEx

High average score: 7.4, 7

It's always good to mention whose facility the item has arrived at since sometimes there are multiple carriers especially for international items.

FedEx wins for purposeful and concise.

The FedEx uses regular, conversational language.

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CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 2.1

"Item arrived" in the situation is terrible - I read that and think it must be at my door."

"Item arrived," I would think it means it's delivered.

"Item arrived" leaves me with a lot of questions. Item arrived where? When? What's actually happening with the item?

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CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 2.1

FedEx

High average score: 8.8

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CONTENT TESTING – TRACK DELIVERY SCAN EVENT

Canada Post

Low average score: 2.1

FedEx

High average score: 8.8

I love how "At local FedEx facility. Scheduled for delivery next business day" mentions when the person can expect delivery

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Holistic View

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Many unclear scan events that aren't relevant to users at this moment in the experience.

DELIVERY TRACK

When we look at the info that we show users for their delivery track, you can see there are a lot of events that are displayed that may not be relevant to users.

When going through the usability criteria, we can see areas that could be improved.

Accessible – some of the copy displayed aren't accessible, e.g., "electronic submitted by shipper" as we've seen in our previous example.

Purposeful – not all of these events are purposeful, What the person should or can do to meet their goals isn't clear.

Concise – similar to the above, the info that's highlighted in the red box isn't relevant at this moment in the experience. It's inconvenient for users to have to click "additional info" to expand to see more.

Conversational – Not really, The words, phrases, and ideas aren't familiar, like the electronic shipping and item processed examples.

Clear – Not really, the actions have ambiguous results.

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Many unclear scan events that aren't relevant to users at this moment in the experience.

DELIVERY TRACK

...In transit from where? Departed where? None of these provide enough detail on where the parcel is in the shipping process; it could be leaving a sorting facility, it could be leaving a delivery truck, it could be leaving one town for another.

I get that they're likely vague to avoid having to write a lot of variables, but none of these are super useful for the user.

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Amazon shows fewer ones, but only the most important ones.

DELIVERY TRACK

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Unhelpful information

"Delivery delayed due to transportation delay."

No information about what caused the delay.
Not beneficial info – users can't do anything about it.
Not comforting to have this additional detail, since users would want to know how this would impact delivery.

EMAIL

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Suggestion

Provide relevant info: "package may arrive later than expected/here's your new delivery date"

Make next steps more prominent: "Track your package"

EMAIL

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Missing next steps

For both examples, what the person should or can do to meet their goals isn't clear.

In Example 2, if we don't include location in the scope, the message itself doesn't tell them where to pick up their package.

TEXT NOTIFICATIONS

Example 1

Example 2

If were to implement our scan events to our current SMS project, you'll notice a number of gaps. For instance, many of these event scans don't stand on their own as a message.

In the examples we're seeing, we're missing the next steps.

What the person should or can do to meet their goals isn't clear. Doesn't follow this pattern: [This happened.] [Take this action to fix it.]

Do they understand what caused the delay? Not really.

Is it beneficial for them to know this information? No, they can't do anything about it.
Is it comforting for them to have this additional detail? Probably not. They would most likely prefer knowing how their delivery has been impacted (e.g., when is the new EDD?).

In example 2, if we don't include location in the scope, the message itself doesn't tell them where to pick up their package.

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Multiple texts to compensate for lack of clarity

The scan event doesn't stand by itself in a text message, so a previous message needs to be sent.

Not concise, purposeful, or clear.

TEXT NOTIFICATIONS

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TEXT NOTIFICATIONS

Content doesn't fit well

Here's an instance where an event description may work better in the track web flow, but not as a text message.

Unclear what's delivered
No follow up steps to contact customer service

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TEXT NOTIFICATIONS

Purolator example

Conversational and clear language
Users know their package has been delivered
Sharing excitement: "hooray!"
Steps to call customer service

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Opportunities

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Update existing scans

Reassess terms we're using, so they resonate with users (using existing studies and competitive research); prioritizing high impact areas
Make the voice more conversational, friendly, less corporate and operational
Remove scans that are not necessary or confusing
Changes and decisions should also be reflected in the content guideline

UPDATE EXISTING SCANS AND GUIDELINES

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CUSTOMIZED SCANS

Identify areas where customization is needed

Compare different channels, and see where scans can be customized for each (while ensuring the terms, tone etc. are consistent)

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REVIEW CUSTOMER SUPPORT VOLUMES

Review customer support volumes

Look at existing customer support volumes related to scan events (e.g., requests related to their delivery status)
Compare ticket volumes overtime to see the impacts of updating existing scan events

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