Virgin Games - case study
Virgin Games launched in June 2004 and has quickly established itself as one of the leading gaming websites in the UK. Virgin Games is becoming a key player in the online games industry counting the likes of William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power Games and Sky as its direct competitors.
Background
We were contacted by Virgin Games to provide a proposal on user testing on their existing website as well as to support them as a usability partner throughout the design and build of their new site. They wanted to gain insights into how customers navigated through key landing pages on the existing site for each primary vertical (Casino, Poker and Bingo) as well as testing the usability of the registration and promotion process.
Screenshot
Challenge to meet
We were asked to gather practical insights during user testing that would inform the design and development of the site going forwards.
Benefits and outcomes
We identified suggestions and improvements to the existing site during user testing. The initial report we produced captured key issues from the user testing, including areas such as each product landing page and user journeys through registration. We also produced a lighter report with an issue list to collectively agree for each of the 5 tests that we ran.
What we did
We recruited in total 36 participants working with an external recruiter called Saros Research, made up of existing and prospective customers of varying age ranges and gender and each with a focus on the key product areas (Casino, Poker and Bingo). These were then interviewed using a mixture of self determined and predefined tasks on the website. We allowed for exploration using self determined (or freeform tasks as they are also known).
How this was achieved
We first ran a test over two days on the existing site with 6 users per day with 1 hour interviews for each one. We also gathered user's opinions and thoughts by way of a survey at the end of the testing sessions to gain additional insights. We then ran a series of 1 day tests ranging from low to high fidelity prototypes throughout the development process, working in 2 week agile iterations.
Testimonial
Spotless have proved themselves to be an invaluable asset to Virgin Games, working closely with us over the last 6 months on two product development projects. They quickly understood exactly what we needed as a business and ran a series of user tests which have given us an essential understanding of what our customers think about both our current website and planned enhancements. If you’re looking for a flexible agency to help you with a range of usability testing I would highly recommend Spotless for the job.
Joshua Morris - Commercial Director - Virgin Games
