Authors
Kevin Potcner
JMP
Objective
Evaluate the potential improvement to the UI design of an online mortgage application process by examining the usability rating from a sample of 50 customers and comparing their performance using the new design vs. a large collection of historic data on customer’s performance with the current design.
Background
An executive team for a mortgage lending company is concerned that the current online application process is a bit too difficult and complicated to complete, thus possibly frustrating potential customers. Since the current online application was implemented two years ago, approximately 10,000 applications have been submitted. This historic data has an average completion time of 72 minutes, with a standard deviation of 14 minutes. In addition, only 20% of the applicants were able to complete the application within an hour, and it required up to 90 minutes before at least 90% of the applicants completed the application.
The company’s design team was asked to create a new UI design for the online application process that would be simpler than the current process, resulting in a more user-friendly experience for the customer and a reduced completion time.
Prior to rolling out the new design to all applicants, the UI design team wants to test it with a small focus group of 50 customers. Each customer was asked to provide a rating of the usability of the design. In addition, the time (in minutes) they took to complete the application process was recorded.
The Task
There are two primary questions the team would like to see if the data can answer.
- 1. Will at least 50% of applicants find the new design “Easier to Use” than expected?
- 2. Will the new UI design reduce the time it takes applicants to complete the process?
- a) Will the average completion time be less than 72 minutes?
- b) Will more than 20% of the applicants be able to complete the application within 60 minutes?
- c) Will 90% of the applicants be able to complete the application in less than 90 minutes?