UX REVIEW - cHAtGPT+

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I asked ChatGPT Plus how I could increase the conversion of the The Animal Companions Support Fund (ACSF) desktop homepage I designed for the Google UX Design Professional Certificate. Here is what was recommended, my acceptance or rejection of the recommendation, and a brief analysis:

"Make the "Donate" and "Need Help?" buttons more prominent with contrasting colors and larger fonts. Consider adding a hover effect for user interaction."  

Partly Accept - The colours are prominent; however, the larger font and hover effect recommendations will be adopted in a redesign.  

"The carousel images are great for storytelling. Make sure they have captions or brief descriptions explaining the context. Also, consider using auto-rotating images with manual controls."

Accept - While I have a brief description on the main image, I have not added descriptions to the other two images. Auto-rotation was the intention. 

"Use compelling stories or testimonials to connect emotionally with visitors. Highlighting success stories or showcasing the impact of donations can motivate users to contribute."

Accept - While the "emotional appeal" is represented throughout the rest of the design, I am fully onboard with the benefits of placing some of this content on the homepage as a hook to maximise donations. A redesign would definitely incorporate this recommendation. 

"In the main banner area, provide a concise statement on the unique value ACSF offers, which differentiates it from other organizations."

Accept - The only text in the banner is the name of the charity and "keeping animals and companions together".  Additional text aligning the problem with the solution, and then stating impact / effectiveness / ROI of donation dollars to message differentiation from other similar charities seeking donation dollars should feature in a redesign. 

"Ensure that the most crucial information or actions (like donating) are most prominent, drawing attention to them first."

Accept - While Donate, Volunteer and Need Help? CTAs have been displayed prominently by placing above the fold and with the use of colour, a redesign option could include using the Z-pattern layout to rearrange the asset layout above the fold. This could include placing the CTAs at the top left. User testing, A/B testing, heatmap data, site data, etc. could be used to help inform the optimal layout. 

"Consider incorporating video content that tells the story of the organization's mission and showcases its impact."

Accept - agree 100%. The redesign would include a feature video above the fold.

"Display logos of any partners, media mentions, or certifications the organization has received. Trust badges for secure donations can also reassure visitors."

Accept - agree 100%. The redesign would include trust signals.

"Use high-quality images that evoke emotion and are related to the organization's mission. Ensure they're optimized for web to avoid slow loading times."

Accept 

"While the top navigation is clear, consider minimizing the number of choices or highlighting the most important ones."

Accept based on further user testing and data - A redesign option could involve placing About, News and Contact together in a dropdown menu. As the charity's impact is the most important category to message credibility and attract donations, the navigation could simply feature Home, Impact, and About Us. It really comes down to user testing and what would make most sense for the user, what would optimize donations, etc., etc. 

"Provide more detailed contact information. A phone number or email address can be useful. The repeated logo and mission statement can be made smaller or eliminated to give space to other vital information."

Accept

"Ensure the landing page is fully responsive and offers an excellent mobile viewing experience."

Accept

"If there are any notable donors, endorsements, or positive press about the organization, highlight them on the landing page."  

Accept - Instead of the icons featuring below the fold, a redesign would incorporate a news carousel / slider with news story images and captions, taking the user to the news section and full story.

"Implement a live chat or chatbot feature that can answer common questions about donations, volunteering, and the organization's mission in real-time.."

Accept - 100% 

"Utilize analytics tools to understand user behavior and gather feedback. This data can be invaluable for refining the landing page."

Accept - 100%

"Encourage visitors to sign up for newsletters or updates. This not only keeps them engaged but also creates an opportunity for future donations."

Accept - 100%.  A redesign would feature a signup for either a newsletter or updates.

"While it's essential to provide information, ensure the content is concise and relevant. Use bulleted lists or infographics where possible to make content easily digestible."

Accept - 100%

I asked ChatGPT Plus how I could improve the IA structure for the Councils Adapting To Coastal Hazards Interactive Tool ( CATCHIT  ) website that I designed for the Google UX Design Professional Certificate. Here are the recommendations it offered:

"Try to maintain a consistent depth across sections. Some sections like "About SLR" and "About Us" don't have further sub-sections, while "Council Users" and "Other Users" have multiple sub-levels."  

Accept - The redesign would include sub-sections in those sections without. However, by looking at the IA in hindsight, I believe a redesign of the IA would involve including "News" and "Contact Us" as sub-sections in the "About Us" section. The "About SLR" would have additional sub-sections relating to how Sea Level Rise (SLR) impacts various actors, such as councils, residents, businesses, non-human actors (vegetation, animals), etc. "Search" and the "Directory of Participating Councils" could simply be incorporated in a search box feature at the top right of the page where users expect those to be located. 

- In terms of gaining an understanding of why consistency in depth is important, I asked ChatGPT Plus "Why should you try and maintain consistent depth across IA sections?". It provided ten reasons as to why it's important. I then asked it to summarize these reasons that it just provided (so I could put them into this explanation) - it spat out ten dot points. I then asked it to put its above answer in one sentence separated by commas. Here are the reasons why ChatGPT Plus suggested consistency in depth is important: "clear user expectations, reduces cognitive load, ensures predictable navigation, facilitates site scalability, improves usability by offering fewer choices, enhances design efficiency, simplifies maintenance, boosts potential SEO rankings, builds user trust, and enables efficient task completion." The explanations provided by Chat GPT Plus made perfect sense to me! 

"Council Users" and "Other Users" are categories that might seem ambiguous to a new visitor. Consider specifying what "Other Users" entails or splitting it into more descriptive categories."

Accept - The redesign could involve a simple labelling variation, such as "All Other Users" or could feature each of the targeted users, including: 

• Council jurisdictions that are exposed to sea level rise.
• At-risk property owners (residents and and business)
• Council consultants and employees
• State and Federal government partners
• Community Groups
• Media
• General public

"Under "Council Users" and "Other Users", there are sub-sections like "User Account" and "Service User Account". If these are types of user profiles, consider grouping them under a "User Profiles" or "Accounts" section for clarity."

Accept - This was already done by having buttons on each page. 

"User Flow Map" and "Framework" under "Council Users" sound like operational or functional aspects. Consider having a separate section like "How It Works" or "Getting Started" and group such functionalities together."

Accept - An amazing recommendation. Simply astounded. A redesign would adopt this recommendation. 

"A standalone "Search" might be too broad. Consider specifying what users can search for. If it's a global search, it might be better integrated into the header of the website for easier accessibility."

Accept - Another awesome recommendation. Different users are definitely going to search for different content; however, the search keywords and terms used by specific users would bring up search results that are relevant to all users - thereby bogging a specific user down in irrelevant search results. The redesign would involve having a feature that would tailor search results  to the specific user.  

"About SLR" and "About Us" can potentially be merged into a single "About" section with SLR as a sub-section. It will reduce the top-level menu items and make the structure cleaner."

Rejected - SLR stands for sea level rise. As such, they are not similar.

"Directory of Participating Councils" can be shortened to "Participating Councils" or simply "Council Directory" for ease of understanding."

Accept 

"Consider adding a section for footer links that can contain "Terms of Use", "Privacy Policy", "Site Map", and other standard website utilities."

Accept 

"Consider adding a "Support" or "Help" section for users who may have technical issues or questions about the platform."

Accept

"Under the "News" section, you can add sub-sections like "Announcements", "Events", and "Updates" to provide more organized information."

Accept

"While this is more about the visual design than the IA itself, consider using different line styles or colors to indicate different levels of hierarchy, making it easier to read and understand."

Accept