UX/UI DESIGN | UX RESEARCH | USABILITY TESTING | EDUCATIONUsing Usability Testing to Simplify the Enrollment Experience
The Project
Redesign the University of Phoenix's online checkout experience, allowing students to enroll in classes and purchase required course materials in one seamless transaction. The goal was to create a more intuitive, familiar checkout process informed by usability research and real student behavior.
The Challenge
The existing checkout process required students to navigate a confusing 16-step flow to register for classes and purchase required course materials.
The lengthy experience lacked clear progress indicators, presented too much information at once, and required unnecessary user input, creating confusion and frustration. Students sometimes abandoned the process or contacted customer support for assistance.
Rather than simply reducing the number of screens, the challenge was to understand where students struggled, why those issues occurred, and how testing could inform a more intuitive experience.
Research & Testing
Working alongside the University's in-house UX research team, wireframes and interactive prototypes were developed and evaluated through moderated usability testing in a dedicated research lab.
Approximately 15 participants completed individual testing sessions, scheduled in groups of five across multiple days. Each participant worked through the proposed 6-step checkout while the design team observed their interactions through a live video feed.
Using eye-tracking technology, live observation, and participant feedback, the team identified where students focused their attention, encountered confusion, or hesitated while navigating the experience.
Testing was an active, iterative process. When participants uncovered unexpected usability issues or provided valuable insights, adjustments were sometimes made to the prototypes immediately after a session. This allowed the experience to be continuously refined and improvements to be evaluated with subsequent participants.
The process helped challenge assumptions, uncover usability issues, and inform design decisions before the experience moved into development.
The Solution
Research revealed that students expected the enrollment checkout to function much like the familiar e-commerce experiences they used every day.
These insights informed a redesigned flow with simplified information architecture, fewer unnecessary inputs, clearer progress indicators, and a more predictable sequence of steps.
Through iterative testing and refinement, the original 16-step checkout was streamlined into a more intuitive 6-step experience, making it easier for students to navigate enrollment and purchase required course materials.
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6 steps
streamlined from a 16-step checkout
15 Participants
Individual usability sessions with current and prospective students.
1:1 Testing
Moderated research using eye tracking, live observation, and participant feedback.
Iterative Refinement
Real user insights informed prototype improvements before development.