Keurig Usability Testing

In this project my partners, Daniel Merchant and Raina Orion, and I choose to test on the Keurig coffee machine, which is a new kind of coffee machine that requires a pod filter and only uses the pod filter(the picture on the far right).

Picture credit: http://fetchdeals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Keurig_800x400_24.jpg

First we came up with three tasks that we would want to test on our users, which is changing the brewing temperature, brewing a cup of coffee, and detaching the water reservoir to refill. For the three tasks we would like to test on how fast each of the users can complete the three tasks. After the three task we would ask them to rate the easiness and satisfaction of each task.

Tasks Chosen:

1. Changing the brewing temperature

-- We wanted to know how difficult it would be to manipulate the settings.

2. Brewing a cup of coffee

-- This is to see how difficult it is to actually make a cup of coffee.

3. Detaching the water reservoir to refill

-- This is an example of everyday maintenance that every user will have to do.

Data Collected:

1. Time taken to complete task.

-- Quantitative measure of how successful the machine is.

2. Easiness (1-10 scale, 1 being the easiest, 10 the most difficult).

-- Coffee machines should be easy to use.

3. Satisfaction (1-10 scale, 10 being the most satisfied).

-- Would they buy this product over another coffee machine.

User Group:

• Each of the three users we tested reported themselves as coffee drinkers, but not users of a Keurig-style coffee machine.

• We decided these would be good users to test because people who already drink coffee are the most likely to want a good coffee machine. It is also important that they have not used a Keurig before, because understanding how a user reacts to an unfamiliar product is important for gauging its usability.

Observation:

Users found the first two tasks harder than the third. Task 1 and 2’s average difficulty was rated as 4.66/10, while Task 3 was rated as 3/10. Users had difficulty with the touch screen interface, as reported while performing Tasks 1 and 2. This is a possible explanation for the users’ reported difficulty with Tasks 1 and 2 compared to Task 3, because Task 3 is the only task which does not use the touch screen interface.

There is a direct correlation between the time it took for the user to complete the task and the self-reported satisfaction of the task. Task 2 took the longest, with an average of 58.3 seconds. It also reported the lowest average satisfaction rating, at 6.33/10. Task 3 was the quickest of the 3, with an average time of 35.6 seconds. Task 3 also had the highest satisfaction rating, with an average of 9/10.

What we might have done differently if we were to return the test:

• Make our tasks more specific.

• Ask people that had never used coffee machines.

• Test more users for a more accurate data.