Restructuring Navigation to Improve UX
Company: Questrade
Role: Lead UX Researcher
Tools: UserTesting.com, Optimal Workshop, Google Sheets
Duration: 2 weeks
Team: Jr. UX Researcher
Stakeholders: Sr. UX Designer, Content Designer
Problem Statement & Goal
Questrade’s navigation structure was designed to help users manage their finances, but was it intuitive?
Our goal was to evaluate whether users could easily find key financial actions like moving money, transferring investments, and managing their accounts.
Research Question
Does the existing navigation structure align with users’ mental models?
Dashboard screen to be tested.
My Role
As the Lead UX Researcher, I led the design, execution, and analysis of the research. I focused on ensuring the research methodology was sound, the data collected was actionable, and that our findings could lead directly to product improvements.
Timeline of UX research Project.
Research Approach
Given time and resource constraints, we conducted Unmoderated First-Click Testing to capture users' instinctive navigation choices.
Why First-Click Testing?
Measures how users naturally interpret labels before interacting with the UI.
Why Unmoderated?
Allowed us to collect more responses efficiently using limited UserTesting credits.
How We Reduced Bias?
Limited each participant to 2-3 tasks and randomized task order to avoid answer repetition.
Participant Recruitment:
We recruited 40 participants, evenly split between existing and new Questrade users, to compare how experienced and new users navigated through the product.
Analysis & Insights
42% of users incorrectly selected "Account Management" instead of "Move Money" when transferring funds.
Users associated “Account Management” with financial actions, even though it was meant for settings and preferences.
Participants reported low confidence in their selections during transferring related tasks, indicating label ambiguity.
Since I noticed regular confusion between “Account Management” and “Move Money”, I recommended clearer labeling and collaborated with the content designer to ensure the new labels matched user expectations while maintaining consistency.
Results
To improve clarity, we recommended renaming “Account Management” to “Management” to reduce confusion with financial actions.
First-click testing results.
Example slide from research report.
Follow-Up Study
After implementing the label cahnge, the design team asked us to conduct a second study. This new study focused solely on tasks related to money transferring.
Follow-Up Study Results:
Task success rate increased by 25% after renaming the tab.
Users selected the correct option faster and with more confidence.
Slide from follow-up study comparing results before and after label change.
What I Would Have Done Differently
Card Sorting Test Before Designing
To better understand how users mentally group financial actions before usability testing.
Larger Participant Pool
To uncover potential differences in user behavior based on experience levels.
