ShakeShack

Executive Summary

Shake Shack is a luxury fast food restaurant that serves burgers, hot dogs, shakes, and much more. Shake Shack company’s goal was to increase the amount of food and souvenir online orders 25%. Shake Shack wanted to ensure its website is working well and running efficiently to meet that goal. In order to accomplish the goal, a usability study was used to learn about the customer’s highlights and pain points while interacting with Shake Shack’s website.

Factors that define Usability

• Ease of Use

• Effectiveness

• Experience Satisfaction

As for demographics, all of the participants were male in age range (25-45yrs), with a business and technology background.

• The majority of the participants got through the two major tasks. The first task caused some confusion on how far participants can go through the purchase journey

• The food customization process lacked burger selection clarity, especially for the lettuce wrap because it has “no bun”

• Most of the participants had a difficult time finding a gift box message in which they couldn’t find it in the gift card area

Key Results of Shake Shack Website Experience

This report includes the details on how the research was conducted, the results discovered, and also a brief list of recommendations to improve Shake Shack’s website.

Methodology

About Unmoderated Study

Participants completed the unmoderated study without any guidance and interaction from the moderator and the follow-up satisfaction survey. The unmoderated study was recommended due to the tight evaluation timeframe. All participants were able to do the “think-aloud” study and did not face any issues on Validately recording software.

Outreach and Screening

I recruited a few of my work colleagues and KSU classmates to participate in the unmoderated study of ShakeShack. I conducted the study through the Validately website. I scheduled each participant and sent them a test link.

The main factors for recruitment screening

• Experience with online food ordering & online shopping

• Familiar with food customizations

Test Setup & Moderation

1. Participants were told to use the Validately link I sent them and I provided them with the directions on how to do the the usability test of the Shake Shack website. After they complete the usability test then they would finish up a survey of five follow-up questions.

2. Tasks

• Task 1: Let's say you and your closest friends work together at a financial company in Broadway, NY. You have a 1-hour lunch break. You all decided that you want to order burgers online because the online pickup is much faster than the cashier line. Stop before placing the order. The 3 burgers you order are:

  • Single Smoke Shack with 2 additions

  • Chick’n Shack with no bun and 3 additions

  • Shroom burger with one addition

• Task 2: Let's say you enjoyed the food and the restaurant experience at Shake Shack. You decided that you want to sign up for exclusive deals and get notified on new menu items. Walk me through where you want to sign up for email. Can you proceed through via email?

• Task 3: Your friend is a big Shake Shack fan. You decided to order a wine bag for her birthday. You want to include a gift box with a customized message. Walk me through how you would do that.

3. Follow Up Questions

1. How would you rate the overall Shake Shack website experience?

2. What task did you struggle the most?

3. Tell me more on what areas of the task you struggled in

4. What task was straightforward and simple for you to go through?

Results

Each task was measured through the success rates and the number of errors that occurred. I also gathered unique quotes that showcase the pain points of each task.

Task 1

Key Findings

• Participants were trying to scroll down the burger menu and had difficulties finding the single vs double burger.

• The no bun was misleading to all of the participants because it meant getting a lettuce wrap.

• There was also a problem placing the order due to Participant 5 being forced to put their first and last name.

Quotes

• Quote from Participant 1: “Find a smoke shack, it doesn’t say single or double.”

• Quote from Participant 2: “I check the bag and go to checkout. It requires me to sign in for checkout. I completed task.”

• Quote from Participant 3: “The no bun is confusing to see lettuce wrap.”

Image Results

Task 2

Key Findings

• Participants were trying to locate the sign up for exclusive deals.

• Some of the participants were exploring the header menu to see the sign up for deals.

• All of them scrolled down to the footer and discovered the exclusive deals and offers for name and email.

• There were 2 participants who were not comfortable in providing their personal info other than email due to spam emails.

Quotes

• Quote from Participant 1: “Sign up should exist on the header that says deals.”

• Quote from Participant 5: “I scrolled down and see the get scoop. I’m not going to sign up with email because I will get spam.”

Image Results

Task 3

Key Findings

• Participants were able to complete the task of adding the wine bag to the cart and proceeding with the order to checkout

• However, participants were confused about locating the wine bag. Participants associated the wine bag with adult but did not know it was located in accessories

• They struggled to find the gift box message

Quotes

• Participant 4: “Nowhere in cart for message on gift box.”

• Participant 5: “Wine is associated with an Adult.”

Image Results

Follow Up Survey Results

1. How would you rate the overall Shake Shack website experience?

• 80% of the participants were satisfied with the experience

2. What task did you struggle with the most?

• 80% of the participants struggled in task 3

3. Tell me more on what areas of the task you struggled in

• 60% of the participants couldn’t find where the gift box message was located and didn’t realize it was located in the checkout

• 1 participant didn’t know that the wine bag was located under accessories

4. What task was straight forward and simple for you to go through?

• 60% of the participants felt Task 2 was straight forward when it comes to locating the exclusive deals

Recommendations

• Conduct further tests on users on how they process Shake Shack’s souvenirs through the purchase path

• Provide a drop-down selection for each category item in the retail section of Shake Shack. Change the retail name to something else

• The best place for the giftbox message is in the first part of the purchase funnel such as in the cart or in the gift card section

• Provide exclusive deals within the header menu to make it visible for the users