Situation - we have developed a website, all the buttons and “tabs” are active, there is the necessary information, but it seems that there is something wrong with it. Or everything is so, but you want to make it even more convenient and efficient. This is where usability testing comes into play - it helps to find where users stumble and understand how to fix it.
The Redigitra team is in touch. We specialize in the development and maintenance of portals and websites for government agencies. In 2025, they entered the top 7 developers of websites and web services in the field of “Government structures and services: government programs” of the Runet Rating.
For the first time, we conducted usability testing commissioned by the Ugra Entrepreneurship Support Fund “My Business”. The result is that the resource has been adjusted and made more understandable and user-friendly. Everything was fixed within one project.
What's wrong? Let's start by stating the problem
The customer formulated the problem from the user’s perspective: the site worked, contained the necessary information, but it was uncomfortable to use. Together we formulated several hypotheses, which were confirmed or refuted after testing.
- can the user find what he needs on the site - for example, government support measures for entrepreneurs;
- How convenient is it to use the site - are there the necessary tabs, are they easy to find, is navigation comfortable;
- how long the user searches for information - makes a couple of clicks or several dozen, goes to one or two pages or gets lost between tabs.
The first difficulty is the formulation of a clear technical specification. We had to develop flexibility; along the way, we collected and analyzed information and clarified the goals and objectives of usability. And they made sure that the entire project fit within the agreed budget.
Testing is carried out by experts, but it cannot be done without the participation of the customer. It provides source data, information for tests, and, for example, user databases. Full inclusion in the process is not necessary. But we convey intermediate results of usability and can adjust the tasks as we prepare for testing. The customer and I have complete mutual understanding, which is why our joint projects turn out great.
Moving on: 7 basic usability steps
- How convenient and intuitive is the search for a specific support measure based on the specified parameters;
- the effectiveness and clarity of the interactive assistant in the “Support Measures” section;
- possible bugs in the operation of the site.
Next we will show what we found out as a result of testing and what we improved.
We found out that we need to adjust the version for mobile devices, the interactive assistant and navigation
Adaptation for mobile devices - it turned out that many respondents only work on smartphones and tablets. In search of government support measures, they go to the Businessyugra.rf portal from their phone, and do not use desktop computers or laptops at all. This is one of the unexpected and non-obvious results of the study.
At the same time, most often the resources of government agencies are developed, tested and improved for the user working at a computer.
- the intermediate display of results on the screen was automatically darkened;
- The search results are difficult to read because of the “curtain” with the text “Here’s what I found.”
This is what the interactive assistant looked like before testing. There was no button that would take you to the support measures page in one click. To exit the online assistant, users clicked on the logo and returned to the main page instead of the support measures page. The path is inconvenient and not obvious.
Navigation is also a problem, including due to the weak mobile version, and using the “classic” portal from a smartphone is inconvenient.
This is what the main page looked like before modifications. For example, the “Support Measures” button in the header did not look clickable and looked like a headline, so many users did not notice it. The search bar was also lost due to its small size. In addition, it turned out that just a picture in the form of a magnifying glass is not enough to understand the functionality.
We also learned that part of the focus group did not understand the terms and definitions of government support measures. It turns out, for example, that before finding government support measures for “social business,” an entrepreneur must first independently find out what is meant by this term.
Here we, as developers, cannot make changes, but in the report for the customer we emphasized the point of terminology.
What we changed based on usability results
1. We moved support measures and the interactive assistant to the main screen so that they are visible on any device
2. The menu gave access to the general page of support measures and made the clickability of the title “Support Measures” more obvious. Added the word “search” to the search bar. It became clear why the magnifying glass was drawn there.
3. We added the ability to return to the start of the assistant in one click and the ability to delete categories in filters without completely resetting all parameters. We made a “Find” button on the support measures page.
4. We enlarged the filter fields with categories so that when scrolling, only they are scrolled, and not the entire site page. We added visual differences between filters and the interactive assistant so that the difference is visible at first glance.
All changes were agreed upon with the customer and his budget. We prepared layouts, agreed on everything again, tested it on an additional site and transferred it to the site.
Here are the metrics that changed after the service update
1. Dynamics of views - the number of views has increased, which means that people began to use the interactive assistant more often and understand it in more detail.
- twice as many visitors used the interactive assistant;
- The time spent on the page has doubled;
- the browsing depth increased by 37%, that is, on average the user began to view more pages.
Some more examples of “before” and “after” changes based on usability results
Was Now
Since we modernized the site based on the results of usability testing, it has gone through several more modifications. Any, even the coolest site, needs to be regularly tested with the help of users and new functions added - then it will always be in demand, visited and trendy.
Recistra has extensive experience working with government customers - we understand how to properly prepare documents and participate in procurement. Within the framework of one project, we can carry out usability testing and adjust the site so that it becomes more convenient, understandable and functional.