With this story I am participating in the CX Summer Challenge and want to describe my experience visiting the 52. Montreux Jazz Festival this summer.
To categorize my experience I used the CX Circle recommended approach according to ISO 9241 standard.
According to this standard, he definition of usability is:
“The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use”
This definition can be expanded, and made more comprehensive, by including five characteristics which must be met for the users of a product:
- Effective
- Efficient
- Engaging
- Error Tolerant
- Easy to Learn
To be able to evaluate the experience of the festival according to these criteria, I defined the tasks which I needed to do related to the festival.
Well, the first task was obviously to inform myself about the program of the festival and the decide which concerts to visit.
As it was my first time on the festival, I wanted to inform myself about its concerts and events properly to be able to orientate myself.
First, I went to the site https://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com
The first thing which just came to my mind is that the site is initially displayed in French, although my browser language is German. I understand French quite well, but that would be really nice to have it displayed in the default language of my browser. It would be more effective. Moreover, the site does not set the cookie which language I have chosen and I have to switch to German each time I visit the site.
I would expect the program to be very prominent of the site, so that the users can see the program right on the spot. The program for the current day is displayed on the homepage, although the users have to scroll a little bit. Eliminating or reducing that area under the header would make it more efficient.
The teasers show the pictures and names of the artists which makes it little bit engaging. Even more engaging is the link to spotify albums of the artists in the detailed view.
The problem is that the artists are shown altogether not in a particular order or time of performance so that it is not helpful for planing, but helpful for a general overview.
To get an overview of all the artists before the festival, there is not enough information on the start page. The user has to go to “Program and tickets” navigation menu. Here we find the concerts grouped after a certain day and the location. Well the logic is ok. What about when the user wants to search for a specific artist? The scrolling through all over the list to the bottom would not be very efficient then.
Other point which little bit confused me was that the payed and free concerts are never shown in one view. What if I just come for several days and want to visit the concerts no matter whether free or payed? I always have to switch between the tabs which is not very efficient and easy to learn. One has a feeling that the free program is somewhere “hidden” on the site.
After I informed myself about concerts and artists, I wanted to get a ticket for the concert I was interested in. that was my second task.
The purchase of tickets was an overall easy and quick. There were only three points which confused me.
The first one was choosing the delivery form of the tickets. There were two options: print@home and mobile. When I wanted to know which option I had to choose, there was no sufficient description of the mobile option. Which software I need? Which smartphones are supported? This was not very easy to learn experience.
When I forgot to check the box of accepting the terms and conditions, I was bounced to the beginning of the site.The problem is that the error message was actually above the point of where the user was put back after clicking the pay button. So the message was actually hidden above the point where the user landed. Nov very error tolerant.
The last point which annoyed me during the checkout process was these teasers in the middle of the screen.
Because of this advertisement the user has to scroll up and down. That does not contribute to the efficiency of the process. The ads can be better placed somewhere else less annoying.
The last task I had was to get orientated during the festival and to get directions and overview over all the concerts and events I can visit.
Well I had a hypothesis that there must be an app to get orientated in Montreux. So i searched and discovered the app in the store. On the website there was no mentioning at all of the application, so it was not easy to learn and discover at all. That would be great to make a link on the application on the webpage.
Actually I found the two apps- one the official app for Montreux Jazz festival and one for the Festival Insider, which is advertised on the homepage. I did not understand why there is a need for the two apps since the membership program could be integrated into the normal application. Anyway, I opted for the official application and was right, but the two applications may be confusing for some users.
Well, the application l found was very easy to launch and use. The app is very engaging with the audience and has a tile design. What I really liked was the link to spotify lists of the artists and the special festival list on spotify. Really engaging to be able to hear the artists before coming to the festival. A great idea!
I was also able to add the concerts to favorites and to see my favorites list. What confused me about a favorites list is that it was possible to add the artists as well as single concerts to the list and that was not categorized. That would be cool to have single artists as well as concerts in the list separately.
What really was lacking is the categorization of concerts according to the time. All the concerts of a particular day were listed in one single list and there was no time indication in the detail view… That is an essential information and should be displayed for each concert.
However, in the print media the times of performances were indicated.
I also really liked the navigation in the city during the festival with different colors indicating different music styles being played. Very efficient!
Another great feature are the media on the website and livestreams, although with sightly simplier information architecture that would be more engaging and easier to learn how to find media from the past events. One of the points which can be optimized is the consistency of the information architecture across the website, the app and the print media.
In general, the festival was a great experience and I really enjoyed it! The locations looked great, there was a great navigation between the venues and the food was just excellent! I would definitely recommend the festival and its great atmosphere. Overall, the organization was at the highest level.
My rating of the event and its digital usability:
- Effective — 4/5
- Efficient — 3/5
- Engaging — 5/5
- Error Tolerant — 4/5
- Easy to Learn — 4/5
