A continuous increase of the accessibility to the Internet has lead to several instances where errands previously performed outside the home now can be carried out online as well, such as purchases of books, movies and clothes. Today, several companies offer services for the electronic signing of documents. In this thesis, I have chosen to study the workflow for such electronic signatures.
The focus of the study is the company Comfacts solution, which uses SMS as part of the identification process. The steps that users go through to sign a document are not clearly defined. By studying the workflow of the system Comfact uses for electronic signage, I hope to bring insight of how to design a flow where users understand the process and feel that signing electronic documents online is a simple and straightforward process.
The preliminary study consisted of a heuristic evaluation of the service, a competitor analysis of similar services and usability tests. The result showed that the main problem with the current solution is that certain words and sentences are structured in a way that the participants feel they don’t understand. This, combined with poor information on how the signing process works results in an overall unclear workflow. An unclear workflow will, in turn, cause the users to reflect upon the process itself more than should be necessary.
By using the knowledge gained though theoretic studies and the preliminary study I developed a proposal for a new user interface. This interface was then tested by a new group of users, and I was able to demonstrate measurable improvements from the previous user interface.
The conclusion of my study is that a workflow should be designed with the following aspects in mind, in order to better guide the users through the signing process:
1) Design with the users in mind, not the underlying technology
2) Provide clear information about what is going on
3) Different elements should be visible
4) The design should be consistent
5) Use functions familiar to the users
By designing according to these principles in the future, users exclaiming “Oh, I feel so stupid!” can be avoided, and more users feel “Aha, I understand!”