Project Overview
Grassroots Grocery is a NYC nonprofit fighting food insecurity through community led grocery distribution. To expand its volunteer base, the organization needed evidence on whether the new website clearly invites people to get involved and communicates its values. This project delivered moderated usability testing, synthesis, and actionable recommendations to reduce friction and improve sign-ups.
Tested with 8 users across 3 volunteer segments to uncover barriers in clarity and sign-up flows
User Research
Tested 8 participants, revealing barriers in navigation, signing up and content clarity.
Process
Designed tasks for users and ran 12 tests, which were later analyzed to generate recoomendations.
Results
Identified 5 key issues and proposed solutions. Accomplished a $60 USD donation during testing.
The Challenge
Initial Gaps
1
Barriers to Getting Involved
Prospect Volunteers had issues finding info on how to get involved, since it was scattered through differente pages.
2
Long and Confusing Forms
There were multiple, similar sign up forms for different actions, with unclear CTAs
3
Lack of structure
Brand elements like values, and "why volunteer" content were spread accross the site.
User Research Insights
5 out of 8
participants were unsure if they found the info they were looking for regarding volunteering
75%
highlighted that some messages felt repetitive or scattered
6 out of 8
experienced friction with sign up forms and unclear next steps
The Solution
Strategy & Process
We ran 8 moderate sessions with three audiences (prospective volunteers, active volunteers new to GG, and existing GG volunteers), each completing 12 tasks.
Plan and Recruit
Defined goals with the client, wrote scenarios and tasks, screened and scheduled participants across target segments.
Moderated Testing
Observed user behavior for discovering roles, understanding values, donating and signing up; captured pain points.
Synthesis and Reporting
Grouped issues, prioritized fixes, and delivered a clear recommendations deck with example prototypes.
Key Recommendations
All Volunteer Opportunities, One Page
Create a single hub listing every way to volunteer at GG, with filters and clear details.
Consolidates roles previously spread across multiple pages
Gives users confidence they've seen the full set
Shortens the path to sign up
Map for "Fill a Fridge"
Add a live map showing fridge location and status, in order to optimize volunteer option for filling a fridge.
Immediate location context
Clarity for planning ahead
Increases follow through for this option
Unified "People of GG" Page
Combine Team, Volunteers, and Comitees into a single landing.
Tells a cohesive story of who makes GG work
Click-through to learn more about each group
Stengthens trust and community feel
Takeaways and Next Steps
Clarity
Identified 5 high impact fixes across navigation, forms and content.
Faster Onboarding
A single opportunities and master form reduce time to sign up.
Evidence that Motivates
Real donation during testing validated that users are interested in finishing tasks, the page just won't allow them,.
Takeaways
Thoughts
Clear structure beats more pages. If volunteer opportunities were placed in a single page and sign up forms were conformed by just one step, people would take action. Friendly visuals help, but what carries the conversion are concise copy and obvious CTAs.
Ship the Volunteer Opportunities Hub and Master Sign Up Form first.
Add the Fill a Fridge Map and unify the "People of GG" story
Re-test after changes are done to measure improvements in task success.