User Test · Find an Office Block · PracticeBeat

Find an Office
Usability Session

A moderated think-aloud walkthrough of the new Find an Office block — address search, device location, the distance-sorted office list, the map, and the office detail card — run against the Cedar Grove Health demo build.

Product
Website Builder · Locations
Participant
"Marianne K."
Session
Audio & Video · Block pilot
Format
Moderated think-aloud, phone-first
MK

Participant Profile

Marianne K.

Persona · Patient, 61 · New to the area

Marianne recently relocated to be near her grandkids and needs a new family doctor. She does most things on her iPhone, is comfortable but not fluent — she'll type an address before she'll hunt for a clever shortcut — and she books appointments by phone, not portals. She matches the block's target user: no prior knowledge of the practice's locations, looking for a map and a phone number.

Wants the nearest office, fast Books by phone, not portals Low patience for typing on mobile
8
Things that worked
20
Issues raised
3
Confirmed bugs
5
Problem areas

What worked

8 observations

The block's core promise — "tell us where you are and we'll do the rest" — landed. Once a search ran, Marianne never questioned the ordering, and the tap targets were the right size for her thumbs.

What didn't

20 issues · 3 bugs

Confirmed defects are tagged Bug and feature/direction asks are tagged Request. Everything else is UX friction or polish.

01

Finding "near me"

  • The crosshair icon was invisible as "use my location." Marianne typed her address on every task and never tried the icon until the moderator pointed at it — "I thought that was a decoration on the box." Needs a labeled control, e.g. a "Use my location" text button under the field.3:12

  • After declining the location permission once, there was no path back — the browser won't re-prompt, and the error copy doesn't say how to re-enable it. Wants a short "how to turn location back on" hint or link.Request4:41

  • She expected address suggestions to appear as she typed, "like Google does." No autocomplete made her doubt she was typing the right format.Request6:05

  • Her full street address returned "we couldn't find that address" in the keyless demo; she read it as her mistake. The error should suggest the working formats first (ZIP or city) rather than after the apology.6:48

  • No way to undo a search — once sorted, she wanted the original "all offices" view back and reached for a clear "×" in the field that isn't there. Suggest a "Show all offices" reset link next to the results message.Request8:15

02

List & distances

  • The distance pill reads as a button — she tapped "0.8 mi" twice expecting the map to jump to that office. Either make it do that, or flatten it visually.9:02

  • "0.0 mi" (searching the office's own ZIP) read as broken — "zero miles? Is that an error?" Floor the display at "< 0.1 mi."9:44

  • With eight offices across four specialties, she wanted to narrow by type — "just show me family medicine." A service-type filter above the list.Request11:20

  • Mobile scroll trap: on the phone, the inner office list captures the page scroll — she got stuck scrolling cards when she meant to reach the map, and flicked harder instead of realizing why.Bug12:37

03

Map behavior

  • All eight pins are identical — after panning, she lost which pin was the selected office. The selected pin should change color or grow, matching the card highlight.14:05

  • On mobile the detail card covers the bottom half of the map — including, ironically, the nearest pins it's describing. Wants it docked below the map (or collapsible to a title bar) on small screens.Request15:22

  • Pin-to-list sync is invisible on desktop: tapping a pin highlights the matching card, but if that card is scrolled out of view nothing appears to happen — she tapped the same pin three times. Scroll the list to the selected card.Bug16:10

  • Closing the detail card leaves the map zoomed tight on one office with no way back to the full network view short of pinch-zooming. Re-fit the bounds on close.17:03

04

Office details & actions

  • The fax number got a laugh — "I haven't faxed anything since 2009." For patients it's noise in the card's prime real estate; move it behind Show Hours or into a secondary row.Request18:40

  • Request Appointment dead-ends in the prototype — the button anchors to a section that doesn't exist, so the page just hops. Each office needs a real destination (URL or form) wired in block settings.Bug19:26

  • "Today: 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM" made her check her watch — she wanted the conclusion, not the range: "Open now · closes 5:30."Request20:14

  • On the desktop pass, Call Office appeared to do nothing (no tel: handler installed) — show the number itself as the fallback so the button is never a dead click.21:01

05

Readability & access

  • The 13px address lines were the one thing she leaned in for — "I'd need my glasses for the address, and the address is the point." Bump a size on mobile.22:47

  • Keyboard pass: tabbing walks through all eight cards (four stops each) before reaching the map or detail card. Add a skip control after the search bar.Request23:30

  • The placeholder "Enter your address or ZIP code" truncates to "Enter your address or ZI…" on her phone — shorten to "Address or ZIP code."24:12

The session throughline

The block's best feature is hidden behind an unlabeled icon

Everything Marianne loved — the sorted list, the badge, the "it did the math for me" moment — only happens after the block knows where she is. But the fastest way to tell it (device location) is an icon she read as decoration, so she hand-typed her address on every single task, even after learning the shortcut existed. The fix is cheap: a labeled "Use my location" button beside or below the search field, plus a block setting to invite location on first interaction. Theme 01 is really one finding wearing five hats, and it gates the whole experience.