Single Front Door — Finding the Right Covid Test
At Test & Trace I partnered with a researcher from Nomensa, embedded in a team building a single entry point to help users find the right Covid test. This predated the free rollout of lateral flow tests to the general public.
Context
Prior research had established strong user trust in the NHS, and the team wanted to understand how users would experience a new Covid Test & Trace Hub on NHS.UK, consolidating content previously spread across GOV.UK. Our first question was more fundamental: could users even navigate to the right test in the first place?
Initial research
We ran sessions with six participants from a range of backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and genders. The objectives were to understand how users evaluated asymptomatic testing and the emerging 'universal offer' of lateral flow tests, how they were currently finding the right test, and how the MVP Single Front Door performed.
Key findings & Design Workshop
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Users took highly varied routes — GP websites, council pages, employer portals, international travel sites — depending on their circumstances
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The most common entry point was GOV.UK's 'Find a PCR test' page, as lateral flow tests weren't yet freely available
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Trust was the deciding factor; users gravitated toward sources they recognised as legitimate
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NHS brand trust was high, making the Single Front Door a sound strategic move — though Google search ranking would be critical to its success
We played findings back to the team through a workshop exploring what users were thinking, feeling and doing across the journey.
Single Front Door research strategy
With the team in flux and priorities shifting, I put together a research strategy to bring clarity, defining the key pain points already identified, the part of the journey our team owned, and the focus for upcoming sprints.
Sprint 1 research
With a strategy agreed, we moved into sprint-based working. Our first round of testing built on earlier findings, focusing on five questions:
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What are users' natural journeys when finding the right test?
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How does the NHS website fit within those journeys?
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Is the site fulfilling established user needs?
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Have recent content and IA changes improved findability and understanding?
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What are the key pain points and opportunities to better support users in finding, obtaining, and acting on test results?
We collaborated with a Data & Analytics team to supplement qual findings with behavioural data, and I presented the results to the Test & Trace Department of Health & Social Care team.
