Case Studies

User research, auditing content, and top task analysis for the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre)

The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) aim to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. They are a multi-disciplinary team, funded by the Home Office and hosted by Barnardo’s. The Centre works closely with partners from academia, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. 

Project overview

They asked us to review its digital presence. The organisation had grown and evolved since it was founded in 2017 and the website and other channels had developed organically over the years. The team wanted to better understand their users, their content and what they needed to do to meet the needs of their users while also achieving their business goals.  

Project goals

The main goals for the project were for the client to understand:

  • the most common tasks the CSA Centre website users are trying to achieve
  • how the website can better meet the business goals
  • the gap between what is being met and not met with recommendations on where digital investment should be made
  • how to reorganise the website for current and future content
  • opportunities to improve existing website content including plain English tone of voice

Project team

To do this, the Lagom project team consisted of a  dedicated User Researcher, Content Strategist and Social Media Specialist.

What we did

The activities completed throughout the project were:

  • 5 stakeholder interviews
  • 5 user interviews
  • 5 usability testing sessions
  • Website top tasks analysis
  • Twitter, LinkedIn and website analytics review
  • Website expert UX review
  • 177 website pages audited against 14 key criteria including tone, style, readability, usefulness and accessibility
  • Ran website visitor survey
  • Developed provisional sitemap
  • Created content review and inventory
  • Ran tree test exercise with 79 users

We had to gain a deep understanding of who was using and engaging with the CSA Centre’s website and social media channels. This would also tell us who wasn’t and so identify potential new audiences to connect with.

We carried out a programme of research activities, including user interviews, usability tests and a website analytics review, to gain an understanding of how well the site was meeting users’ needs and to develop a prioritised list of the tasks users are trying to perform on the site.

We also spoke to stakeholders to establish the CSA Centre’s goals and how they felt the digital presence could help them achieve these.

A full content review of the site was also carried out to identify any areas of the user experience that could be improved. 177 website pages were audited again 14 key criteria including tone, style, readability, usefulness and accessibility. This also created an up to date content inventory for the client so they could better govern their content long term.

The CSA Centre’s use of Twitter and LinkedIn was also evaluated and recommendations were made about how this could be used to increase the reach of their work.

The number of resources the CSA Centre provides to front-line professionals, such as social workers, teachers, health professionals and police, has grown significantly in recent years and it was clear that finding these resources on the site was a priority for users and stakeholders.

To make the site easier to navigate, we developed a tree test in OptimalSort, for users of the website to test out a refreshed site map before any changes were made to the site. This provisional site map was based on previous work by the CSA Centre team and the learnings from our research.

Through this we were able to validate a top level of navigation for a new site map and recommend areas to focus future user research on.

Project outcomes

We presented more than 50 findings on the website’s users, design and content, the use of social media, and the people and processes governing the website.

We also made 30 recommendations to help the CSA Centre move towards its ambitions, including a roadmap of quick wins that the team could implement themselves, and larger work packages.


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