Reporting Out: 2026 MyKingston User Testing

Why we engaged

MyKingston (MYK) is the online portal for people who live, work or study in the city. Users can apply for municipal permits, register for programs and services, submit service requests, find information related to their property, and more.

Building off feedback from the 2024 survey, the Digital Content (DTAP) team has made improvements to the design, functionality and usability of the platform.

The goal of this engagement is to validate the updated user interface and explore how users understand, find, and navigate MyKingston. Insights will help define recommendations to improve the portal’s user experience.

How we engaged

Outreach was conducted to the 62 respondents of the 2024 MYK survey who indicated that they were interested in future engagement opportunities. An open call for participants was also published on Get Involved Kingston for interested users who had not participated in the previous survey.

Upon registration, each participant joined a focused call with a member of the DTAP team who led them through a series of activities. The user shared their screen and performed card sorting and scenario‑based navigation tasks in addition to being asked for general feedback.

Who we heard from

  • 15 participants were selected from a pool of 62 volunteers

  • Mix of user types (varying abilities and experience with tech platforms)

  • User feedback is anonymous

What we heard

Overall, users generally find MYK easy to use, but unclear terminology, generic labels and low discoverability of key services create friction, especially assistance programs like MFAP.

Card Sorting

The first activity asked participants to sort “category cards” to help us understand how users conceptualize and expect to find memberships, registrations, and/or programs with the goal of informing placement, labeling and structures of categories.

Users naturally organize information based on what they want to do (task or transaction) who they are (persona) and familiar keywords. Common grouping patterns include:

  • By activity/transaction (registrations→ enrolling in programs, applications → permits, grants, assistance programs)

  • By administrative function (account and payments are seen as process tasks)

  • By persona (residents vs. businesses vs. employers)

A key takeaway is that users think in terms of what they’re doing, who they are and what outcome they need. Users also struggled with broad or generic labels, suggesting the need for specific qualifiers. Consequently, navigation and labels should reflect tasks, personas and outcomes instead of internal or administrative structures.

Residency Verification

When asked to perform the task of residence verification, users looked to the following categories:

  • Account (66%)

  • Services (40%)

  • Dashboard (26%)

A/B testing was conducted for having the verification based on the dashboard page vs. the account page. Most users expect to find reminders for this task on the dashboard and anticipate receiving confirmation by email and/or a visible badge near the address.

Users also suggested other programs/services where verification could be useful, including property tax and permits, and fire permits/address related tasks.

Scenario-based navigation tasks

Users were asked to navigate to specific tasks to evaluate the hierarchy, clarity and usability of the new side menu, including:

  • Find info and apply for MFAP: Users could not immediately identify where to start the MFAP journey, forcing trial-and-error navigation. The label “Services” did not match users’ mental categorization for financial assistance programs leading to hesitation.

  • Checking status of MFAP application: Moderate rates of success, with some users struggling to complete the task.

  • Subscribing to updates: While most users were able to subscribe to updates successfully, some users struggled to find the location or failed to complete the task.

40% of users relied on exploration navigation than recognition, only succeeding after scrolling and navigating the Dashboard, then clicking on the “Services” menu. Only 13% of user completed the “Find and apply” task directly.

20% of users struggled to find where to subscribe to updates, while 26% struggled but still completed the application status check task, indicating opportunities to improve navigation and reduce cognitive load.

General Feedback

On average, users rated the platform 4.2 out of 5. The platform is perceived as intuitive, familiar, and easy to navigate, but opportunities remain to improve content relevance, terminology, and structural clarity—particularly around how services are grouped and personalized.

Additional insights provided by users include suggestions for design changes, merging of similar sections, categorizing content by users type, editing content labels/tone of text, prioritizing specific buttons, implementing search functions and unifying portals.

10/15 participants would feel comfortable using MYK again. 4/15 participants didn’t respond and 1 participant expressed concerns about the value it provides.

Next steps

The above results have been shared with the DTAP team. Key insights will be used to inform actionable design recommendations to improve the MYK experience. This includes refining the navigation structure, simplifying labeling and messaging, and ensuring content is organized in a way that aligns with users’ mental models.

Future design components will be reviewed to integrate seamlessly within the overall experience and support both current needs and future growth.