Paul Rouke and PRWD on User Centered Design

To all online marketing managers, project managers, site owners, designers and developers (of commercial websites) - if you haven’t yet experienced user testing of your (or your clients) site 1st hand, then (budget permitting) I would strongly recommend getting your feet wet.

Instant benefits user testing can provide you and your business (or your clients business)

1. Provides immediate quick wins - you can then action and subsequently enhance the user experience and user task completion rates, in turn increasing site conversions and ultimately your ROI
2. Establish why checkout conversion rates are low and drop-out (abandonment) rates for a particular stage in the checkour process are high - again for E-commerce sites, a serious issue effecting the majority of sites large and small is poor (or poorer than what can be achieved) conversion rates of customers who have begun a checkout process. User testing this key shopping journey can identify where users experience barriers to progression and any areas of frustration or security concerns.
3. The significant Search Engine Marketing company budget isn’t being wasted - rather than continuing to throw money on Google Adwords marketing and similar, driving more potential new customers to your (un-tested/poor conversions) website, budget is spent optimising the user experience of the site which will provide much greater increases in return on investment
4. Help identify key issues in information architecture - knowing that users struggle to find a key area/tool within the website can be invaluable, providing the necessary proof that key changes need to be made
5. Raises issues not even considered internally - perhaps an area that is considered optimal may in fact have room for improvement
6. Shopping behaviours can be identified and the website tailored to maximise conversion opportunities - for e-commerce sites, providing there are enough participants, user testing will provide insight into different shopping behaviours (hunters, followers, impulse buyers) which in turn can help a business identify how critical information and calls to actions should be positioned within a page hierarchy as users progress through a shopping journey
7. Quashes any in-house politics - real users provide the insights into what is and isn’t working on your site
8. Creative marketing messages and promotions ignored - the expensive, slick piece of on-site marketing is actually overlooked as users exhibit banner blindness, instead they go looking for actual site content and not forms of advertising or promotions

User testing, when conducted professionally, can provide an overwhelming insight into how real users actually interact (or attempt to interact) with your site.

As I have experienced on both transactional and non-transactional websites, from SME’s to blue chip companies such as Littlewoods Shop Direct, the return on investment by carrying out user testing can be outstanding to a businesses online operation

Understandably work is required on identifying your existing and potential target audiences, and ensuring the right users are recruited to carry out the user testing, but with the right user testing facilitator (a service I personally provide through my user experience agency) and the right structure of test scenarios, gaining the insight available through observing a user using your website can both shock and excite website owners, as they realise both the current failings of their site (whether in user experience, information architecture or technical errors) and begin to understand that by making sometimes subtle changes to their site will significantly increase user task completion rates.

What if you have no budget for user testing?

• For businesses and clients without sufficient budget - improvise! Use friends and family who use the internet to a level which fits with one of your customer segments
• Task these people with the same site objectives inline with your commercial objectives
• Observe them as they navigate the site, successfully or un-successfully, and you will begin to realise the potential of user testing

With reference to the title of this post, in addition to observing user testing, a second factor comes in to play - think out loud methodology.

What is think out loud methodology?

The user is encouraged to talk about their experiences when carrying out task and scenario based exercises, so when they may have paused their mouse movement whilst contemplating where to look/what to click on, the user testing facilitator encourages (but only subtly) the user to talk about what is going through their minds at this key stage - remember the more cognitive effort a user requires to complete their tasks can enhance their frustrations or limit their patience in carrying out the task

I have spoke to other usability professionals, some of who don’t like to rely on what the user says, and although this can be true dependant on a variety of factors such as a facilitator who wrongly provides prompts for the user, or when a users actual site interactions conflict significantly with what they are saying, for any user testing that I have facilitated or being involved in, the user is always encouraged to ‘think out loud’.

How to maximise the potential of think out loud user testing

I would like to point you to an excellent and comprehensive article over at UX Matters entitled When Observing Users Is Not Enough: 10 Guidelines for Getting More Out of Users’ Verbal Comments. A quick summary of the 10 points that Isabelle Peyrichoux talk about in depth are:

1. Be aware of your own judgments and projections
2. Be genuine and transparent
3. Adapt to each user. Do not ask users to adapt to you
4. Be conscious of the way users are interacting with you
5. Get users to speak about their own experiences
6. Notice when users are censoring their own comments
7. Get users to speak in terms of problems, not solutions
8. Ask “Why?” and dig deeper
9. Make objective and precise observations
10. Allow users to be spontaneous and follow their flow

Although this great article will be of more use to user experience professionals and people involved in user testing on any level, it should provide an incite as to how user testing and the think out load methodology can be combined using basic (but often un-used) human relationship qualities to provide optimum user testing data and results.

Eye tracking - another level of user testing and customer insight

Coupled with the user testing and think-out loud principles, taking the testing another step further by introducing eye tracking can provide an even greater insight into exactly how users are interpreting a website and trying to find their way around to achieve the tasks/goals they have been assigned.

It would be diluting my points on user testing with the ‘think out loud’ methodology to go more in depth with the benefits of eye-tracking on this post, although it is certainly an area I will talk about more on a later post, especially as my user experience agency has now introduced this service to our clients.

Using Web Analytics To Further Identify Site Conversion Improvements

Although I’m a big fan of using web analytic data to uncover a vast range of improvement possibilities with site content and conversions, for this post the most useful think I can do is direct you to the following pages on the excellent blog of Avinash Kaushik dealing with all things analytics:

• Experimentation and Testing: A Primer
• Excellent Analytics Tip#5: Conversion Rate Basics & Best Practices
• Excellent Analytics Tip #8: Measure the Real Conversion Rate & “Opportunity Pie”

I hope you’ve found this article useful, and any feedback (and diggs) are greatly appreciated!

A very interesting article on Usability News has been published quite recently entitled Web 2.0 ‘distracts good design’ which raises a very interesting point:

As web 2.0 technologies become more mainstream, there is a clear risk that in turn this will result in poor usability practices and user experiences

A parallel that I can draw from this is based on my experience as lead user experience designer at Littlewoods Shop Direct. Having worked as an offline print designer for 3 years, when I started work in the e-commerce team in 2000, I was able to gain a solid understanding of the differences between offline and online design. During the next 6 years, as the web become more popular, more offline graphic designers and agencies made the move into the online arena, but in the rush to produce exceptional online design work, focused on highly visual and creative solutions rather than the user experience and whether the site is usable.

On the 1 hand there are lots of examples of how web 2.0 can be used to provide compelling, rich and user friendly solutions, a large selection which can be seen over at the SEO Mozs’ web 2.0 awards.

On the other hand I do agree with the Usability News article (and more specifically Jakob Nielsen) that we will see executions of web 2.0 functionality and interaction which unfortunately fails to provide good user experiences.

As yet the current wave of web 2.0 sites have been developed using highly talented user interface designers alongside strong technical developers, but I don’t think it will be too long that the same technical developers will be asked to develop solutions from less experienced ‘print-to-web’ designers who perhaps have less groundings in the principles of good usability and user experience.

Personally speaking (through PRWD) I am starting to work on projects which will benefit from web 2.0 developments and user interactions (with a complete focus on the user experience), and I look forward to sharing these on this blog.

Whilst on my train back from this future of usability event tonight, hosted by Bunnyfoot and E-consultancy, I wanted to share some of the key messages and findings that came out of both the questionnaire and from the speakers.

Ashley Friedlein, CEO of E-consultancy, opened the event - he started by talking about the change in terminology over his 10 years within the online user experience and usability field…

…going something along the lines of HCI - usability - user experience - customer experience - UCD (User centred design)

Ultimately its about putting users at the heart of your online marketing decisions, a statement which can’t be emphasised enough.

Another of Ashley’s industry comments was on the continued trend of emphasis placed on the acquisition of potential customers.

To brake this post up I thought now is a good time for a 1 liner from Ashley -

“Driving traffic to your website isn’t hard - you can simply pay for it.”

This is certainly true for businesses spending significant marketing budgets using the like of Google Adwords.

But as Ashley pointed out, the continuing rise of cost in ppc and with affiliates looking to change their charging models, this will only increase the chunk of marketing spend that the acquisition area will take.

In contrast, what smarter businesses (who are looking to better increase ROI and conversions) are realising more and more is that improving the user experience and usability of their websites can provide much greater increases in conversion and retention rates.

People will spend longer on, convert more often and refer on a site with a good user experience which is intuitive and enjoyable to interact with.

Ashley feels that whilst usability is now being considered much more, looking further ahead he is also interested in the next level of user experience studies and online marketing.

This assumes that any usability flaws have been fixed, and now it is time to look at areas such as persuasion architecture and behavioural analysis. Ultimately a better understanding of what triggers online users to interact with an interface and pursue certain journeys, which can therefore allow the website owners to adapt the messaging/tone of voice/allocation of real estate to target different users.

All excellent snippets of views from a businessman whom I have much admiration for, not only for the business he has built in e-consultancy but also for his willingness to assist me in various aspects of establishing both my user experience agency but also me personally in the online arena (part of which is this blog that you are reading).

Next up was Linus Gregoriadis (Head of Research - E-consultancy) who provided a walkthrough of the questionnaire findings and what this means for the Internet now and in the future

Key highlights of the report were as follows:

• Over 700 respondants
• From what I recall this was made up of around 350 client side, 200 agencies/specialist usability consultants and the remaining as other individuals working within the online arena
• Usability is beginning to make a dent in the overall budgets of redesign projects
• Over the next 12 months across all areas of marketing investment, such as seo, ppc, affiliate marketing, mobile and usability, usability was considered the area whuch will see the biggest % increase in marketing spend, followed closely by seo and ppc - (to refer back to Ashley’s views which I share completely, until businesses place more strategy (And budget!) on the actual user experience they are effectively hemoragging money sending vasts numbers of visitors to a site which isn’t founded on UCD (user centred design).
• When asked where the responsibility lies when it comes to the usability and user experience of a project, over 70% confirmed that in-house teams and or/individuals held this responsibility. This left around 15% who use external expert ux agencies and consultants, along with another 10% who work alongside specialist agencies

Finally for this brief overview, the top 3 results for a business embracing the possibilities of having usability and user experience at the core of a project were as follows:

1. Increased brand perception
2. Increased brand loyalty
3. Increased conversion rates

The full report is due to be made available shortly at which stage I will provide a link.

In closing I haven’t touched on the redesigned Visit London website which is due live on the 5th July - this project featured UCD at its core and through the course of the project, using user testing and eye tracking to name but a few methods, the head of user experience at Visit London Jeremy Wilmott and his team have been able to ensure that the relaunched site is well positioned to provide visitors with an exceptional user experience. As with any such large scale redesign project on-going usability evaluations will ensure the website continues to meet its wide variety of visitor needs.

As I make my way back north this evening following this event, taking stock of both this assessment of the future of usability as well as my own knowledge and experiences in this arena, I am relishing the opportunities across all industry sectors which my specialist online user experience agency PRWD will continue to become a key player, both in forward thinking, intuitive web development projects but also in providing businesses with services such as user testing, information architecture analysis and solutions, eye tracking, behavioural pattern defining and persuasion architecture.

All in all an excellent evenings discussion and industry analysis, I hope you’ve enjoyed my summary!

So its been almost 3 months since I first started blogging and a lot has happened. In a way I feel it has provided a kind of butterfly effect for me personally and my digital agency, so much so that our new business cards and stationery promote this blog as a resource for best practice advice on usability, user experience and information architecture.

So below I have provided a personal summary of why the inception of this blog has being a real success on a number of levels…

1. I have really benefited from focusing some of my energy specifically on my core skills on user centred design and usability
2. I am really happy with the articles I’ve been writing, with a good mix of purely my own thoughts along with comments and links to other relevant and interesting articles
3. When I’m promoting my user centred design and usability services, in addition to promoting my digital agency website I pass on my blog details which gives a prospective client or associate a much clearer idea of my experiences and expertise which I can bring to a user experience project
4. I am now starting to develop an online identity (a quick search for myself on Google (I can’t be alone in doing this surely!) provides an indication of where I have been and what I have been commenting on recently) along with establishing strong networks of great people
5. I have stepped up my visibility at industry events such as Internet World, Business Startup Live and Open Coffee
6. I have started taking on some exciting projects with forward thinking and innovative clients through PRWD which will allow me personally to further focus on my core user experience and interaction design strengths rather than including actual web programming, as we are looking at taking on highly skilled developers using the likes of Ajax and Ruby on Rails
7. PRWD’S clients are really benefiting from services we have provided, such as significant increases in online enquiries and search engine rankings
8. And not to forget whilst still working very hard I am trying to find a better work/life balance, which is beneficial to my wife, myself and friends and family alike - view a comment I made on this subject recently

So to rewind back to my very 1st post, I certainly won’t be blogging back, instead I’m looking ahead to what should be a very productive and rewarding 2007 (for the 6 months or so that are left!). I certainly intend on posting many more articles on all areas of online user experience which I am passionate about in order to continually build this resource of best practice advice and personal commentary…

Finally, if you’ve got this far thanks for reading, and I’ll be very interested to find out how you have found my blog so far?!

Around April 2007 I was delighted to be asked to contribute to a Web Design Best Practice Guide which Dave Chaffey and E-consultancy were producing.

The guide was to provide a regularly updated, single point of reference covering best practice approaches for all the topics that anyone involved with website design needs to do an effective job.

Due to the sheer scope of the guide, I was asked to provide contributions, advice and case study examples on specific topics within the guide suited to my experiences and expertise.

The areas I contributed to were as follows:

• Section 3. User-centred web design process
• Section 4. Web usability
• Section 6. Information architecture
• Section 7. Visual Design

The finalised guide is more than 350 pages in length, which is considered one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind available.

You can view full details of the content of the guide within the best practice guides area at E-consultancy, entitled Web Design Best Practice Guide.

I strongly recommend you at least downloading the sample best pracice guide which may well encourage to purchase and download the full guide.

Finally I must add a thankyou to Dave Chaffey (whom I’ve recently taken part in a Q and A session on Findability for online design and marketing, particularly for e-commerce sites) and Chris Lake, editor at E-consultancy, for in the 1st instance requesting my input to this huge project but also for adding in a special mention within the contributors section at the back of the full guide!

I’d love to get your feedback on the best practice guide if you choose to download it, or share any other comments on this posting.