User Centric Site Improvement. WordCamp YYC Lindsey lindseywiebe.com

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1 WordCamp YYC 2015 Lindsey Wiebe

2 A little about me

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4 Watching for what matters 1. Know your big objectives and the measures related to them. 2. Know how your initiative feeds into those big objectives. 3. Think about what signals will demonstrate the fact that you succeeded (or failed). Who will do what, when? 4. Plan a system that will measure those signals. 5. Watch the signals, then act on them to improve. There s a great walkthrough of the Goals Signals Metrics process at dtelepathy.com/ux-metrics/

5 Common questions that need answers How did people find my site? How effective were my communications and advertising? What are people looking for that they can t find? Do people get stuck anywhere? Did my visitors convert? Why or why not? What did people look at the most? Did people like their experience? Why or why not?

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7 Using analytics Users behaviour is passively watched by technical means. Customization is often needed, information can be hard to interpret, and accuracy is never as high as it seems. 1. Clearly understand what signals you need to watch for. 2. Select the appropriate tool for your needs. 3. Implement measurement and design useful reports. 4. Build baselines, watch trends, and adjust accordingly.

8 Analytics tactics Understand and optimize advertising effectiveness Wherever you provide a link back to your site, ensure it includes campaign tracking. For Google Analytics, these are UTM codes. Other tools have similar methods. SEO + analytics = customer insights Understand how users are arriving on your site, which strategies are driving results, and how your site fits in to the larger online ecosystem of your subject matter area. Set up on-site search analytics Understand what content your users value, whether you have it or not. Also great for discovering navigation issues.

9 Analytics tactics Track more interactions: set up events Did users expand that accordion? Did they comment on your blog? How did those activities connect with your larger site goals? Events can show you the answers. Get actionable: set up goals The most important activities people can do on your site should be marked as goals in your analytics. This allows you to do very actionable analysis. Set up reports and dashboards Most tools come with plenty of reports, but if you know your top things to watch, custom reports and dashboards will make your life much easier.

10 Using A/B or multivariate testing Compare the behaviour of users seeing different versions of your website, often with only a tiny difference. Results are mysterious and statistical significance is the only proof that a change improved or harmed your site. 1. Think of a potential change to your site that may improve a metric. 2. Create a version of the page with the change, and run some of your traffic through it instead of the original. 3. Your testing tool will declare a winner after enough observations.

11 A/B testing tactics Write a clear hypothesis and have a clear goal Think in the following terms: If I change X content, I think the rate of action Y will increase/decrease. Action Y needs to be extremely simple and well-defined. Create granular tests When designing alternate versions, keep the changes as minimal as practicable. Don t try to test three things at once; it muddies the waters. Be patient. Very patient. Wait for the test to finish before drawing conclusions. The results can be fickle.

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13 Using surveys Users report their subjective experiences through quantitative and qualitative responses. Keep it simple to increase response rates, and consider offering incentives. 1. Design questions based on your goals, signals, metrics. 2. Design a way to bring respondents to your survey. 3. Act on insights. 4. Surveys are powerful when trended over time.

14 Survey tactics Make the survey extremely easy to complete Respondents are doing you a favour, so make it easy for them. Use easy-to-answer formats, stick to the same answer format from question to question where possible, and interrupt your users as little as possible. Leverage passive data collection where possible Instead of adding questions about the user s demographics or visit history, collect that data passively with intercept technologies and analytics integrations wherever you can.

15 Survey tactics Ask as few questions as humanly possible Keep your measurement needs firmly in mind. There are usability survey templates and frameworks out there that can help you. Consider sticking to the following: 1. How would you rate your experience on the site today? (0-10 scale) 2. Why did you come to the site today? (Multiple choice or open answer) 3. Were you able to complete the task you came to the site to do today? (Yes/No) 4. If not, why were you not able to complete the task you came to the site to do? (Open answer)

16 Survey tactics Consider your recruiting strategies carefully Who has the answers you need? Existing customers? Site visitors? People who ve never heard of you before? Design your recruiting campaign accordingly, and be prepared to offer incentives to encourage participation. Be careful to not harm your user experience We ve all been annoyed by pop-over windows asking us to participate in active feedback surveys. Don t be that site owner. Balance the benefits of recruiting strategies like that against their costs. It may not be worth it to your business.

17 Survey tactics Watch your statistical significance Even the research suites with the nicest reporting interfaces will not do this for you. Sample sizes are often very low, and error bars large, even when the report has 4 significant digits. Be prepared for brutal honesty Remember that you re asking for feedback so that you can get better. You already know you aren t perfect! But also remember that you ll never please everybody. Take feedback in good faith, but put it in the proper context, too.

18 Using guided testing Best when answering highly complex, uncertain, or subjective questions. Can be difficult and time-consuming to execute. 1. Collect your assumptions. 2. Design questions to test your assumptions often, open-ended and indirect questions work best. 3. Find five or six people to talk to from your target audience. 4. Act on insights. Test again.

19 Guided testing tactics Reorganize your site with card sorting and tree testing Users often categorize or group things differently than you do, and this can lead to hard-to-diagnose site problems. Card sorting and tree testing are great ways to resolve this. QA your design with first-click testing Give your users a task and put a design in front of them. What s the first thing that they click? If it s not what you expected, your design needs optimization.

20 Guided testing tactics Get unexpected insights from over-the-shoulder observation As users access your site, ask them to talk you through their thought process. This is the closest you can get to reading your audience s mind, and it s often fascinating. Don t be afraid to go off-script and dive into their unexpected responses. Do some psychographic market research Ask your users about the things they like most and least about your product category, and about the parts of their lives it touches. Get their unfiltered first impressions of your new design. Let them talk They should do 90% or more of the talking. Don t lead them. Just let them talk.

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22 Putting it all together Consider a tag management tool Watch for WordPress plug-ins that can help you Data sharing and integrations are powerful Be careful not to harm your user experience Remember to iterate: fail fast It s a marathon, not a sprint

23 Questions? Lindsey Wiebe