MinneWebCon 2017: Separating the user from the brand

1. SEPARATING THE USER FROM THE BRAND Editorial Brand Experience without Strategy 1
2. ABOUT ME ➤ Marketing/Content Strategy/ User Experience ➤ Master’s in Higher Education ➤ Master’s in User Experience Design (soon!) ➤ REALLY big research nerd ➤ Crazy cat lady ➤ @amygracewells 2
3. SO WHAT ARE WE DOING TODAY? ➤ Select and create: ➤ user tasks ➤ useful personas ➤ user journey ➤ Use this information to: ➤ develop a rough message architecture that combines the needs of the user with organization goals ➤ use card sorting to validate 3
4. THE AVERAGE SITE HAS 11 USABILITY CATASTROPHES. (DESIGN ELEMENTS THAT PREVENT USERS FROM COMPLETING TEST TASKS) Source: Nielsen Norman Group 4
5. 48% OF USERS DIDN’T REALIZE THAT THE UNIVERSITY OFFERED THE PROGRAM THAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR Source: Nielsen Norman Group study 5
6. “Usability: The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use. 6
7. “Branding is the art of aligning what you want people to think about your company with what people actually do think about your company. And vice-versa. Jay Baer 7
8. USER GOALS It’s not you, it’s them 8
9. USER GOALS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR BOTTOM LINE Focus on goals, motivations, 9
10. USER GOALS VS. TASKS ➤ Car rental company ➤ Task is to rent car easily.
 Solution: provide quick and simple procedure for renting a car. ➤ Goal is to have a great vacation in other country.
 Solution: besides easy car renting, provide a customer with a country map, list of sightseeing, hotels, and restaurants. 10
11. CREATING GREAT USER GOALS ➤ Story about a user. When driving along unfamiliar roads, I often catch a glimpse of an interesting-looking shop or restaurant. Unfortunately, I am usually on my way to an appointment, it is unsafe to pull over or the place is closed. It would be great if I had some way to remember the name of the place or its location so I could research it and return if I want. ➤ User story. As a driver who frequently travels in unfamiliar areas, I want the ability for my GPS to record my current location so that I can remember interesting places. ➤ Request. I wish I could remember my car’s current location when I am driving along an unfamiliar route. That way if I see someplace interesting, I can easily locate it later. ➤ User goal. I would like to be able to return to interesting-looking shops, restaurants or locations that I encounter while driving in unfamiliar areas. http://pragmaticmarketing.com/resources/get-to-the-user-goal 11
12. ACTIVITY: USER GOALS ➤ Choose three to five of your top user tasks or goals. ➤ For each, explain the user motivations and likely emotions. ➤ For each, jot down how you can support that goal or how the user completes it. 12
13. UX PERSONAS Motivations, not demographics 13
14. USABLE PERSONAS DON’T CARE ABOUT AGE Focus on goals, motivations, 14
15. EFFECTIVE PERSONAS ➤ Represent a major user group for your website ➤ Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups ➤ Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to use the site ➤ Aid in uncovering universal features and functionality ➤ Describe real people with backgrounds, goals, and values https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html 15
16. CREATING EFFECTIVE PERSONAS ➤ Conduct user research: Answer the following questions: Who are your users and why are they using the system? What behaviors, assumptions, and expectations color their view of the system? ➤ Condense the research: Look for themes/characteristics that are specific, relevant, and universal to the system and its users. ➤ Brainstorm: Organize elements into persona groups that represent your target users. Name or classify each group. ➤ Refine: Combine and prioritize the rough personas. Separate them into primary, secondary, and, if necessary, complementary categories. You should have roughly 3-5 personas and their identified characteristics. ➤ Make them realistic: Develop the appropriate descriptions of each personas background, motivations, and expectations. Do not include a lot of personal information. Be relevant and serious; humor is not appropriate. 16
17. https://youtu.be/B23iWg0koi8 17
18. https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/ux-designers-5-minute-guide-lean-personas/ 18
20. ACTIVITY: DEVELOP A UX PERSONA ➤ Choose a user group based on tasks/goals. ➤ Describe their motivations, behaviors, and/or beliefs. ➤ Add in emotional states as related to your org or goals. ➤ Add other valuable information such as affiliation to your organization, interests, etc. 20
21. USER JOURNEYS Follow the yellow brick road 21
22. WHAT IS A USER JOURNEY? ➤ A user journey is a series of steps (typically 4-12) which represent a scenario in which a user might interact with the thing you are designing. They can be used for 2 main things: ➤ Demonstrating the way users currently interact with the service / website / product ➤ Demonstrating the way users could interact with the service / website / product http://theuxreview.co.uk/user-journeys-beginners-guide/ 22
23. BENEFITS ➤ Demonstrating the vision for the project ➤ They help us understand user behavior ➤ They help identify possible functionality at a high level ➤ They help you define your taxonomy and interface 23
24. WHAT TO INCLUDE ➤ Context – Where is the user? What is around them? Are there any external factors which may be distracting them? ➤ Progression – How does each step enable them to get to the next? ➤ Devices – what device are they using? Are they a novice or expert? What features does the device have? ➤ Functionality – What type of functionality are they expecting? Is it achievable? ➤ Emotion – What is their emotional state in each step? Are they engaged, bored, annoyed? 24
28. https://atendesigngroup.com/blog/connecting-content-user-needs-and-business-goals 28
29. ACTIVITY: SHOW YOUR YELLOW BRICK ROAD ➤ Choose one of your user goals and persona. ➤ Sketch out the steps to complete. ➤ Add in emotional states. ➤ Add other contextual information such as pain points or required functionality. 29
30. MESSAGE ARCHITECTURE We are this, we are not that 30
31. YOU CAN’T FORCE A BRAND EXPERIENCE Focus on goals, motivations, 31
35. “A message architecture is an outline or hierarchy of communication goals that reflects a common vocabulary. Margot Bloomstein 35
36. http://brand.wvu.edu/brand-positioning/messaging-map 36
37. http://www.creativeco.com/portfolio/b2b/nonprofit-marketing-brand-refresh 37
38. ACTIVITY: WHO YOU ARE ➤ Choose three separate words that are the core of your organization. ➤ For each word, write three statements that support that attribute. ➤ For each statement, write a sample sentence or content chunk that would represent voice/tone. ➤ Example: supportive ➤ We have a 5 to 1 student to advisor ratio to ensure each student receives attention. ➤ Our faculty receive top teaching awards from ➤ Our living/learning communities pair students with peer and faculty mentors. 38
39. ACTIVITY: WHO YOU ARE NOT ➤ Choose three separate words that are the opposite of your organization or that you want to diminish. ➤ For each word, write three examples of what you do not do. ➤ For each word, write a sample sentence or content chunk that would represent voice/tone. ➤ Example: arrogant ➤ We do not brag without concrete and citable evidence. ➤ We do not diminish others for our own gain. ➤ We do not exclude others to make ourselves look better. 39
42. CARD SORTING Discover or validate your brand 42
43. CONFIRM YOUR RESEARCH OR ASSUMPTIONS Brand-based card sort 43
44. https://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Work-Real-world-Interactive/dp/0123919223/ 44
45. WHO WE ARE WHO WE’D LIKE TO BE WHO WE AREN’T 45
46. ACTIVITY: CONFIRM WITH CARD SORT ➤ Choose 10 words that both represent and do not represent your brand or organization. ➤ Create teams of three and practice by have two complete your card sort. 46
47. DO WHAT IS RIGHT And sell it to stakeholders 47
48. USERS VS. STAKEHOLDERS ➤ Stakeholders often have a difficult time removing themselves from the equation. ➤ Do they directly contribute to goal success? (donations, memberships, applications) ➤ Do they represent your user groups? ➤ Do they use your website for the same things as your users? 48
49. BRANDING AND SUPPORTING USERS CAN GO TOGETHER ➤ Your users own your brand. Their experiences dictate brand attributes. ➤ They will always believe their experience, not what you tell them. (think nonverbal vs. verbal communication) ➤ If your users can easily complete their goals, they will be more receptive to brand messages. ➤ Good user research does not lie. 49
50. ACTIVITY: SELL TO STAKEHOLDERS ➤ Pair up. ➤ One person will act as stakeholder (dean, VP , president, etc.) ➤ Don’t be too easy on your partner. Give them a few objections to help them practice. ➤ The other person will report on their user research, show documentation and tools created (persona/user journey) and tie it organization goals. 50
51. ONLINE TOOLS TO HELP Don’t recreate the wheel 51
52. CHECK THESE OUT ➤ https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-research.html ➤ Online card sorting through Optimal Workshop ➤ Validately for usability testing ➤ Content Strategy at Work by Margot Bloomstein ➤ https://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Work-Real- world-Interactive/dp/0123919223/ ➤ Nielsen/Norman Group https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ 52