Slide 1: user experience
how to build the UX case
MITX User Experience Series
Overcoming Objections and Promoting ROI
Ashley Annis, Ph.D. Director of User Experience Bridgeline Software
Slide 2: user experience
User Research Recruiting Users Divide the Dollar Incentivizing Users Contextual Inquiry Card Sorting Surveys Interviews Competitive Benchmarking Competitor Reviews Industry Trends
what is it?
2
Business Research Interviewing stakeholders (Marketing, Technology, SMEs, etc.) Auditing the current site, Reviewing any research to date Deliverables Personas Sitemaps
Wireframes
Wireflows
Content Inventories
Usability Test Scenarios ………… Copy Decks ………… Storyboards ………… Prototypes ………… Task Analysis ……… Multi-channel UX Maps ………… Pattern Libraries ………… Surveys ………… Presentations ………… Content Audits
Slide 3: why it’s important
user experience…
Lets you know what users / customers expect before you start designing Improves conversions, lead generation Empowers the brand Affects buying decisions Reduces abandonment rates Confirms functionalities and features are right, easy to find, and easy to use Ensures ease of use, usefulness, and increased use Improves productivity Reduces support requests Generates revenue, improves profitability
3
Identifies any disconnects between what the company wants and what its customers want knowledge sharing ………… Saves re-development efforts …………
…………
Increases Drives adoption
Improves retention
…………
Slide 4: RESISTANCE
Clients often ask, Why should I do UX?
so why resist?
4
Why should we do user research? …….. How can we cut costs? …….. Can you do this without impacting the project schedule? …….. How do we get our customers to become users to talk to?
Slide 5: convince
how to overcome objections?
Your response: Why should you NOT do UX?
5
UX empowers the brand ……….
Reduces customer support calls
……….
Drives adoption ……….
Affects SEO
Affects conversion rates ……….. Improves productivity ………. Ensures satisfaction ………. Helps you interpret analytics
Slide 6: RESISTANCE
lack of education space data analysis best practices incentivizing no location no users executive egos already did marketing research internal
schedule
other “objections”
costs
6
“experts”
recruiting
no time
the CEO wants flashy pink thing on the home page
“You’re the expert: we’ll rely on your best practices” ……... The CEO demands a flashy pink thing on the home page ………. “We’ve already heard from our users via customer support” ………. “We know what’s important: we did market research”
Slide 7: convince
how to overcome objections
costs
UX is a low-risk investment with high returns: increased revenue, productivity; decreased abandonment rates, etc. the reach is worth the investment: the sales team talks to a limited number of prospects; the website can talk to thousands, if not millions recruit friends and family remote user sessions vs. in-person incentivize by raffle
7
“1-10-100 Rule”: Insufficient planning costs much more in the long run. ….. It costs $1.00 to make a change during planning That increases to $10.00 once you start building ….... It becomes a significant $100.00 after the site / product has launched
Slide 8: convince
how to overcome objections
we’ll use our market research
market research is not user research market research asks for opinions about confidence, likeliness to buy, etc. UX observes opinions in action, focusing on how they use it, how they like it, and whether it’s useful users often respond more strongly to UX assets (like features) than brand marketing may own the website, but the user owns the mouse
8
What people say is not always the same as what people do …….. Similar to market research, analytics are valuable, but they tell only part of the story …….. Measures performance (Is it usable?) ………… Assesses preference (Is it useful?)
Slide 9: convince
how to overcome objections
just use best practices
Educate customers about the consequences of designing without user input: “thumb-in-the-wind” and creative-ego design executive egos always turn a deaf ear to best practices no one wins opinion wars when your customer wants to “keep up with the Jones,” remind them that users will compare your customer’s site to every other site they use – not just the competitors’
9
Good politics almost always makes bad websites ………. Creative-ego design compromises business, marketing, and UX strategies ………. Show % increase in revenue generated / conversions / satisfaction / lead generation / traffic
Slide 10: convince
how to overcome objections
just use best practices
Sell the value show quantitative results, if not of your own research, then of case studies and others’ research UX can interpret why people are driven to the site; and why they abandon it, so add web analytics and SEO to your UX research efforts continually collect and interpret research have your customer attend UX sessions
10
People help support what they help create. …….. What’s important is what matters to the customer, not the marketing team, not the designers. It’s about your customers. Not you. …….. Marketing/IT may own the website, but the user owns the mouse.
Slide 11: how to build the UX case
evolve
further reading
Ashley Annis, “…When designing for users, involve users”…………………………………. http://is.gd/AbHY Ashley Annis, “How to Recruit Participants for User Research”…………………………….. http://is.gd/AaJ7 Colleen Jones, “When ROI isn’t enough…”………………………………………………..….. http://is.gd/A9ja IA Elevator Pitches……………………………………………………………………….………. http://is.gd/Ac6U Aaron Marcus and Jim Gasperini, “Almost Dead on Arrival: A Case Study of Non-User-Centered Design for a Police Emergency-Response System”………………….. http://is.gd/Ac8R Gerry McGovern, “…Too far from your customers”…………………………………………… http://is.gd/zzPn Gerry McGovern, “Is the organization the enemy of the customer?”………………………. http://is.gd/AbSz Jakob Nielsen, “Return on Investment for Usability”…………………………………………. http://is.gd/B5JZ Hallie Wilfert, “Web Analytics and Information Architecture”………………………………… http://is.gd/dCTs
11
Ashley Annis, Ph.D., Director of User Experience, Bridgeline Software LinkedIn: http://is.gd/AcpL Blog: http://is.gd/Acdm Twitter: missdirected
