USERS FIRST

How well do you know your audience?

• Pretty well no doubt, but more often than not, we don’t use this intelligence well – particularly when creating a website or app for them

• When we try to be user-centric, we quickly turn to a traditional method of segmentation; role based groups• This is fine, but we shouldn’t stop there if we actually want to engage people• We need to humanise this segmentation again so we can talk to them, not at them

• Creating a set of personas is a great way to do this – but don’t fall into the most common trap – creating meaningless personas that don’t actually help you! This results in:• Not actually using them• Feeling the persona exercise was a waste of time

Org chart / hierarchical information architecture

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About us Department 1

Department 2

Department 3

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What products/services?

What resources?

I don’t know which department I need

I don’t understand this terminology

Lots of similar areas

I’m not sure what’s on offer

Org chart / hierarchical information architecture

• Results in too many sections to handle if the audience is wide/diverse> users not sure where to start/look> no clear journey; users have to hunt and dig for information they need

• Can become dated as the organisation changes (strategy, mergers, sell-offs etc)

• Prone to political squabbling> which department/manager gets prime positions in the navigation/homepage

• Doesn’t reflect lateral navigation and real world browsing habits

Audience driven information architecture

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Student

Academic

Corporate

Partner

Job seeker

etc

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Audience driven information architecture

• Often still too many groups to be managable> many organisations have (or think they have) complicated audiences > not unlike an architecture based on business structure!> different approach, but resulting in the same problems!

• Not always as logical to end users as you might think> think how you’d categorise youself! > relies on self-identification; open to (mis)interpretation, confusion and cross-over> forces users to THINK (cardinal sin of usability!)

• Still prone to political squabbling> certain audiences of the business deprioritised> by naming them directly, this priority becomes more obvious to the users!

Humanise your audience – remember, you know them quite well!

An iterative approach to audience segmentation

Individuals

Groups

Motivations

Emotions

Personas

• We can’t please every individual

But we can stack the odds in our favour!

• Logic grouping alone restricts our thinking.

• We end up with narrow silos!• Apply a mental modal: how do people think?

• Filter our audiences > manageable personas.

• Keep us user-centered at all times• Cuts across groups/categories with shared motivations

• Focused personas mean we can engage

• Refining doesn’t mean cutting people out• Talk to people in ways that mean something• Tight enough to focus, flexible to personalise

Five simple steps to creating effective personas

1. Identify the individuals in your audience

2. Describe their scenarios, goals and objectives

3. Discover what motivates them

4. Utilise the right modes of persuasion

5. Create a series of profiles and centre the design around them

1. Refine your audience to be more workable

Professional Need Personal Connection Proxy Relationships

Doctor (GP) Heart Patient (Recent) Volunteer

Heart Nurse Heart Patient (Medium/Long Term) Business Manager/Executive

Intermediary (Teacher) At Risk Adult Shop Customer/Donor

Researcher (Funded) Concerned Relative Event Participant

(Health) Journalist Grieving Relative Support Group Member

Sample from our work with the BHF

1. Identifying individuals/roles

Name David Hugh John Karen Stewart

Role CEO CEO CFO CIO CTO

Sector Construction Pro Services Manufacturing Association Facilities

Organisation Wilson Group Eden Shaw PR Raw Mat Ltd The Engineering Association

Carillion

Size 500-1000 50-100 500-1000 1000+ 200-300

2. Understanding goals and objectives

Goal

Long term, unstructured, difficult to measure

“We want to stay ahead of our competitors”

“We want to improve efficiency at our factory”

Objective

Short term, well defined, measurable

“We want to increase our market share by 10%”

“We want to reduce our overheads by 20% over the next 2

years”

2. Goals, objectives and scenarios

Sample user

3. Understanding motivations

1. Intrinsic: Mastery, Enjoyment, Confidence

Intrinsic motivations are self-fulfilling. We can appeal to

these needs by empowering people with the

information/directions/choices they need to give them

confidence to make their own positive decisions

2. Extrinsic: Recognition, Competitiveness, Reward

Extrinsic motivations are validated by others. We can

appeal to these needs by giving the competitive benefits

of services, explaining how they save money and they will

benefit directly as a result of a call to action

Motivations are the driving force behind all objectives and goals. By understanding what motivates our audience, we

can find ways to engage with them in a more meaningful way.

Two types of motivation:

3. Applying motivations to your audience

David Hugh John Karen Stewart Sam Jessica Karl Gemma Sandra Rating

Intrinsic Motivations

Mastery / Knowledge 5

Enjoyment 5

Confidence 5

Extrinsic Motivations

Recognition 7

Competitiveness 4

Reward 7

InfluencersDecision Makers Look for balance & patterns

4. Using the modes of persuasion

Aristotle defined these three principles as

being central to persuasion.

We can apply them to our audience,

persona, journey and content to create the

right user experiences.

Align what you know about your audiences

motivations to these three principles

1. Ethos: Credible

2. Pathos: Emotional

3. Logos: Rational

The overall audience journey and experience

4. Using the motivations/emotions to define the audience

Just want to get something done… Pragmatists

Not sure what to expect/find… Seekers

Keen to get involved… Activists

Willing to be convinced… (potential)Conformist

5. Design your personas: Using Facebook / LinkedIn

5. Design your personas: Using Psychographics

5. Design your personas: As an Infographic

Make use of your new audience intelligence

• Don’t get lost in the soft-details of the individuals

• Print out your personas and surround yourself with them!

• Refer to them in discussions; use them for testing

• Not just limited to web site designuse them in online marketing plans and projects too!

Thank you

Hammad Khan

hammad@zabisco.com | 07966 029298 | twitter @zabisco