5 Things You Can Do Starting Todayto Improve Your Product’sUser ExperienceCatharine Robertson@cathro
WHEN & WHAT IS UX, ANYWAY?
Before During After
Timeline of your product’s user experience
Elements of UX
Can I?
Will I?
1. COMMIT TO USER RESEARCH & TESTING
You are not your users
There is no UX design without exposure to
end users
2 hours every 6 weeks• “Fast Path to a Great UX –
Increased Exposure Hours” Jared Spool
• Direct correlation: more hours quantifiable product improvements
• Every team member observes, not just UX team– Execs– Marketing– BD/Sales– Developers– PMs
• Teams excluding non-designers suffered fewer improvements
2 hours every 6 weeks
• Teams who spent less than the minimum had fewer measurable improvements
• Teams who spent more than minimum had more improvement– memory of observers– ongoing frustration of
watching same user with same problems
• Field visits OR usability tests
• Also observe/test users of competitor products
• Quantify on your end: Tie user observation/usability testing to employee reviews!
“Let’s just build it, and if we get it wrong, we’ll fix it”
Lean UX: an MVP doesn’t have to be written in code. It can even be a paper prototype.All you need is something testable.
Example of 2/6 success
• gov.uk• Government Digital
Services (UK) redesigned online & IRL govt services using 2/6 – Leisa Reichelt
• Measurably better for users
• US Digital Service attempting to follow in footsteps
Download a PDF poster of this image
2. PRIORITIZE DATA OVER DESIGN TRENDS
Trend: Infinite scroll
Etsy
Etsy on blindly following a trend
“My point is not that infinite scroll is stupid. It may be great on your website. But we should have done a better job of understanding the people using our website.”
Dan McKinley, Principal Engineer at Etsy
Trend: Inline form field labels
Trend: Inline form field labels
Trend: Inline form field labels
Labels outside fields test better
3. MAP THE USER JOURNEY
User journeys• Design/product mgmt artifact• Story of user’s interaction with
product before, during, after use• Model intended customer interaction• Multi-channel• Empathy• Told from user’s perspective• Emphasizes intersection between
user expectations & business requirements
• Company moves from one-off transactions with customers to long-term relationships built on trust, credibility, respect
Any format that works for your team
User journeys:• Focus on
compatibility between company/product & customer
• Gain consensus on how customer should be treated across channels
• Allow business stakeholders to understand how users think, feel, see, hear, do things
• Explore “what ifs” that arise during conceptual design
How to create a user journey
1. One action per sticky note2. Use language your customers would
understand3. Spread actions over time sequence4. Record user feelings if appropriate (e.g.,
frustrated)5. User journeys for as-is or future states6. One user journey per type of
customer/group (e.g., investors)
4. DO A CARD SORT
Wisconsin card sorting test
Card sorting for UX
Card sorting for UX
Why• Discover user mental models
– Categorization of content, features, tasks
– User’s language to describe content, features, tasks
• Identify trends • Quantify user expectations• Create user-centered
navigation & structure• Fast, cheap, reliable
How• In person using index cards
or sticky notes• Online using tools like
– OptimalSort– UserZoom– Websort
Card sort in progress
Online card sort in progress
Analyzing card sort data
• Manually via spreadsheets• Using tools built into card sorting apps (e.g.,
OptimalSort)• Look for patterns in categories & labels
Card sort analysis in a spreadsheet
Card sort analysis in OptimalSort
Navigation categories begin to emerge
APU
Measures/Specifications
Participation
Data
5. CONDUCT USABILITY TESTING
Why do usability testing?• You are not your users.• ROI, ROI, ROI. (Nielsen:
Double your conversion rates.)
• Iterating after user interaction/feedback is a tenet of Lean & Agile.
• Watching what people do gives more actionable data than asking people what they think.
“Usability is like cooking dinner.” – Jakob Nielsen– Everybody needs it.– Anybody can do the basics.– Anyone can learn the basics pretty quickly.– There’s a level of excellence beyond the basics.– Skill levels form a continuum: beginner to expert.
Anyone can do basic usability testing
1. Define what users need to be able to do
2. Plan the test and write the test tasks
3. Test 5 users for about 1 hour each
4. Analyze the findings & recommend improvements
5. Implement improvements
User Moderator Note taker
Prototype
This is a usability test
Usability testing checklist• Determine your goals• Setting? Format? In person or
remote? Moderated or unmoderated?
• Decide on number of users• Recruit representative users• Write tasks to match your
goals• Do a dry run of the test• Decide on metrics (time on
tasks, success rate, error rate, satisfaction ratings)
• Write a test plan– Product being tested– Testing goals– Logistics– Participant profiles– Tasks– Metrics, scripts– Description of system
• Get ALL your team members to observe testing!
End notes
UX people to follow• Jared Spool, usability• Nielsen Norman Group, usability• Leisa Reichelt, UK govt redesign &
service design• Kerry Bodine, user journeys • Luke Wroblewski (“Luke W”), form
design• Karen McGrane, responsive, structured
content• Josh Clark, responsive• Peter Morville, designing search,
information architecture• Kristina Halvorsen, content strategy
UX things to read• https://www.nngroup.com/
articles/form-design-placeholders/
• http://uxmastery.com/how-to-create-a-customer-journey-map/
• http://boxesandarrows.com/card-sorting-a-definitive-guide/
• https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/
• Any Rosenfeld Media book
Go start improving your product’s UX right now!
Catharine Robertson@cathro
Image credits• Images without attribution are either in the public domain, otherwise do not
require attribution, or are the author’s own• All other images have the following credits:
– Silfra fissure, Iceland: By Thomei08 20px|ich bin ein Kiwi / Thomei08 at German Wikipedia - Own work (Original text: selbst erstellt), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21897395
– B&W user journey: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevebaty/15709149737– Sadface: http://www.pdpics.com/photo/2640-man-angry-face-smiley/– Wisconsin card sorting, GNU license:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wisconsin_Card_Sorting_Test.jpg– Card sorting sticky notes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mario_carvajal/2732244962– Card sort analysis spreadsheet:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/3343529465– Hakarl: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmparrone/14479490562– Scrum board: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plutor/5260265039/
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