Usability bootcamp 3 18-13 high edweb ne-final
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The document summarizes how Bentley University's Digital Engagement Office transformed the university's admission sites using a user-centered design approach. They gathered insights from focus groups, online surveys, analytics tools, and usability testing to understand users' needs and priorities. This informed the design of new admission sites that were launched in November-December 2012. The process focused on prospective students to improve their experience and increase applications and enrollment.
Usability bootcamp 3 18-13 high edweb ne-final
- 1. Usability Bootcamp How we transformed Admission sites by adopting user-centered design Val Fox Bentley University Office of Digital Engagement HighEdWeb New England March 18, 2013
- 2. Business school in Waltham, MA • 4,000+ undergraduate students; 1,400 graduate students • 20 undergraduate majors; 10 masters programs Digital Engagement Office • 7-person team • Supports ~80 sites
- 3. “It doesn’t matter what I think about your website”
- 4. Our Users Design for me I need to find I don’t care about your org structure NOT you! info quickly Don’t talk to me in If you don’t language I don’t make this easy, understand I’ll leave Photo source: webcoursesbangkok.com
- 5. Making a case for users begins with NOT talking about users.
- 6. Admissions Did NOT want to talk about users or a new website.
- 7. Admissions Did NOT want to talk about users or a new website. We love our site! Don’t make us change our web process. We don’t have time to focus on this project.
- 8. Admissions So we offered them what they DO want: • Increased lead pool • More applicants • Increased yield rates
- 9. Wake Up Call 20% of prospective students said they would remove a school from consideration because of a poor web experience Source: Noel Levitz 2011 E-Expectations Report
- 10. Wake Up Call
- 11. Wake Up Call
- 12. Wake Up Call Mobile traffic was doubling every 8-10 months Source: Google Analytics
- 13. Admissions We need a mobile site by Fall! We can learn Drupal 7 This is one of our top priorities
- 14. Admissions Design a new site!
- 15. Traditional Development Requirements Design Development QA Launch
- 16. User-Centered Development Requirements Analysis Design Development Prototype QA Test Launch
- 17. But won’t all this take longer?! 100x more expensive to make a change post-release (for traditional software) Nielson Norman Group
- 18. User-Centered Development Cycle Requirements Focus Groups Online Surveys Analysis Personas Analytics Design Development Prototype QA Test Launch
- 19. Focus Groups Photo source: cartoonstock.com
- 20. Focus Groups Best for: Sourcing qualitative feedback Who: • Prospective undergraduate students • Parents (undergraduate) • Prospective graduate students Source: • Undergraduate Tours • Graduate Open House Goal: Gain an understanding of • Priority content • College research process • General web usage • Influencers Photo source: tamarabustos.com
- 21. Focus Groups Set up: 1 hr sessions at our research lab Groups of 5-6 students/parents Paid $50 each + pizza Facilitator and note taker Cost: $2,500 Time: 4 weeks Center for Marketing Technology Bentley University Output: Summary of findings > shared w/team Bring personas to life: “Don’t tweet me after I apply, that’s just weird!” “My mom loves helping me with the research process, it’s her way of ‘bonding’ with me.”
- 22. Online Surveys
- 23. Online Surveys Best for: Quantitative feedback • Purpose of site visit • Able to complete purpose of visit • Why (or why not) Who: 500+ site visitors to our Admissions sites
- 24. Online Surveys Tool: iPerceptions “Plus” account • Data export • Unlimited data collection • Device-specific • Adjustable invitation rate • Multi-language Cost: $20/mo Approach: 4 standard + optional questions
- 25. Online Surveys Standard Rate your overall site experience (1-10) Questions: Primary purpose of visit (multi-choice) Were you able to complete purpose of your visit (yes/no) • If yes > what did you value most • If no > why not How likely are you to recommend Optional Visit frequency Questions: Source (how you arrived at site) Demographics
- 26. Online Surveys Output: Summary shared via PPT doc Key Qualified visitors are most Learnings: demanding Content = meat + potatoes “Information too vague” “Couldn’t find average SAT scores” “I want detailed information on the grad program curriculum” Photo source: chefmom.sheknows.com
- 27. Personas Source: Forrester Research Agency: Primacy
- 28. Personas Defined as: Hypothetical user developed through interviews & observations of real users Use for: Create a common understanding of target audience Must: • Sound like a real person • Include compelling narrative • Call out key attributes & high level goals • Enable design decisions • Include scenarios
- 29. Personas Infographics convey Kelly’s device usage & tech proficiency Photos of Kelly’s items give a feeling for her lifestyle Source: Forrester Research Agency: Primacy
- 30. Personas Lend to Scenarios Persona Prospective graduate student Goal: Find a part-time MBA program in Boston area Scenario: • Searches for “Boston MBA programs” • Reaches Bentley.edu > Academics > Graduate Programs • Sees MBA programs but labels aren’t clear • Visits each program page to learn more but gets frustrated with time spent
- 31. Analytics
- 32. Analytics Tools Google Analytics: Free CrazyEgg: $228/year for “standard” account Best Revealing behavior – NOT for: intent Google Analytics: comprehensive site analytics CrazyEgg: ad-hoc reporting for specific pages
- 33. Google Analytics Pre-launch: Tracking out-of-the-box stats: • Site visits & visitors • Pageviews • Pages/visit • Bounce rate • Top pages • Traffic by source Results: No actionable insights No ownership
- 34. Google Analytics Post-launch: Set up Admission profiles w/dashboards Tracking KPIs via automated reports • Conversion rates by form • Conversion rates by source • Cost per visit (search keywords) Results Weekly review w/stakeholders Ownership & accountability
- 35. Analytics Insights for Admissions Output: Key user insights: Google Analytics • High priority content • Top paths to content • Content gaps (top search terms) CrazyEgg • Overall site experience • Task success/failure & rationale
- 36. User-Centered Development Cycle Requirements Focus Groups Online Surveys Design team Analysis Stakeholders Personas Analytics Design Development Prototype QA Test Launch
- 37. User-Centered Development Cycle Requirements Analysis Design Development Prototype QA Test Launch
- 38. User Testing
- 39. Usability Testing Best for: Finding specific problems (prototype or live site) Who: 8-10 students for each Admission site Set-up: Facilitator + note-taker Camtasia Studio (screen capture) Cost: $99/license – Camtasia $15 gift card - tester
- 40. Usability Testing Tasks Site navigation (find a major or program) Tested: Sign up for a tour Find application deadlines Find link to apply Find info for accepted students Output: Summary of findings Design modifications before handoff to dev Total cost: $400
- 41. Launch of BOTH sites Nov-Dec 2012 bentley.edu/undergraduate bentley.edu/graduate
- 42. Results Results: Year-over-year online leads Undergrad: 6% increase Grad: 11% increase Year-over-year mobile traffic: 2.4x higher Year-over-year mobile traffic Bounce rate: Dropped by 10% to 42% Pages/visit: Slight increase Total cost: $2,800
- 43. Stay in touch • Twitter:@ValerieFox • www.slideshare.net/FoxAtBentley • www.bentley.edu/DE
Editor's Notes
- #12: Shared this heatmap (visualization of where visitors are clicking) – brighter areas are most popular.Visitors were on task and were looking for info on:Tuition & financial aidAcademicsApplyingVery little interaction with all this content that they were putting resources against
- #14: Green light!
- #15: Green light!
- #16: Before we go any further, the best way to understand the NEW way of site development is to understand the OLD way – the linear waterfall approach
- #17: In user-centered dev, the design phase is a cyclical process whereby you’re using insights & analysis to inform the design and then testing the design BEFORE handing off to development.more cycles to the design phase …..don’t assume this means more work. Save time on the back end from fixes
- #18: Paper prototyping – no dev yet
- #19: In user-centered dev, the design phase is a cyclical process whereby you’re using insights & analysis to inform the design and then testing the design BEFORE handing off to development.more cycles to the design phase …..don’t assume this means more work. Save time on the back end from fixes
- #21: Typical use: reactions to brand positioning or new product/service
- #23: Not Zoomerang or Survey Monkey but on-site surveys to your visitorsExplain these are surveys that are served up on your site – just drop few lines of javascript code
- #24: Assume .5 – 1% of site visitors will complete survey
- #29: Musts:Real person: create empathy – you’re designing for real people!Compelling narrative: “day in the life”Call out key attributes: High level goals should be explicit (ie, print out app deadlines)Enable design decisions: Help design teams decide what features & functionality are criticalScenarios: the list of steps the persona will go thru to reach the goal
- #31: Scenario is the list of steps the persona will go thru to reach the goal
- #33: CrazyEgg supports heatmaps, scrollmap, confetti and other visualization toolsConfettishows you exactly where people clicked and is color-coded by referring site
- #35: Key pages:
- #37: All of those insights were compiled in a creative brief for the designer (who was also very vested & involved in process)
- #44: Introduce myself