You Are Not Your Target Audience - How Persona Work Can Add Value to Your Internal Processes
- 1. YOU ARE NOT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE? APRIL OSMANOF @aprilosmanof
- 2. MY NAME IS APRIL OSMANOF Nice to meet you. Hello!
- 3. For starters, I’m likely not your target audience either. I work at Fastspot, an interactive agency with a focus on higher education websites in Baltimore, Maryland. A Little About Me
- 4. Here are just a few schools I have been lucky enough to work with
- 5. don t forget The school’s website is not for us. ?
- 6. There is Somebody on the other side.
- 7. A Good Website Is like a Good Conversation
- 8. Focus on YOUR USERs How can you best anticipate their needs?
- 9. The tricky thing about .edu sites is that they have a lot of target audiences. Here are some of the big ones. SO WHO ARE EDU WEBSITES FOR? PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS ALUMNI & DONORS PROSPECTIVE FACULTY & STAFF PROSPECTIVE & CURRENT STUDENTS’ PARENTS REGULATORY BODIES CURRENT STUDENTS MEDIA
- 10. PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS ALUMNI & DONORS PROSPECTIVE FACULTY & STAFF PROSPECTIVE & CURRENT STUDENTS’ PARENTS REGULATORY BODIES CURRENT STUDENTS MEDIA For the next hour, let’s just focus on the biggest one. PROSPECTIVE STUDENTSSPECIFICALLY, AGES 14-18
- 11. What we want to say to them But do we know what they want to hear from us? We think we know
- 12. To Be a Success we need to always know who we are talking to and what they want and need.
- 13. Personas to the rescue These archetypes can be a great way to help you consider and better understand your users’ needs.
- 14. guide decisions about your site Find out what’s working, and what’s not. Let personas help
- 15. GOALSBEHAVIORS MINDSETS NEEDS PERSONAS Creating personas for your target audiences can help you track your audiences likely:
- 16. COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR USER MAKE A BETTER WEBSITE PERSONAS Can help you…
- 17. PERSONAS Help you to: AND Don’t project your own mental model on your user’s needs. Help create a face for your user, so you can better empathize with them. Get a quick reality check on what they are likely to do or seek out on your site. Identify problems you couldn’t see. Surface important edge cases that also need to be considered. GET TO KNOW YOUR USER COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR USER MAKE A BETTER WEBSITE
- 18. PERSONAS Help you to: AND Get everyone to share a consistent idea of your target audiences. Help your team remember the unique needs and wants of the target audiences, especially as they diverge from their own. Set up a system of checks and balances to ensure proposed solutions meet the needs of your users. GET EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR USER MAKE A BETTER WEBSITE
- 19. Help focus your time and efforts on the right content and features. Reexamine the language choices made throughout your site. Identify effective tasks and content to test. Set the scope and goals of future projects. IMPROVE YOUR CURRENT SITE OR START FRESH COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR USER MAKE A BETTER WEBSITE
- 20. HELP YOU INNOVATE They make your website more useful and can give you a competitive edge. Personas
- 21. But How? So, how do you make a persona that can help you do all of this?
- 22. THOMAS, AGE 16 Thomas, is a junior in high school. He is beginning to look seriously at colleges. He’s a good student and excels at math and science, but he’s thinking about going to school for art. Thomas loved his high school art classes. He’s thinking about majoring in photography, but he’s worried about whether that will leave him sad, lonely, and unemployed. He comes from a small town, so big city life sounds both exciting and intimidating. He also really loves ice cream sandwiches. ANATOMY OF A PERSONA Deciding to go to art school means I’m looking for a completely different kind of education. “
- 23. THOMAS, AGE 16 ANATOMY OF A PERSONA GATHERING INFORMATION DIGGING DEEPER APPLYING GETTING IN BECOMING A STUDENT
- 24. ANATOMY OF A PERSONA EMOTIONAL STATE QUESTIONS ACTIONS GATHERING INFORMATION Having always assumed he’d go to a traditional university, Thomas doesn’t know much about art school, but he’s excited to learn. • What are the top schools in my field? • Do I have to know my major right away? • What types of programs are available? • How will art school be different from a liberal arts school? • Will I fit in with other art students? • Visit the website • Speak to peers and advisors • Grab an ice cream sandwich out of the fridge
- 25. ANATOMY OF A PERSONA QUESTIONS ACTIONS DIGGING DEEPER Thomas is narrowing down his list of schools. He’s learned more about what he wants and is now more discerning. • What kind of career opportunities will I have? • What kinds of merit- and need-based aid will be available to me? • Does the cafeteria serve ice cream sandwiches on a semi-regular basis? • Look into curricula and course catalogs • Read forums concerning programs of interest • Request information for particular programs EMOTIONAL STATE
- 26. ANATOMY OF A PERSONA QUESTIONS ACTIONS APPLYING Thomas is serious about attending the school now and wants to get through the application process quickly. • What should I include in my portfolio and how do I submit it? • What kind of transcripts or recommendations are needed? • Should I apply for Early Decision? • When will I hear back? • Contact admissions counselor • Apply online • Celebrate with an ice cream sandwich EMOTIONAL STATE
- 27. Make it work Create a real character and give them a past. Knowing their narrative will help you understand how they might interact with your site. Give them problems, worries, likes, dislikes. Know what your personas expect from you. What will they be affected by? What might they hate or love about your site? Good personas need clear business goals to drive them. Do you want more students to visit? Do you want more students to choose you over a competitor? GIVE THEM A STORY TRUTH IN SPECIFICITY CONSIDER BUSINESS GOALS
- 28. Gather real life stories Don’t just use your imagination. The more reality you add into your personas the better.
- 29. THE PROBLEM WITH USER RESEARCH User research can take up a lot of time, making it expensive and difficult to squeeze into a busy schedule.
- 30. Serious user research requires recruiting and incentivizing users, coordinating times, meeting with people, synthesizing information, reporting what you’ve found, and making sense of it all.
- 31. good news You don’t need to conduct really intensive research to create a useful persona. Doing user research through personas can be cheap. Even free! The
- 32. The Cool ThinG about college Students They are all around you.
- 33. Just TALK TO THEM Base your personas off of real humans. GIVE A FACE TO YOUR USERS LOOK THEM IN THE EYES SEE THEIR NEEDS IN A COMPELLING WAY
- 34. GET OUT THERE. Talk to anyone who will let you. Listen, take notes, and record your conversations. Ask the right questions. Say thank you, and provide incentives, if you can. If you have emails, surveys can help you gain insight.
- 35. GET OUT THERE. Talk to anyone who will let you. Listen, take notes, and record your conversations. Ask the right questions. Say thank you, and provide incentives, if you can. If you have emails, surveys can help you gain insight.
- 36. GET OUT THERE. Talk to anyone who will let you. Listen, take notes, and record your conversations. Ask the right questions. Say thank you, and provide incentives, if you can. If you have emails, surveys can help you gain insight.
- 37. GET OUT THERE. Talk to anyone who will let you. Listen, take notes, and record your conversations. Ask the right questions. Say thank you, and provide incentives, if you can. If you have emails, surveys can help you gain insight.
- 38. GET OUT THERE. Talk to anyone who will let you. Listen, take notes, and record your conversations. Ask the right questions. Say thank you, and provide incentives, if you can. If you have emails, surveys can help you gain insight.
- 39. A Good question Can change everything.
- 40. The right question Can often be the first step in innovation. AND
- 41. Bad conversations Relying heavily on assumptions Retaining a fixed mindset Only solving the problems you already know exist Wasting everybody’s time BAD QUESTIONS WILL LEAD TO
- 42. Gather better information Connect with your users in a meaningful way Better understand your users needs Identify problems you can’t see Do more solution-orientated problem solving GOOD QUESTIONS WILL HELP YOU
- 43. TYPES OF QUESTIONS OPEN QUESTIONS Will get you answers that require more thought on your users’ part. You run the risk of having your question be too open. Can get you to unexpected places, but they can also lead you in the wrong direction. CLOSED QUESTIONS Will get you very clear answers. Your users have to answer with a “yes” or “no.” But they are not necessarily a better type of question to ask. Especially if you are asking questions you already know the answer to.
- 44. NO Leading Questions Be careful not to phrase your questions to get the answers you want.
- 45. Don t make assumptions Remember, you are not the target audience. Don’t assume that you know what they need or want. BUT ?
- 46. What people say they want isn’t always what they actually want.
- 47. Listen Carefully a good question is useless if you don’t hear the answer.
- 48. Take Your Time drawing conclusions can take just as much time as conducting the research.
- 49. ? ?Try test try again if your research or personas lead you to a change, try it out, and iterate until you’re satisfied.
- 50. go back to your audience find the same people you talked to before, and see if your solution worked.
- 51. user testing on the Cheap standing over a shoulder and watching carefully can be incredibly illuminating.
- 52. Some helpful tools calendly.com usepowwow.com Set up time slots and book a consolidated block of user tests or interviews. These take time, so give yourself a chunk of non- interrupted time. usertesting.com trymyui.com With remote testing, you can set up a test, send it to many people, and watch the tests later. It’s not free, but it can be helpful docs.google.com rainbow spreadsheets Set up a script for interviews and user tests, thank yourself later. And create a rainbow spreadsheet to keep results and findings organized. KEEP A SCHEDULE REMOTE TESTING STAY ORGANIZED
- 53. THANK YOU! aprilosmanof@ DOWNLOADABLE TEMPLATE www. fastspot.com/confab-personas.zip