Presented at the 2010 Online Marketing Summit, San Diego, CA USA, 23 February 2010

2.  Definitions,
terms,
principles
 Some
real-­‐world
examples
 [n+1]
actions
you
can
start
to
take
today
 Questions
and
discussion
2

3. …and
those
are
the
last
bullet
points
you’ll
see
from
me!
(I
hate
bullet
points
and
sentence
fragments.)
3

4. This
talk
is:
A
framework
for
thinking
about
usability,
conversion,
and
aligning
your
organization
on
the
user
experience.
This
talk
is
not:
A
discussion
of
specific
tools
and
metrics.
Other
presenters
and
vendors
are
covering
that.
4

5. 5
5

6. What
is
usability?
Your
intended
users
can
accomplish
what
they’re
trying
to
do
on
your
site
or
with
your
product.
Usability
has
several
components.
It
can
mean
learnable,
memorable,
efficient,
and/or
error-­‐tolerant.
6

7. Learnability
Satisfaction
Memorability
Usability
Error
Prevention
Productivity
Shneiderman,
B.
(1998).
Designing
the
User
Interface.
Reading,
MA:
Addison
Wesley
Longman

8. How
about
this?
Usability
is…
Getting
people
to
what
they
want
or
need
as
quickly
and
efficiently
as
possible.
8

9. …so
they
can:
Figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14

15. Go
to
Flickr.com
and
look
for
this
tag:
“Questionable_Design”
Or
follow
this
link:
http://bit.ly/cFHvjX
15

16. Getting
people
to
what
they
want
or
need
as
quickly
as
possible
so
they
can:
Figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
16

17. What
Why
How
Like
17

18. 18
18

19. Let
me
hear
your
definitions:
19

20. I
like
this
definition:
The
fundamental
purpose
of
marketing
is
to
identify
what
people
want
and
need,
then
satisfy
those
customers.
John
Rhodes,
4
Jan
08.
http://bit.ly/BtfUF
20

21. Sound
familiar?
Usability
and
marketing
share
the
goal
of
giving
people
what
they
want
or
need.
Marketing
is
the
what.
Usability
is
the
how.
21

22. Visitors
who
take
a
desired
action
are
said
to
be
converted.
This
is
“well
duh”
stuff
to
you
all…
Key
point:
usability
is
a
precondition
of
conversion.
22

23. Marketing
+
SEO
+
Design +
Usability
Identify
what
Make
it
Give
it
to
Ensure
that
they
want
findable
them
you
gave
it
to
them
=
Conversion!
23

24. 24
24

25. When
people
talk
about
“usability”,
they’re
usually
talking
about
user-­‐centered
design.
Without
a
design,
you
have
nothing
to
usability
test!
25

26. Respect
design.
(And
designers.)
They
help
create
the
emotional
bond
that
you’re
trying
to
build
with
your
audience.
But…make
sure
your
designers
understand
your
business
goals!
(More
on
this
later.)
26

27. Like
“security”
and
“accessibility”
(and
“beauty”),
usability
is
experiential
–
it’s
experienced
by
the
perceiver.
Usability
cannot
be
claimed,
it
can
only
be
established
through
demonstration.
27

28. Determine
whether
your
intended
users
can:
Figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
28

29. 29

30. Too
product-­‐focused:
Thinking
about
the
product
in
terms
of
the
features
it
supports.
30

31. Leads
to
feature
matrix
thinking…
And
a
“presence-­‐
absence”
mindset…
Which
doesn’t
lead
to
designing
to
satisfy
users’
goals
and
workflow.
31

32. Too
market-­‐focused:
Thinking
about
customers
at
the
market
level,
not
in
terms
of
individuals,
their
goals,
and
their
workflow.
32

33. Knowing
your
segment
and
competitors
doesn’t
tell
you
how
to
design
your
site,
service
or
product!
33

34. Know
the
product/
service
Know
the
market
Know
the
people
who
use
the
product/service!
34

35. 35
35

36. User-­‐centered
design
is
a
process
in
which
the
needs,
wants,
and
limitations
of
users
are
given
extensive
attention
at
each
stage
of
the
ideation,
define,
and
design
phases
of
product/service
realization.
36

37. Two
parallel
work
streams:
Design
Information
architecture
Interaction
design
Content
Visual
design
Research
Persona
definition
Site
visits
Workflow
analysis
User
role
identification
Usability
37

38. Info
architecture
Interaction
design
Design
Content
End
results:
Visual
design
Validated
design
Iterate
design
Iterate
design
and
personas
and
personas
Validated
user
models
Research
“Default”
Customer
Synthesis
personas
site
visits
of
customer
roles
and
workflow.
Usability
evaluation.
Time
38

39. Model
your
users!
Start
from
demographic
data,
if
you
have
it.
Then
interview
and
observe
some
real
users.
Identify
their
typical
goals,
experiences,
needs.
39

40. It’s
easy
to
become
trapped
into
a
product-­‐
or
market-­‐
centered
perspective…
and
lose
site
of
what
the
customer
needs.
User-­‐centered
design
gives
you
tools
to
put
and
keep
focus
on
the
customer,
release
after
release.
40

41. It’s
easy,
actually…
Go
visit
the
customers
Profile
them
Build
personas
from
the
profiles
Tell
the
customers’
stories
(“agile”-­‐ly)
Illustrate
the
stories
41

42. That
is…know
your
customers’…
 Capabilities
and
constraints
 Goals
 Workflow
 Context
of
use
Note:
you
can’t
get
this
from
a
survey
or
a
focus
group
session.
42

43. Design
interactions
to
meet
your
personas’
needs…
 Does
your
persona
need
lots
of
support
and
reassurance?
Hold
their
hand!
 Do
they
want
to
go
fast?
Let
‘em
tab
through
fields.
And
don’t
ask
them
for
information
you
don’t
absolutely
need.
43

44. Also,
test
your
designs
with
actual
users.
And
optimize
with
A/B/multivariate
testing.
44

45. OK,
I
lied
about
“no
more
bullets.”
45

46. 46

47. 47

48. It’s
not
“rocket
surgery.”
You
can
do
this!
48

49. An
e-­‐commerce
web
site
I’ve
worked
on…
First,
the
quick
usability
fix.
49

50. 50

51. 51

52. That
button
increased
the
percentage
of
clicks
to
the
configure
and
purchase
path
by
(low)
double
digits.
Who
knew
that
one
button
could
make
such
a
big
difference?
Well,
I
did
actually…

52

53. Conversion
≠
pretty
design!
What
do
I
mean?
Heheh…you’ll
know
in
a
second…
53

54. 54

55. Pretty
scary,
huh?
Here’s
the
thing:
IT
WORKS.
55

56. [Live
view
of
Ling’s
Cars]
56

57. “People
choose
a
new
car
approx.
once
every
3
or
4
years.
That's
a
LONG
product
cycle.
So
99.9%
of
people
don't
want
one
today.
So
I
need
them
to
remember
me
and
come
back.
It's
a
MASSIVE
purchase
for
a
100%
online
sale…
Name
one
other
car
leasing
company
you
remember
or
even
choose
to
discuss.
You
can't.
See?
My
site
does
polarise,
it
does
annoy,
and
it
does
work.
Yes,
yes,
yes.
Some
like
it,
some
hate
it.
At
least
you
have
an
opinion
:)
In
a
very
difficult
mature
market,
with
massive
branded
competition
all
selling
the
same
basic
product,
it
differentiates.
No
one
else
ever
manages
that.
Plus
have
you
tried
really
USING
any
car
dealer's
website?
Pass
the
razor
blades.
I
am
looking
at
my
7373rd
visitor
online
today,
with
71
concurrent
on
my
site
(today
was/is
busy).
No
one
else
manages
that
in
my
industry
apart
from
Autotrader
and
eBay
motors.
Certainly
no
independents
manage
it.”
57

58. “Read
how
Web
Design
Magazine
(http://bit.ly/9eTxfd)
had
to
eat
humble
pie
IN
PRINT
after
I
won
the
BT
Business/NatWest
IT
and
Communications
award
( for
whole
of
UK)
in
December.”
-­‐
Ling
Valentine,
Ling’s
Cars
58

59. Ling’s
approach
is
high
risk,
yes.
But…she
knows
her
customers,
she
understands
them,
and
she
delivers
what
they
want
and
need.
The
site
is
ugly,
but
it’s
usable.
And
it
converts!
59

60. 60
60

61. Have
you
defined
your
users
well?
If
not,
your
site
might
not
be
as
usable
as
you
think!
61

62. Are
you
clear
on
what
you
want
your
site
to
accomplish?
Believe
it
or
not,
sometimes
organizations
aren’t.
62

63. Have
you
tested
your…
Home
page?
Landing
pages?
Account
creation
flow?
Product
pages?
Main
conversion
flows?
63

64. Have
you
begun
to
A/B/multivariate
optimize?
Make
it
a
Darwinian
struggle…survival
of
the
fittest
(pages).
64

65. If
you
do
even
some
of
these
things,
you’ll
be
on
your
way
to
a
better
designed
and
more
usable
site.
And
you’ll
convert
more
visitors
(to
users,
community
members,
buyers,
reviewers,
whatever
your
goal
is).
65

66. Often,
doing
these
things
require
that
you
change
your
organization.
And
changing
organizations
is
hard!
You
need
a
strategy
and
an
implementation
plan.
And
you’re
going
to
have
to
sell
the
plan.
66

67. “[Strategy
is]
A
long
term
plan
of
action
designed
to
achieve
a
particular
goal.”
“Strategy
is
differentiated
from
tactics
or
immediate
actions
by
its
orientation
on
affecting
future,
not
immediate
conditions.”
Wikipedia.org
67

68. Driving
from
the
airport
to
the
hotel
68

69. Strategic
plan:
Go
from
airport
to
hotel
Tactics:
Make
some
turns
69

70. How
do
you
“do”
strategic
user
experience?
It
sometimes
means
big
changes.
It
often
drives
process
and
organizational
structure
changes.
70

71. Remember,
in
many
organizations,
departments
and
teams
are
incented
to
create
bad
user
experiences.
Changing
organization
structures
and
incentives
to
refocus
on
the
customer
is
hard
work.
71

72. Offline:
Nordstrom’s.
Virgin
Air.
Online:
Zappos.
Amazon.
Land’s
End.
(Offline
too.)
Who
else?
72

73. The
sad
truth:
most
organizations
don’t
align
on
the
user
experience.
73

74. Everybody’s.
And
nobody’s.
That’s
the
problem.
74

75. How
do
you
take
a
strategic
approach
to
creating
a
great
user
experience?
A
few
very
hard
easy
steps…
75

76. The
first
step
is
to
become
aware
of
the
problems!
How?
Walk
through
the
entire
customer
experience.
76

77. From
sign-­‐up
to
initial
use…free
to
pay
conversion…calling
and
emailing
help,
tech
support,
billing…
even
closing
the
account.
Find
the
sticky
points,
the
little
trapdoors.
77

78. Remember,
one
bad
touchpoint
affects
the
whole
brand.
78

79. If
you
don’t
know
about
this
concept,
talk
to
your
product
managers.
They
do.
A
typical
product
manager-­‐y
image…

79

80. Leverage
user
experience
design
Yes,
fix
the
obvious
user
experience
trapdoors
and
holes.
But
eventually,
you’ll
want
to
assess
and
redesign
the
customer
touchpoints…
all
of
them.
You
won’t
get
to
do
them
all
today.
So
prioritize
and
get
ready
for
a
long
haul.
80

81. Yeah,
but…
how
do
I
get
my
organization
to
do
this?
“Initiative”
81

82. Give
yourself
a
new
job:
“User
experience
change
agent”
UX
Easy
to
say…
harder
to
put
into
practice.
82

83. A
person
who
leads
a
business
initiative
by:
 Defining
and
researching
the
problem
 Planning
the
intervention
 Building
business
support
for
the
intervention
 Enlisting
others
to
help
drive
change
Isixsigma.com
UXmatters.com
–
“The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent”
83

84. “Change
agents
must
have
the
conviction
to
state
the
facts
based
on
data,
even
if
the
consequences
are
associated
with
unpleasantness.”
Isixsigma.com
Uxmatters.com
–
“The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent”
84

85. Successful
strategic
user
experience
is
not
just
about
delivering
a
design
or
testing
the
site.
85

86. It’s
about
aligning
the
organization
to
measure
and
improve
the
user
experience…
Using
the
tools
and
techniques
of
user
research
and
usability
assessment.
86

87. If
you’re
doing
your
job
right,
you’re
changing
your
organization.
“Initiative”
87

88. 88
88

89. Watch
your
customers
in
their
natural
habitats.
You’ll
learn
more
in
three
field
visits
than
you
will
in
thirty
focus
groups…or
three
hundred
surveys.
89

90. Figure
out
what
your
customers
value.
And
why
they
value
it.
Build
models
of
your
customers.
And
keep
‘em
updated.
90

91. Don’t
go
to
the
field
with
a
complex
script.
Why?
Because
you’ll
miss
the
real
stuff
–
what
they
believe,
what
they’re
trying
to
accomplish,
and
where
their
pain
points
are.
91

92. Once
you’ve
done
your
qualitative,
up-­‐close
research,
it’s
time
to
execute.
For
this,
you
need
need
interaction
designers,
information
architects,
content
producers,
and
usability
experts.
But
share
your
key
performance
metrics
with
them!
92

93. Designers
will
design
better
if
they
know
what
outcomes
and
numbers
you’re
responsible
for.
Share
your
KPM’s
with
them.
Make
them
live
the
KPM’s
as
much
as
you
do!
93

94. When
your
design
team
has
created
a
first
pass,
it’s
time
to
validate
and
iterate!
You
*can*
just
throw
it
out
there
if
you’re
willing
to
live
with
the
consequences.
The
world
makes
a
great
usability
lab.
But
the
risk
of
an
unpleasant
and
very
public
surprise
is
much
higher.
94

95. Be
bold.
But
don’t
be
reckless.
Exhibit
“data-­‐driven
boldness.”
(I
just
made
that
up.)
95

96. 96

97. This
deck
is
posted
to
Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman
97

98. Connecting
Cultures,
Changing
Organizations:
The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent.
Published
in
UXMatters
Magazine,
January
2007.
http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000162.php
Usability
For
Strategic
User
Experience.
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman/usability-­‐for-­‐strategic-­‐user-­‐
experience
A
Kit
For
Building
User
Experience
Teams
In
R&D
and
Product
Management
Organizations.
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman/user-­‐experience-­‐kit
98

99. Paul
Sherman
Sherman
Group
User
Experience
www.shermanux.com
paul@shermanux.com
Twitter:
@pjsherman
99