This document discusses the importance of usability in contact centers and incorporating measurement into the design process. It outlines how to benchmark current performance, observe system use, conduct expert evaluations, make UI changes, model performance, approve designs, and measure performance repeatedly. Measuring performance before and after UI changes allows organizations to understand the initial performance decrement, lag time to restore performance, and long-term benefits of improved usability. Incorporating measurement at each stage of the design process helps optimize contact center UIs and user experience.

1. Usability In The
Contact Center
PRESENTERS:
Robert Schumacher, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President
#uxlunch
GfK User Centric
November, 2012
@UserCentricInc
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 Webinar Series
We Believe Experiences Matter™ 1

2. © User Centric, Inc., October 2012 2

3. I’d like the number for
Mail Boxes Etc in
Elgin, Illinois
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4. Results
Old Design New Design
600ms Faster
$2.94 M Annual Savings
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5. Another Example…
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 5

6. A Negative A Positive statement,
statement, with No with Yes (affirmative)
(negative) response response
Yes or No?
The circle isis above the star
The circle not above the star
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6

7. Negative statement, Positive statement,
with No (negative) with Yes (affirmative)
response response
The circle is not The circle is
above the star above the star
• Positive statements evoke faster responses than negative statements
• Yes responses are much faster than No responses (~ 500 msec)
7
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 7

8. Place all service orders? Positive Cancel all service orders?
Do not cancel all service orders? Negative Do not place all service orders?
Affirmative Negative
Response Response
Different phrasings are used when you want different responses
- Large variability in cognitive processing times
- Significant impact on error
8
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9. Illustrates two key things…
Importance of measurement
Impact of design
(even small changes have BIG effects)
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10. Usability is about
Behavior
Measuring & Changing
Behavior
10
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11. Highest cost in the call center is human
capital
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12. When to Measure
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13. © User Centric, Inc., October 2012 13

14. Measuring the Contact Center UI
So the question often askedIis…How much of
What benefit do get long term?
When does the center performance
a hit is there when we deploy thisbe?
return to where it used to
High
application? The long-term benefit of the new

 This is theinterface is the time is the eventual
Curve performance lag amount of
The of New Application
Measure ( Time, Errors, etc.)
Learning initial performance decrement
improvement.
time to restore performance to
1 previous levels. Level (baseline)
Current Performance
3
2
Low
Early Phase of Deployment Later
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15. Measuring the Contact Center UI
 Initial performance decrement
 Lag time lag to restore performance
High
 Long-term benefit
Measure ( Time, Errors, etc.)
A poorly executed design
1 An even better design
1
3
3
2 2 3
Low
Early Phase of Deployment Later
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16. Measuring & Design Process
For Contact Center
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17. Incorporating Measurement into the Design Process
Benchmark
Performance Discovery
Design
Evaluate
Performance
Repeatedly
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18. Incorporating Measurement into the Design Process
Conduct
Benchmark Observe Use
Expert
Performance of System
Evaluation
Make UI Conduct
Changes Design
Workshops
No
Approve Evaluate
Model
Design? Performance
Performance Yes Repeatedly
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 18
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19. Benchmark Performance
• Improvement =
Performance after design –
Baseline performance
• Often existing measures can be used.
• Any outcome measured after the redesign
should be measured before the redesign.
• Don’t rely on only indirect measures (e.g.,
customer satisfaction) – worth the time and
money to collect a baseline measure of time,
errors and other measures before the
redesign is launched.
• You can’t collect baseline measures after the
redesign is deployed!
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20. Benchmark Performance
• Detailed, controlled measurement of user
behavior (summative, quantitative)
• In actual use
• In simulated use
• What to measure?
• Time to complete
• Errors – many kinds!
• Screens visited (efficiency)
• Satisfaction/preference
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21. Incorporating Measurement into the Design Process
Conduct
Benchmark Observe Use
Expert
Performance of System
Evaluation
Make UI Conduct
Changes Design
Workshops
No
Approve Evaluate
Model
Design? Performance
Performance Yes Repeatedly
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 21
© November 15, 2012 – Proprietary and Confidential 21

22. Observe Use of System and Direct User Feedback
• Side by side or remote observations need to
be based on understanding what
representatives do
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23. SAY
≠
DO
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24. Observe Use of System and Direct User Feedback
• Side by side or remote observations help
understand what representatives do
• Need to see how screen flow matches
conversation flow (customer) and business
flow
• If observation not possible, focus groups or
interviews with representatives or managers
might be an option
• Are incentives aligned?
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25. Conduct Expert Evaluation
 Uncover things user will never notice or say (e.g.,
UPPERCASE font);
 With the context of observation, need to identify weaknesses of
design
 Inefficient screen-flow
 Poor screen layout issues
 Missing functionality
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26. Incorporating Measurement into the Design Process
Conduct
Benchmark Observe Use
Expert
Performance of System
Evaluation
Make UI Conduct
Changes Design
Workshops
No
Approve Evaluate
Model
Design? Performance
Performance Yes Repeatedly
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 26
© November 15, 2012 – Proprietary and Confidential 26

27. Conduct Design Workshop
• Design workshops combine the wisdom of the domain with
experience and expertise of UI team
• Efficient way to understand technical, regulatory, and business
constraints that are not evident from observations
• Makes buy-in and acceptance easier
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28. Make UI Changes
 Changes documented by information design/architecture then
sketches then wireframes and often prototypes
 Each company has their own software development process into
which the design phase is integrated.
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29. Model UI Performance
• If some of the measures concern speed or efficiency, it may be
worth modeling how fast the redesign will be.
• Can use a cognitive model (GOMS) that estimates how long specific
tasks will take on different interfaces
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30. Model Human Processor & GOMS
• Allows estimation of performance
on certain tasks without taking
field measurements
• Purpose is to ensure evaluate
performance at the end of the
learning curve
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31. Measuring the Contact Center UI
 Initial performance decrement
 Lag time lag to restore performance
High
 Long-term benefit
Measure ( Time, Errors, etc.)
Modeling can help
understand
performance here
1 during design
2
3
Low
Early Phase of Deployment Later
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 31

32. Model Human Processor & GOMS
• Allows estimation of performance
on certain tasks without taking
field measurements
• Purpose is to ensure evaluate
performance at the end of the
learning curve
• Goals, Operators, Methods and
Selection Rules (GOMS) models
interface actions
• Based on empirically validated
results from cognitive psychology
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33. Model UI Performance
 GOMS modeling involves
– Breaking down common tasks into
components of mouse movements,
widget use, and keyboard entries
– Assigning average values to each
step based on prior research
– Sum of steps = time for task.
 Multiple systems exist for doing GOMS.
– Cogtool (Bonnie John)
– Composite KLM (Jeff Sauro)
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34. Review Design Changes
• When design is complete, the business needs
to approve
• Strongly recommend field reviews
• Requirements are completed – often before
code is written
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© November 15, 2012 – Proprietary and Confidential 34

35. Incorporating Measurement into the Design Process
Conduct
Benchmark Observe Use
Expert
Performance of System
Evaluation
Make UI Conduct
Changes Design
Workshops
No
Approve Evaluate
Model
Design? Performance
Performance Yes Repeatedly
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 35
© November 15, 2012 – Proprietary and Confidential 35

36. Measure Performance Repeatedly
 Once the design is complete, and the
system is deployed, performance is
measured
 The same measures are used after design
as were used before design
 Measuring performance once is never
enough – because the benefits of the
design change are masked by challenges
of learning a new system (see next
section)
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 36
© November 15, 2012 – Proprietary and Confidential 36

37. Measuring the Contact Center UI
 Initial performance decrement
 Lag time lag to restore performance
High
 Long-term benefit
Measure ( Time, Errors, etc.)
1
2
3
Low
Early Phase of Deployment Later
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 37

38. Usability in The
Contact Center
Questions?
Robert Schumacher, PhD.
Executive Vice President
GfK User Centric
bob@usercentric.com
+1.630.320.3900
© User Centric, Inc., October 2012 38