Presentation from my session at the Performance Support Symposium, Sept 2014 in Boston, MA. UX Designers create performance support regularly without actually calling it that. Designers of Performance Support can learn several things from UX designer's methods.

1. what can performance support designers
learn from user experience designers?
Jonathan Mann
Senior Design Manager
September 2014

2. ux designers might perform any of these roles:!
2

3. oops, forgot one…!
3

4. really? ux designers create performance support?!
4
performance support:
a system that provides performers with varying levels of access to
support information and tools at the moment of need.
—Nguyen, F. (2011)

5. what about this?!
5

6. …or this?!
6

7. …or this?!
7

8. 3 ways PayPal displays performance support!
8
2. tool tip
3. new layer
1. hint text

9. most ux designers have no performance support background!
yet our performance support usually works well… !
!
...how is that?
9

10. most ux designers have no performance support background!
yet our performance support usually works well… !
!
...how is that?
10
ux designers:!
1. try to avoid needing performance support in the first place
2. refer to heuristics and relevant ux research
3. let our users tell us if it makes sense via usability testing

11. 11
avoiding needing performance support!

12. 12
Current link bank
New link bank

13. 13
examples of relevant research!

14. how much hint text for forms?!
14
no hint text
descriptions
examples
descriptions
+ examples

15. how much hint text for forms?!
15
no hint text
èperforms worst
descriptions
èperforms best
examples
ènot as good as
descriptions
descriptions
+ examples
èexamples don’t
help/don’t hurt
Bargas-Avila, Javier A.; Orsini, Sébastien; Piosczyk, Hannah; Urwyler, Dominic; Opwis, Klaus (2011). Enhancing online forms: Use format specifications for fields with format restrictions to help respondents

16. how to display hint text?!
16
visible hint text
behind an icon
behind a link

17. how to display hint text?!
17
visible hint text
èmost helpful
behind an icon
èleast accessed
behind a link
ènot as good as
visible, but better
than icons
Alton, N., Rinn, C., Summers, K., and Straub, K., (Forthcoming) Using Eye­Tracking
and Form Completion Data to Optimize Form Instructions. IEEE – IPPC 14.

18. where to display hint text?!
18
top of section
above field
right of field

19. where to display hint text?!
19
top of section
èmost often
missed/not read
above field
èperforms best
right of field
ènot as good as
above field
Alton, N., Rinn, C., Summers, K., and Straub, K., (Forthcoming) Using Eye­Tracking
and Form Completion Data to Optimize Form Instructions. IEEE – IPPC 14.

20. suggestions for performance support designers!
20
• ux research can often be relevant for performance support
designers
• …but the research will almost never call it “performance support”
• some relevant keywords you can look for:
• “tooltip”
• “hint text” or “help text”
• “form instruction”
• some suggested resources (very small sample):
• UXPA Journal of Usability Studies
• The Psychonomic Society, Behavior Research Methods
• CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

21. 21
usability testing!
Image
source:
h.p://www.usabilis.com/user-­‐research-­‐france/test-­‐facili:es-­‐france.htm

22. why test with users?!
Image copyright 2010, Scott Adams, Inc.
22
user testing can help you:!
• find and correct usability issues
• find and correct comprehension issues
• learn about motivations and fears
• provide evidence to convince stakeholders of an appropriate direction
but it’s not so good at revealing!
• what action the user will take
in the “real world”
• the right aesthetic choices
(i.e., preference)

23. lab testing is expensive! can I do it myself?!
23
sometimes, if you are careful to follow the 4 critical success factors:
1. right users
• sample size
• representative
2. right methods
• natural flow/speed
• behavior vs. preference
3. right analysis
• selective memory
• confirmation bias
4. right point in the process
• to get results
• to use results
M. Summers, userresearch.com (PayPal’s Director of User Research)

24. video: sample PayPal user test on a mobile device!
24
L Sorry… I cannot make the videos available outside the live presentation
This video showed a woman in Germany using an iPhone while going
through a PayPal flow. We used eyetracking to show her saccades and
fixations.

25. use case: PayPal design for SEPA!
Make fee-free Euro payments to
anyone located anywhere in the
area using a single bank account
25
Deadline: 1 February, 2014

26. challenges for the design team!
26
• 32 countries with unique languages
and cultures
• User confusion:
• what’s an IBAN?
• what’s a direct debit mandate?
• what’s bank confirmation?
• sellers have different needs than
buyers

27. our testing methodology: RITE testing!
27
standard usability test
RITE test (Rapid Iterative Test and Evaluation Method)

28. tested in Berlin and Paris for 3 days in each city!
28
14
36
20
46
10
8
20
8
day
1
day
2
day
3
no
issues
minor
issues
serious
issues
serious issue:
• user failed task
• user very confused, blocked*
minor issue:
• user needed some help with task
• user somewhat confused, hesitant*
* includes help/performance support elements
tested 8 users per day, 54 tasks/events monitored
(Berlin results shown here)

29. let’s look at one page: bank profile (day 1)!
29

30. help links (performance support) on day 1!
30

31. video: a user interacting with this page!
31
L Sorry… I cannot make the videos available outside the live presentation
This video showed a woman in Germany interacting with this bank profile
page. She did not understand things like what the mandate is, what
confirmation meant, or the overall purpose of the page. She said the page
would be easy to use if she understood it (!)

32. video: another user interacting with this page!
32
L Sorry… I cannot make the videos available outside the live presentation
This video showed a woman in Germany interacting with this bank profile
page. She initially misinterpreted this for a bank statement, which it’s not.
When asked about specific parts of the page, she didn’t know what they
were.

33. comments from day one seeing profile page!
33
Only 2 of 8 understood page
• “It does not make any sense. I am upset.”
• “What does IBAN have to do with Direct Debit Authorization?”
• “So can I use my bank now? I don’t understand…”
• “Why would I want to submit the Direct Debit Authorization? I only
receive money with PayPal.”
• “I don’t get the difference with the kinds of ways to transfer money.”
• “What’s the difference between confirm and submit?”

34. how would you design this page?!
34

35. 35
let’s see how we improved the design…

36. iterated design for day 2!
36

37. comments from day 2 seeing profile page!
37
5 of 8 understood page
• “OK, so I see what I can do with
my bank here.”
• “I see I need to accept the
agreement to make payments”
but some were still confused…
• “What’s this about IBAN and
SEPA? I don’t get it…”
• “Aren’t I transferring money
when I make a payment?”
• “So I have to confirm and submit
something?”

38. we nailed it on day 3: no users had any issues!!

39. video: a user with the day three design!
39
L Sorry… I cannot make the videos available outside the live presentation
This video showed a man in Germany interacting with this bank profile page.
He correctly described what was shown on the page, and when taken to
another version of the page where he had just accepted the mandate, he
also correctly described what was going on.

40. why do you think this design perform better?!

41. summary: lessons for performance support designers!
41
• ux heuristics and research can be leverage for performance support
design
• you’ll never know if your content is confusing unless you test it
with real users
• you are almost never right the first time
• everything you mention can bring up questions the user didn’t have
in the first place
• user testing can help influence stakeholders of an appropriate
direction
• often the best performance support is no performance support

42. thank you.
www.linkedin.com/in/jdmann/