Thinking Inside the Box: Using Personas to Prioritize Content

1. Thinking Inside the Box
Using Personas to Prioritize Content
June-July 2005
UPA 2005 conference
Katrina Friedman, Hot Studio

2. About me
Former writer
Then content strategist
Then IA
Now Director of UE, Hot Studio
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3. Are you thinking inside the box?
Content goes here
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4. When content goes wrong
Nothing can blow up a project like poorly planned and
managed content process
It’s often the thing that stands between a great design and
a great site.
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5. Our magic weapon
Missile defense
system? No!
Persona? Yes!
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6. What is a persona?
Alan Cooper:
“We make up pretend users and design for them. We call
these pretend users “personas” and they are the
necessary foundation of good interaction design.”
(from “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”)
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7. How do we use personas today?
The good:
They help design teams to think about
who they are designing for.
They can be a powerful tool in building
consensus.
The bad:
After they’ve been created, they often
sit on the shelf, collecting dust.
They can be somewhat time-consuming
to create, for little payoff if they’re not
used throughout the project.
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8. Personas can help
Age: 37
Job: Technology Coordinator, Grandview
Elementary School
Responsibilities:
• Research
• Support
• Teaching
• Training
Experience:
• 14 years in education
Barbara, tech coordinator • Previously taught English and 3rd, 4th
“Help me find a technology & 5th grades
product that’s going to
improve achievement but • Four years in current job
won’t scare away teachers .”
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9. Example: Educational technology company
Project: Redesign site to better support sales process.
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10. Challenge: Explaining the products
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11. Step 1. Create personas
Goals:
• Recommend the best technology
possible
• Keep her boss happy
• Provide technology solutions that are
easy for everyone to use
Pain Points:
• Finds it difficult to work with
technophobic teachers and staff
• Funding is tight and grants are rare
Barbara • Burned in the past when a vendor
“Help me find a technology went out of business
product that’s going to
improve achievement but • Very busy with constant
won’t scare away teachers .” interruptions from students and staff
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12. Step 2. Extract key questions
What do you have to offer me?
Does it work?
How does it work?
Who uses it?
What do other people think about it?
What do I need?
What does it cost?
How do I purchase it?
Is it easy to implement?
Is it easy to use?
How can I give others the info they need to
make a decision?
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13. Step 3. Map existing content to questions
key questions old content
gaps
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14. Step 4. Map new content to questions
key questions old content new content
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15. This method worked well for
Identifying content gaps
Prioritizing what new content should be created
Helping client plan for additional resources needed
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16. Happy ending
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17. Example: Leading specialty retailer
Project: Redesign corporate site for leading specialty
retailer to better reflect brand.
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18. Challenge: Responding to a gazillion requests
From Governance & Compliance More robust information on the board; From Corporate Sales Visibility (of corp. sales info) on
companyinc.com with links to the Corporate Sales site for more information; Messaging about company Inc.’s policy on unsolicited
proposals (for Corp Sales); From company Foundation company Inc. executives speak to importance of company Foundation; Images of
employees volunteering; Metrics (hours and dollars donated); International efforts in Canada and Europe, eventually reaching out to Asia
(need to budget for international funding); Expanding employee gift-matching programs; From Compliance & Environmental Affairs
Content that educates people on what each issue is; Content that educates people about what company means by social responsibility; Tell
a Friend; Links to reports published by third parties; A short description about what third parties are saying about company’s role on certain
issues, along with link to their sites; Curriculum for school kids ; Video clips (e.g., interviews with vendor compliance people); Information
on the vendor approval process; Provide updated information on the “product lifecycle” (and provide more detail than is currently on the
site); Explain decision-making process; Provide ways to interact with the information (e.g., clickable diagrams); Use more graphs and other
More than 50
visual representations of important information; From Global Media Pitch stories to media with downloadable press kits (PDF); Add
messaging about sponsorships (“company Inc. does not accept unsolicited proposals”) near/within Contact info; Provide videos of TV
commercials* ; Special content area with sneak previews of upcoming commercials, imagery for new season for fashion press; *Repurpose
FAQs in appropriate places (e.g., Social Responsibility); Showcase community relations work in Europe (some of this content exists on
requests for
companyWeb); Talk about brand-specific sponsorships in Press Room; Show product prices; Consolidate Contact Us in one place; From
Investor Relations Give definitions of financial terms and how to understand financial reports; Downloadable financials as Excel
spreadsheets, in addition to PDFs (very useful for analysts who need to make their own projections with this data); Product walk-through
(must be password-protected); Some standard questions (flow dates, commercial dates) we can’t answer, but maybe we can provide
new content or
historical dates or other related information; From Recruiting Add links to international job sites for company Inc. (France, Canada, UK,
Japan); Eventually offer careers section in multiple languages (French, Japanese, English) and tailored to the country’s culture (e.g., country-
specific benefits).; Make store pages look exciting and vibrant, with photos of different locations and amenities; Bundle marketing
information into a “job seeker kit” for candidates (articles, at-a-glance, annual report, CSR report, brand marketing material, links to maps,
functionality!
and directions to locations of interviews and work sites); Add content about cities (e.g., what is San Francisco like, what can I do there,
housing costs, what’s it like to work there); Add more content about career paths, locations and pictures of company’s work sites, recruiting
process (what to expect), audio clip, “on boarding” kit, “pre-boarding” kit for new hires; Add more information about fashion (especially for
Japan), why company Inc. is the world’s largest specialty fashion retailer, differentiators; Add section about company Inc. designers, with
bios and awards for best-designed pants, etc. New Functionality Requests Need printer-friendly versions of pages; Want to be able to
track previous versions (this is mostly a CMS tool issue; however, we may need to provide a date stamp to each page); Provide a mechanism
to notify “subscribers” if new information is published about a specific issue (global compliance and environmental affairs); Provide a useful
search and make it generally easy to find information; Develop process for alerting media team members of new information/press kits on
the site; Improve and expand on email alerts for disseminating timely information; Allow recruiting team to list all job postings on the site
(team currently has issues with posting process for logistics, call centers, college-related, field, and hourly jobs); Provide means for
recruiting team to monitor metrics; Use an easy-to-remember URL (from recruiting team); Add to job application “are you willing to
relocate, and to which countries/cities?”; Allow candidates to categorize questions when sending email to expedite response process.
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19. Step 1. Create personas
“I just got moved into “I live my life
“business reporting, “according to my
“but I don’t know “values. My husband
“what all the “and I encourage our
“numbers mean.” “children to be active
“in our community.”
--Jessica, business
reporter --Louise, socially
responsible investor
“I’m not just looking “I can read a balance
for a job after sheet in 2 seconds.
college— I want to Don’t make me waste
find a good“career 10 minutes finding it.”
path in business.” --John, institutional
investor
--Carl, job seeker
Everyone else
(includes students
and current
employees who use
the corporate site)
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20. Step 2. Organized list into categories
Executive board -- more robust information TV commercials—short video clips with
Executives speak on Foundation accompanying text
Foundation metrics—hours and dollars Brand-specific sponsorships—e.g., Banana’s
donated sponsorships of the arts, etc.
International efforts—community work in Product prices—in all currencies where
Canada, Europe, and eventually, Asia company Inc. has presence (note that this is
Employee gift-matching programs—info on problematic)
how these are expanding Definitions of financial terms—e.g. How to
Global Cmplnce & Envtl Affrs read the financial report
Compliance and environmental Excel spreadsheets—financials in
background—info to educate people about downloadable format for analysts
what company thinks about issues Product walk-through—video, or still photos
Definition of Social Responsibility—explain and text
what this means to company Multiple country versions of careers
What third parties are saying about company section—Japanese, French Recruiting
and CSR—short descriptions and links to Job-seeker “kit”—including at-a-glance,
reports annual report, CSR report, etc.
Curriculum for the classroom (CSR)—similar Content about cities—where company Inc.
to press-kit download has offices, including maps, photos,
Vendor approval process—info on the directions
process, video clips with compliance people, Career paths at company Inc.—additional info
clickable interactive diagrams, etc to cover all main departments, could include
Product lifecycle—updated info (and employee profiles
illustrations) with more detail than currently Recruiting process (what to expect)
available On boarding and pre-boarding kits
Global Media Company and fashion—why we’re world’s
Downloadable press kits—organized on largest specialty fashion retailer; great ops for
theme-based stories designers
Company designers—bios/profiles, awards
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21. Step 3. Map content requests to user needs
content requests “I want this!” items
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22. Step 4. Show level of effort for “I want this”
content requests Easy, medium, or lots of work
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23. Step 5. Make final recommendations
content requests
Easy, medium, or lots of work
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24. Step 6. Rinse and repeat for functionality requests
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25. This method worked well for
Site that already had a lot of content
Giving order to long list of requests
Giving a large and diverse group a chance to
participate
Keeping internal politics to a minimum
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26. Happy ending
text
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27. Deep Thoughts
Be sure to focus on most critical
questions
Give everyone their say but don’t
make any early promises
Color-coding made a big
difference
Use the personas’ words and
photos wherever possible
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28. Thank you
Katrina Friedman
Hot Studio
848 Folsom St. #201
San Francisco, CA 94608
415.284.7250 x34
katrina@hotstudio.com
www.hotstudio.com
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