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Member of:
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 IWA
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 RTS
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User Analysis
Define your purpose
The first step in producing an effective
website is to define your purpose. What do you want your
site to accomplish? For instance, assume your company sells
exotic fruit. Your initial purpose may be to attract new
customers and enable them to purchase fruit online. Although
you may redefine your purpose after you have received input
from representative users, your statement of purpose will
guide you throughout the process of defining your audience,
developing your strategy, and creating the content of your
site.
Define your target audience
As much as you may wish it
could, your site will not appeal to everyone. Your best bet
is to choose a particular segment of the population and
focus your efforts on attracting and engaging these users.
Explore the following issues to develop your list of
potential users:
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Determine who is likely
to be interested in the content you will provide. For
example, if you want to sell exotic fruits through your
site, you may list restaurant chefs, immigrants from the
fruits' native regions, managers of upscale produce
departments, adventurous home cooks, and vegetarians as
potential customers. At this initial brainstorming stage,
don't try to narrow this list; you want to look at the
full range of possible users.
-
Determine which of these
user groups you are equipped to serve. In the example
above, if you have a small farm with limited production
capacity, you may choose to exclude buyers for large
produce departments or large restaurants.
-
Of the remaining list,
determine which users in your list have access to the web.
Also, which are most likely to use the web for your
intended purpose?
Gain input from potential users on the content of
your site
Input from users on your
content will help you create a site that is relevant and
engaging. Ask users for feedback on the quality of your
ideas, and ask them to contribute ideas. The Web provides a
unique opportunity to quickly gather specific information
from users from distant locations. We have developed a set
of Web survey templates and a tool for automating the
creation of Web surveys. Here are some methods and
suggestions for eliciting input from potential users:
Survey Questionnaire
-
Post an email survey
questionnaire to online discussion groups
-
Post a survey on the Web
and invite readers of discussion groups to respond (A
well-done Web survey is more professional in appearance
and is easier to use than an email survey.)
-
Ask participants what
activities they would like to perform or what information
they would like to find at your site
-
Present a list of
information items or potential tasks; ask participants to
rate each from 1 to 5 according to how interesting or
important each one is
-
Ask participants how
they initially find websites such as yours or the one you
plan to create (this information will help you plan how
and where to advertise your site)
-
Offer people incentives,
such as a drawing for a prize, to complete the survey
Interviews
-
Present a site outline
or early proposal to prospective users and solicit
comments on coverage and suggestions for additional
content
-
Ask participants to
describe in detail the situation in which they might use
the proposed website
-
Ask participants what
they like and dislike about the websites of potential
competitors and record their responses
-
Ask participants how
they would expect to be able to accomplish particular
tasks
Task Analysis:
-
Ask participants to use
a competitor's site, or ask them to perform the tasks that
your website will facilitate using whatever means they
currently use
-
Ask users to voice what
they are thinking as they accomplish the tasks
-
Observe users
accomplishing the tasks and note the order and techniques
they use
-
Discover which tasks are
done most frequently and which are most essential
-
Borrow from users'
current expectations for how to perform the tasks, but
remember that you want to improve upon the tools and
methods they currently use
Focus Group:
-
Schedule a facilitator
with previous experience coordinating focus groups
-
Obtain a facility with
several computers and a projection screen
-
Recruit representative
users, perhaps from a user group or email discussion group
-
Ask participants to
provide anonymous feedback via a computer station, website
or email
-
Display a list of topics
and/or sample pages
-
Ask participants to rate
their interest in the proposed contents of the site
When you elicit input on
the content of your site, you may find that a group in your
target audience is not interested in your primary purpose.
For instance, you may find that adventurous home cooks are
not interested in purchasing fruit online, that they would
rather buy fruit at an actual store. You may need to
redefine your goal and your target audience based on the
results of user feedback.
Define your audience/user profile
A clear user/audience
profile will help you develop a design strategy that
communicates effectively to the people you want your site to
reach. Using the input from potential users, follow these
steps in order to complete your profile:
-
Determine whether your
audience is inside the company, in which case you would
probably use an intranet, or outside the company,
in which case you would use the internet
-
Identify the
category your target group is in (such as people in
the food industry)
-
Identify the level
of subject expertise within that group (such as food
professionals, home connoisseurs, etc.)
-
Determine the order of
their information preferences, or which pieces of
information users want first, second, third, and so on
(for example, they may want to first see what fruits are
in season, followed by the cost of these fruits)
-
Define audience
characteristics such as profession, location, gender,
age, or lifestyle preferences when they are relevant
-
Describe scenarios
of use, or those situations or circumstances under
which the site may be used (such as a health-food
restaurant chef trying to use unusual food items to make
the menu more exotic and interesting)
-
Describe your users'
range of abilities, and account for vision, hearing,
mobility, or cognitive impairments
-
Describe your users'
environments, and note any environmental challenges
such as poor lighting or noise, and any technical
challenges such as screen size and number of colors
-
Identify users'
level of technical expertise in using a website
(their expertise will affect decisions regarding the
technical sophistication of the design)
-
Determine what
hardware and browser software your audience uses
-
Identify what
monitors and screen resolutions your audience uses
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