lightweight personas and cheap ass user research
DESCRIPTION
Outlines how to do user research and develop personas on the cheap. Not exhaustive, but a great place to start if you don't have a lot of time or money.TRANSCRIPT
Lorelei [email protected]
My first website launched circa 1995
Worked in agencies, non-profits, media companies, associations, big, small (you’ve heard of some of them, never heard of the rest)
Degree in Public Policy
Content Strategist at Verizon
Deliverables – the big picture
What is a persona, anyway?◦ The optimal way◦ The guerilla way◦ 7 behaviors that you should represent
How to assemble data on the cheap
How to use personas wisely and well◦ When they love it◦ When they hate it
A mutual reference point between you and your client
Not an end unto themselves
Justifications and documentation of decisions in the product
A representation of current or desired audiences, backed by some kind of data
◦ Demographics◦ Psychographics◦ Technical challenges◦ Tasks◦ Limitations◦ Motivations
Read the history: http://www.cooper.com/journal/2003/08/the_origin_of_personas.html
The user is the expert on what they need
◦ You report on behaviors, trends and tactics that are not your opinion
◦ Start to talk about the users’ motivations
◦ The designer becomes the ambassador for the users point of view
Strong ethnography Usability testing Hands-on contact with potential users As little speculation as you can
A lot of money, a lot of time – or do it the guerilla way
“Personas based on anything less than full ethnographic research and contextual inquiry are like tits on a bull – useless.”
“Some data is better than no data – just don’t make sh*t up”
Search analytics Site traffic Info about the business Other people’s research Surveys
Guerilla personas are about 80% right
They are 90% effective at facilitating discussion
Manage the expectations about what you’re going to get with any ‘sample users’
No single persona will solve all your problems
Classic elements
◦ Photo◦ Age◦ Zeitgeist◦ Story◦ Tasks
Things people want to do
Why people want to do them
How to make them successful and satisfied
Demographics/photos
Prioritize the most important tasks
Compare like tasks
Answer both what they need and what will make them happy
Use a/s/l/$$$ only as key differentiators
Disclaimer: I made these up based on my observations
I don’t have statisticals, but I have a lot of RFPs and meeting notes
Someone is going to raise these issues – think ahead on how to recast them
Carve an elephant
First, get a block of marble and then remove everything that doesn’t look like an elephant.
Present only as much as you need to think about the problem.
Consider it forensic anthropology – construct a picture from artifacts
◦ Search Analytics◦ Traffic◦ Business owners◦ External research & stats◦ Survey
Tells you WHAT happened, but not WHY
Gives a big scale picture of what’s popular, paths, entry and exit points
Shows external navigation – referrers, search terms, keywords – a good portrait of affinity
Most valuable when taken as a body and aligned with other groups
Often volatile when someone feels like they could be more visible
If there’s money, someone has recorded it. Offline behaviors inform/predict online
behaviors
◦ Pew Internet Life◦ US Census◦ Foundations (Kaiser, Robert S. Wood, NEA)◦ Software companies◦ Universities (University of Witchita)◦ Marketing – ClickZ, Hitwise, Jupiter, etc
Tracks vocabulary, what people might want that you don’t offer/feature
Seasonal variations
Searching process
Call center/email/contact us mail◦ (we really do read this at Verizon, btw, be nice!)
Email subscriptions, registrations, event attendance
Membership profiles/statistics
Captures people who may not hit the internet Gets some buy-in from skeptics
This is a brand spanking new field, so use with caution!
Eavesdrop◦ Twitter conversations – very pungent◦ Blogs
Gauge Affinity◦ Tagging◦ Bookmarking
If you can, take a broad survey with the following:
◦ Why are you visiting?◦ Did you find what you were looking for?◦ How often do you visit?◦ Were you satisfied with your experience?◦ How would you improve the site
Use open fields, gauge for passion, quote heavily
Think about the comparison points◦ What problem can you solve for these people?◦ What do they all need?
Infer from your external sources for your narrative◦ Active in community, joins clubs, politically
conservative = Member of the Lions Club
Carve the elephant◦ What does each piece of data mean? Which
matters?
Focus and context ◦ Don’t make a blanket statement – give an
example
Someone we can relate to◦ When conversations get off track, bring them
back to the users
A well of goofiness to relieve tension◦ Paperbag puppets, action figures, playlets…
Stakeholders may not buy into this methodology – it’s different from what they know
Be an expert but prepare to revise (you can study, but you’re not the expert in their business)
Explain your relationships and comparisons, then address specific concerns
Suck it up. Rethink, try again tomorrow.
Be an interpreter Be a forensic anthropologist Carve the elephant Put it all together Have fun
[email protected] http://marriedias.blogspot.com