User journeys

digital design

for

#PHXDW 2013 @rebekahcancino

DAMN GOOD

That’s me, in the back there!

@rebekahcancino

TACOS

Community

Sunshine Digital Cowboys

We live in a cross-platform culture. People don’t think, “Is this task appropriate for this device?” We often use multiple devices, from start to finish, during a single task.

@rebekahcancino #PHXDW

CONTEXT.

The mobile context!

You keep using that word.

I don’t think it means what you think it means.

Don’t fall for it. “I love fiction. UFOs, unicorns, faith healing, the Mobile Web, the Mobile Context, psychics.”

- Stephen Hay

Surprise!

Your context is not my context

A mobile device may be someone’s only access to your site. People with lower incomes deserve equal access to the internet.

@rebekahcancino #PHXDW

“He found his last sports car on his phone. When he arrived at the dealership, he was ready to buy.”

Why user journeys? User journeys are really people journeys.

A Jared Spool story.

"Search is only for the site’s content. The refund policy is not content."

-  A Client

Everything is content.

“Content is what the user needs or wants right now.”

- Jared Spool

We have to think beyond breakpoints

We have to plan from the smallest canvas-out

Start at the beginning

CONTEXT is not tied to devices

CONTEXT is tied To people

Every digital experience we design is for people. To design delightful experiences, we must let our users decide what works for them and their context.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Journeys are also stories. “Everything is a story. Everything is about pacing.”

- Danny Yount

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But they have to be true stories. “The shortest distance between a human and the truth is a story.”

- Anthony DeMello

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Because, Science.

Define your purpose and goals Know your audience Consider their behavioral context Map the their journey and attach to persona Iterate, test, refine, repeat!

user journeys 1 1 2 1

3 1v 4 1 5

Why are you in business?

Every journey has a destination

Defining your purpose, values, style, and vision is the foundation for everything else. You can’t understand your users’ journeys without knowing why you exist and what you stand for.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Where a person is going says a lot about their journey. The person on the journey does not decide what the destination is like, they choose it because of what it already is.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

PURPOSE

Why you’re in business. It summarizes the difference you’re trying to make in the world and what drives you every day.

VALUES

The attitudes and beliefs at the core of your company. What’s truly important to your business, and should be reflected in all of your decisions and actions.

STYLE Traits representing your core characteristics and style of doing business. Used as a source of inspiration and guidance for branding, site design, messaging, and more.

VISION

What the future will look like once your goals are achieved. It’s important for this to be clear so everyone is working towards a common goal.

“We’re 80sTees.” “And our mission is to delight and amaze the kid in us all.”

Define your purpose and goals Know your audience Consider their behavioral context Map their journey and attach to persona Iterate, test, refine, repeat!

user journeys 1 1 2 1

3 1v 4 1 5

Take a look inside

Personas should be grounded in research and elevated by empathy. They’re filters to help you to see through your users’ eyes. They speak to decision modes, preferences, concerns, motivations, and information needs.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

You are not your target audience. Beware of biases. Don’t assume you know what your users want and why they choose to do business with you. Ask them.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Capture the richness of the human experience. Have conversations, follow a directed storytelling method, be curious, document everything.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

logical

emotional

slow fast

competitive

spontaneous humanistic

methodical

Do your homework. Qualitative research is only as good as the questions you ask and the skill level of the interviewer. Use quantitative research to gather clues and validate hunches, but be wary of making broad assumptions.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Define your purpose and goals Know your audience Consider their behavioral context Map their journey and attach to persona Iterate, test, refine, repeat!

user journeys 1 1 2 1

3 1v 4 1 5

Thinking. feeling. doing.

Don’t be a heartless bastard. “The number one practical competency for success in life and work is empathy.”

-  Peter Drucker

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Cognitive learning

Emotional feeling

Physical doing

Personal-behavioral context

By Daniel Eizans

Psychological state, stress, desires, needs

Environmental factors, physical activity, habits, disabilities, sensory stimuli

Learning ability, education, cognitive assumptions

Remember this guy?

He’s got a behavioral context too.

Define your purpose and goals Know your audience Consider their behavioral context Map their journey and attach to persona Iterate, test, refine, repeat!

user journeys 1 1 2 1

3 1v 4 1 5

User flows, ftw.

A deep dive into data can be delightful. Look for clues in your site metrics: ü Entry pages ü Exit pages ü Devices ü User flow ü Traffic sources

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Think it through together

Good for grain, bad for user experiences

Invite everyone to the party. The more skill sets and perspectives represented, the better. ü Marketing ü Sales ü Customer Service ü Development ü Executives, etc.

@rebekahcancino #CSAUSA

A puppy story

Susan: the browsing buyer Susan isn’t on a mission to buy a new puppy, she’s just browsing the internet and having fun looking at cuddly little animals. She switches modes when she finds a pup on your doggy matchmaking site she just can’t live without.

As a new user, Susan comes to the site through: •  Image Search •  Facebook/Pinterest •  Individual dog listings •  YouTube

As a return user, Susan comes to the site through: •  Direct visit •  Facebook/Pinterest •  Breed hub page •  Breed available notification email

Susan: the browsing buyer

Susan: the browsing buyer .

Adaptive Path knows what’s up.

Susan: the browsing buyer In charting out Susan’s journey we discover: •  Potential points of friction •  Gaps in information •  Opportunities for microconversions •  What metrics we’ll use to continuously

improve her experience •  Content prioritization •  And more!

knowing

These insights inform our considerations for small screens. •  COPE (Create once, publish

everywhere) •  Interdigitation (Flexbox) •  Localized content •  CMS issues •  Metadata and markup •  And more!

Define your purpose and goals Know your audience Consider their behavioral context Map their journey and attach to persona Iterate, test, refine, repeat!

user journeys 1 1 2 1

3 1v 4 1 5

Look for patterns

Better: Metrics are about learning

Good: Metrics are about measurement

Remember. There’s no such thing as a “golden rule” when it comes to measurement.

@rebekahcancino #CSAUSA

You formulate a hypothesis: Maybe our navigation is unclear?

You see a high amount of page views per visit with a relatively low avg. time on site, and you wonder: Are they having a hard time finding what they need?

Which leads to an experiment: Let’s clarify the navigation nomenclature and see if there’s an improvement

Ask questions

This story never ends

Remember. The digital work we do is never final. This is an iterative process. Plan for constant improvement, adjustment, and learning.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Don’t let your insight become an artifact. Find ways to keep the understanding you gained from charting user journeys alive as you iterate. Create accountability, buy-in, and a shared sense of ownership.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino

Questions?

Let’s talk, preferably with cocktails.

#PHXDW @rebekahcancino