simple strategies to create a killer ia

| Simple Strategies to Create a Killer IA

Simple Strategies toCreate a Killer IA

October 1, 2016


Matthew O’BryantDirector of Strategy

I work with potential, new, and existing clients to make strategic digital recommendations that align with business objectives.

401-228-7660

72 Clifford Street,

Providence, RI 02903

oomphinc.com

oomph.is/mobryant

[email protected]

@matthew_obryant


Who is Oomph?

We craft digital experiences with passion & purpose

Oomph is a leading digital agency specializing in strategy, design and UX, and enterprise web development.

We have been based in Providence, RI since 2006.


What is IA?

September 1, 2016


What is Information Architecture (IA)?

● Information architecture is the practice of

deciding how to arrange the parts of

something to be understandable.

● A good IA helps people to understand their

surroundings and find what they’re looking

for – in the real world as well as online.


”Findability precedes usability. In the alphabet and

on the Web. You can’t use what you can’t find. Ambient Findability by Peter Morville

SUBHEADLINE


What Helps Visitors Find What They Want?

What elements of your website make up the

Information Architecture?



● Navigation: breadcrumbs, sub-navigation




● Site Search: typeahead suggestions





● Taxonomies: categories & tags






● Attributes: colors, sizes, options






● Attributes: colors, sizes, options

● Relationships: related products, posts, or

events


Challenges to Creating a Killer IA?

September 1, 2016


What Makes IA on the Web a Challenge?

MULTIPLE ENTRY POINTS

On average only 50% of your visitors land on your

homepage. Every page on your website is an open

door to information and you need to make sure

they can easily find what they’re looking for.



MULTI-SCREEN EXPERIENCE

We live in a multi-screen world where people are

trying to access information on different devices at

different times.



SAME JOURNEY, DIFFERENT PATHS

People prefer different methods of finding the

same information. Some like to browse while

others prefer searching.


How to Create Your Killer IA

September 1, 2016

| Presentation Title Goes Here

Steps to Creating a Killer IA

Gather & AuditYour Content

Organize Content Into Categories

Test Your Assumptions

Analyze YourResults

1. 2. 3. 4.


1 - Gather & Audit Your Content

Redesigning your site: start by running a crawler

like Screaming Frog or Integrity to gather all your

content together in one place. Determine what you

need to keep, remove, rewrite, and if there are any

gaps where new content will need to be created.



Redesigning your site: as part of the auditing

process, start running surveys and tests to

understand your current visitors and determine

why they are visiting your site, what content they

find useful, and if they are able to find what they

need.



Creating a new site: begin by identifying your

target audience(s) and their needs. What is the goal

of your website? Are you selling a product online,

educating your visitors, or generating leads? Then

create a content strategy that helps satisfy the

needs of your visit while achieving your goals.


2 - Organize Your Content in Categories

At this point it’s time to really put your customer

hat on. What journeys would a user take to access

each piece of content? How can you group your

content together into no more than 7 or 8 top level

buckets? What labels or nomenclatures should you

use in your navigation? Start organizing your

taxonomies and their parent/child relationships.



Card Sorting: In a card sorting session,

participants organize and rank content in

categories that make sense to them and provide a

can help you provide a label they feel best

describes the content they will find on each page.



Closed Card Sort: In a closed sort you provide your

participants with a predefined list of categories to

organize content.

Open Card Sort: In an open sort, participants sort

cards into categories that make sense to them, and

label each category themselves.



In Person: Allows you to gather insights into how

people feel about what they're doing or saying in

the study, great for gathering qualitative results

Remote: This is an unmoderated approach that

might allow you to gather more data from a larger

test audience.


3 - Test Your Assumptions

Build your sitemap: Once you have completed

your card sort you can use the results to organize

your content into your first version of a sitemap.

We recommend using a tool like SlickPlan to help

get a visual representation of the navigation paths

and funnels on your site.



Now it’s time to run a designless navigational test

to see if users can easily find the information they

need with very little information or visual queues.

For this we recommend using a tool called

Treejack.



Running a Treejack test:

● Enter your sitemap into the tool

● Create a series of no more than 15 tasks that

ask the participant to locate the page where

they would find certain information.

● Recruit and invite participants


4 - Analyze Your Results

● What percentage of participants traveled the

correct path?

● How many participants selected the correct

page(s)?

● On average how long did it take your

participants to submit an answer?

● How many times did a participant need to go

back?


Common IA Mistakes to Avoid

September 1, 2016


Forgetting About Mobile Users

Start the IA process by thinking about the

information that is most important to users on a

mobile device. From there you will identify what is

most critical to your visitors and add supplemental

information.


Don’t Be Too Inside Baseball

Avoid industry and company specific

terminology that may be unfamiliar to the average

visitor. Use terms and labels that are already

familiar to people to reduce friction.


Don’t Get Too Cute

Sometimes as designers our creatives we want to

be clever or cute. However, if there is no good

reason to push against standard conventions, why

do it? You will only risk confusing your visitors and

causing them leave.


Avoid Too Many Top Level Buckets

According to Nielsen Norman, the ideal number of

top level links is between 6 and 8. Make sure to put

the most important at the beginning and end as

that is what people remember the most.


Grouping Your Content by Target Audience

While this approach is not necessarily wrong, it

typically works best when users can easily identify

who they are. For example, universities and

colleges often group content by types of student,

alumni, etc.


There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect IA

September 1, 2016


Don’t Be Afraid to Continuously Test

We recommend using split testing tools to

constantly test new variations of your navigation,

taxonomies, attributes, and relationships to learn

how to improve. Use heat and click mapping tools

to assess where people are getting tripped up.

simple strategies to create a killer ia

Presentations & Public Speaking