the role of research in digital development (presentation to digital business unit heads)
DESCRIPTION
by Angela Obias, under the Digital Brand Management team of ABS-CBN Corporation Research is often overlooked when planning a digital team. The slides above were presented to an executive committee, to evangelize the relevance of research projects to website and application development. Slides containing ABS-CBN's proprietary performance data (TV ratings, Google Analytics) were removed. The presentation offers an overview of the benefits of analytics, usability testing and user research.TRANSCRIPT
Angela ObiasDBM
inUser Research RoleUX
Why do we need user research?
that doesn’t mean anything to us.We have so much data,1
The web isn’t the same as TV.
Data is inexpensive.There’s no official body.
Sample ofBBC
clickthroughbehavior
prior to redesign
Websites are massively complex, and although tools capture all that data, they don’t actually tell you what to do.
Most web analytics tools...spew out data.
...To solve these...you need an analyst... Otherwise, you are simply data rich and information poor.
Avinash Kaushik, Google
“”
TV Patrol Weekend?What was the best timeslot for
Time
TimeslotProgram
Minute-by-minute
1 2 3 4
Total Philippines 2 TV channels 8 areas10 demographic targets x
A sampling of patterns...
All this beautiful data.What could it do for our
content strategy?
through usability testing.Design efficiency improves2
Simple fact:Human beings are biasedtowards their own experience.
We can’t really assume account for pretend we knowhow another person will receive what we’re trying to say.
Usability Testing≠ More moneyBetter user experience
Site metrics can give us a general path.
Direct observation helps us see:
- Ease of navigation- Learnability and errors- Comprehension and findability* Spontaneous comments (branding, feel)
Usability testingis only part
of the research story.
Usability testingaids interface design.
through seeing market needs.User research lets us innovate3
We do no market research.- Steve Jobs, in Fortune Magazine
1. “Apple’s goal isn’t to make money.”2. Apple designs for themselves.
Very few companies have this luxury.
User ResearchPeople who will use the product
People crafting and planning the
product
To sniff out their needs,
...we would need to spend time with them
and see what their life is like.
What are their pain points when they use their mobile phone, or browse the web?
What are their “quick fixes” for things?
What happens when there’s one TV and one laptop in the home? Who gets to use what?
From the user stories and profiles,we create
personasuse casesuser flows
Varying news experiences on multiple touchpoints
May seem like common sense tweaks.
But until you hear or see user experiences, it’ll be harder to
imagine life in their shoes
and brainstorm creative ideas to solve their problems.
Still a learning process.Both in and around our team.
In a fast-paced industry
where differentiation and freedom
make it hard for anyone
to lead the pack
we need to know the pulse
of our usersbetter.