Is anyone going to actually use your web site?
A programmers guide to web site planning: PART II
The next topic I want to talk about in this series deals with user analysis or persona development. (View part I of the series Why is user experience design important? here.) Even more than planning out how the user interaction happens on a new application or web site, you must define who is using your new tool and what they are going to want to accomplish.
There are many ways to determine who is using or will use your application and there are many ways to connect with these users to understand how they might use the system and how to design around those user interactions intelligently. Before we dig into how to know who these folks are it is a good idea to figure out a good way to categorize users in general and decide how important these factors are for YOUR particular need. Some examples are age, and affluence. These are important definitions when determining how your users will access your system - will they be using old technology to access your site, or will they be on the cutting edge? Will they be mobile users or usinging mainly corporate PCs in an office setting?
A different factor in determining your sites interaction needs are in the industry or market your product or service lives in:
- What type of buyer are your users?
- Who buys when others don’t
- How long before a purchase decision is made?
If you have a product or service that requires a great deal of investigation by your users, or is complex and requires more time for purchase decisions to be made your user experience may be dramatically differant than that of a product that is simple and packaged for immediate use.
After determining who your user is, and how they interact with your product, you will want to determine where your user is coming from and how that may determine their mood or their readyness to purchase. Many of these things can be determined by sifting through Google analytics reports or other online resources. You will want to use data from online submission forms asking for ‘how did you hear about us’ information. If your existing web site does not already have these resources I would suggest contacting your programming folks and get these added immediately (or - plug - contact Fusion Developers for some assistance.)
The art of understanding your user base is NOT trivial. There are many resources and tools available and the industry surrounding User Experience design is booming. When planning your new system - don’t forget who you are building it for!
by Bill King
