Combining Methods
User Research and Web Analytics
Martijn Klompenhouwer & Adam Cox
EuroIA - September 25th, 2009

Agenda
About Web Analytics
About User Research
Why you should combine methods
Practical examples
Why you should try it too
User Intelligence (about us)

About Web Analytics

Web Analytics Definition
"Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis
and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of
understanding and optimizing Web usage.“
- The Official WAA Definition of Web Analytics

What does the definition mean?
Where are your users coming from?
What are they doing?
When and where do they leave?

Some examples of Web Analytic measurements
Referrals
Visitors, visits and page views
Popular pages
Bounce rates
Funnel analysis
Path Analysis

Issues with Web Analytics
Data often perceived as boring statistics
Implementation of WA tool not always correct
Reports: just the facts, no insights, no actions

Web Analytics is quantitative in nature
To get insights, interpretation of the numbers is needed

About User Research

Some examples of User Research methods
Field observation Focus groups
Personas Diary study
Interviews Usability test
Card sorting Expert review

Issues with User Research methods
Data usually from small numbers
Most methods take a snapshot in time
Difficult to capture some behavior
Setting sometimes artificial (e.g. lab test)

User Research is qualitative in nature
You get the ‘why’, but not the ‘big numbers’…

So, why should you combine these two methods?
User Research findings can help interpret web data
Web data can help focus the User Research
More certainty of findings (based on two sources)

The methods complement each other
Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Practical examples
The following 10 practical examples show
How we combine these two methods in real projects
A Web Analyst and User Researcher working together as a team
User Research helping Web Analytics and the other way around
What the added value is of combining methods

Practical examples (1/2)
Creating realistic usability test scenarios
Measuring the use of advanced features
Understanding effectiveness of concept
Validating usability test findings
Identifying target audience
Verifying user feedback

Practical examples (2/2)
Explaining unintended landing pages
Implications of unintended user-flows
Interpreting bounce rate data
Explaining abandonment rates

Why you should try it too
Combining methods works!
You can tell a story backed up with data
Useful in different stages of a project
Research, Design, Optimize
One report with clear actions
Presenting findings from two methods in one deliverable
The combination works both ways!
Web Analyst and User Researcher benefit from each other

Just remember…
Fruitful results can already be gained from basic analysis
You don’t need to be a Web Analytics expert, but it helps ;-)
Web Analytics tools do not magically provide the insights...
Measure the impact of your changes (optimize)
The UX team should make more use of Web Analytics!
It shouldn’t just belong to the IT or Marketing departments

What we want you to take away…
Find out what web data is available
Use it!..... Just try it! No more excuses ;-)
Web data will help you in different stages of a project
If important data is missing, try to get it measured it in the future
Integrate Web Analytics into your process and methods

User Intelligence

The presenters
Martijn Klompenhouwer
UX Researcher
10 years UX experience
7 years at User Intelligence
Adam Cox
Web Analyst
6 years UX / Analyst experience
2 years at User Intelligence

User Intelligence
It’s our goal to design interactive products that provide
great User Experiences, based on knowledge of both
the users and the business.
Services we offer:
• Research
• Design
• Optimize
www.userintelligence.com

Handbook of Global User Research
How to conduct Global User Research
written by the partners of the UXalliance
and other experts
Available in November 2009
published by Morgan Kaufman
(pre-order it now on Amazon!)

Thank you!
user intelligence
Amsterdam office
www.userintelligence.com
Martijn Klompenhouwer
Klompenhouwer@UserIntelligence.com
Adam Cox
Cox@UserIntelligence.com