Top Task Design: The Key to Integrating Content Strategy for Mobile & Traditional Websites

Top Task Design: The Key to Integrating Content Strategy for Mobile and Traditional Websites © Robert E. Johnson 2011 J.Boye Aarhus 11 Web & Intranet Conference November 8, 2011 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

1. Content Strategy in a Mobile World Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

We have to solve the dilemma…
“ Short is too long. Ultra-short rules the day” in mobile content.
Jakob Nielsen
Alertbox: August 1, 2011 http://bit.ly/pftKhp
How much of your content is “dead” & “useless” junk that impedes navigation & search results?
Gerry McGovern
Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Content strategy questions…
How will we decide what content to highlight in 3 to 5 mobile home page links?
How will we decide what other content to convert to mobile website?
If we decide some content is not needed on mobile… is it really needed on the “traditional” website?
Task importance is key to a right answer

Where are we going with mobile?
“ We have to focus on making any and every task doable on a mobile device . Because sooner mobile will be the number one channel. And we’d better be prepared for that, wouldn’t you say?”
Boudewijn Bugter, Sabel Communications and Customer Carewords Partner, Netherlands

Interactive tasks for mobile… http://bit.ly/q8XfvB
Calculate college costs… 77%
Calculate scholarships… 75%
Schedule a visit… 65%
Watch videos… 64%
Access social media… 62%
IM admissions reps… 52%
Complete application form… 44%

25% smartphones world wide… http://bit.ly/grclDr Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Smartphones in the U.S. in 2011… http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Smartphones.aspx
35% of people 18+ have smartphones
25% of smartphone owners go online “mostly” with the phone
Expect both percentages to increase
Highest ownership and use: 26 to 34 years

The Law of Top Tasks…
Not all tasks are equal…
Visitors determine the most important

Some tasks are just more important… Mike Atyeo at NeoInsight, Ottawa, Canada 1. Find a Person 2. Procedures, Policies... 3. Corporate News 4. Training, Learning 30,000 Intranet users... 4 Countries... Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Mobile success key… top 5% content Mike Atyeo at NeoInsight, Ottawa, Canada The Long Neck Target audiences’ votes on their top tasks Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Top Tasks on the Home Page Mike Atyeo at NeoInsight, Ottawa, Canada
Top tasks should be easy to do quickly, without errors
Users should be able to start a top task on the Home page

The Top Task Law… Mike Atyeo at NeoInsight, Ottawa, Canada Tasks supported by your website Priority tasks users want to do on your website Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

6 top tasks for local government… http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/ Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Converted to mobile… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

2. Why is top task content important? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Major reason people go to your website…
Complete a task

A bad website experience will…
Weaken, even destroy a brand…

Impact on higher education recruiting… http://bit.ly/q8XfvB
“ Probably” drop if can’t find what’s needed…
Students… 17%
Parents… 16%
Did drop a school from my list…
Students… 20%
Parents… 13%
Create “some negative effect”…
Students… 47%
Parents… 57%

The Golden Rule…
5 seconds to connect

Web visitors scan first, read second…
If people can’t scan a page, they leave it

Websites often hide 3 to 5 top tasks…
You very likely don’t have more than 3 to 5 top tasks for each audience
How many links on your home page?
How many links on your “Quick Links”?
Mixing top tasks for different audiences on a single, crowded page is dangerous
How will you decide a few top tasks for mobile design?

L ong necks and long tails…
“ Much of the long tail is a dead zone… full of dead and useless content.”
Gerry McGovern
Long tail content gets found in search and included in links
“ Mobile” can’t afford this

3. Top task design examples from traditional websites… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

3 top tasks for insurance… http://www.statefarm.com/ Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Tasks moved to mobile site… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Some traditional sites are almost top task ready for mobile… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

3-4 top tasks for admissions cycle… http://admissions.lakeheadu.ca/ Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

6 top professional school tasks… http://management.bu.edu/index.shtml Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

3 top student service tasks… http://www.uio.no/english/student-life/ Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

5 top tasks for alumni accounts… http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/lefa/ Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

4. Design, navigation points… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

First impression… this? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Or give people a choice? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Navigation by icons or… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Navigation by words… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Critical point on links… Make sure a finger tip will work… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

How will you convert this Home page… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

To this Home page? Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Solution… only audience paths on the Home page Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

“ Start” page for “Future Students”… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

“ Start” page for “UBC Community”… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Be wary of transitions like this… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

And like this… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

5. Identifying top tasks…
Review your analytics
Start a survey

1 st step: review analytics…
Start with web analytics…
Most visited pages
Pages where people spend the most time
Search phrases people use to find your site
Search phrases people use within your site
http://1.usa.gov/4kgbK8
Do different reviews for “new” and “returning” visitors
Marketers: most attention to “new” visitors

2 nd step: ask your visitors…
Add a survey to your website…
“ What is your primary task in coming to the site today?”
“ How easy or difficult was it to complete that task, on a scale of 1 to 5?”
http://1.usa.gov/4kgbK8

Key survey points…
Ask people to pick no more than 5 top tasks from no more than 100 possibilities
People will struggle to think of more than 5
Make them select in 5 minutes or less
Try for answers from at least 100 people
In every case, you’ll see:
A “Long Neck” with just a few tasks
A “Long Tail” with the rest of the tasks

Creating top task survey choices…
What do people “search” for on your site?
What keywords to people use to find you?
Interview people in direct contact with customers
Use navigation terms on your site now
Search competitive sites for variations on these terms

6. Management notes… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Changing the culture… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC From... To... “ Let’s fix the website...” “ Let’s fix the Top Tasks...” Let’s get a new Search Engine... Ensure the top 50 internal searches return excellent results. Revising our taxonomy and Information Architecture... Bringing Top Task links and functionality up the hierarchy. Let’s buy the ( Silver Bullet/ Magic Wand ) CMS... Make sure content for Top Tasks is excellent. Let’s customize our weblog metrics... Measuring Top Task performance.

Task Priority & Info Architecture Mike Atyeo at NeoInsight, Ottawa, Canada
Start 2 or 3 top tasks on the Home page
Categorized links on home page lead to high priority tasks on level 2 pages
Medium priority tasks accessible from level 2 landing pages or ‘hub’ pages
Low priority tasks start three levels down in architecture… review these again for deletion
Maybe some of these shouldn’t even be done on the website… esp. in mobile!
1 2 3 4 5 Tasks Votes Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Manage users’ tasks…
5% of a website delivers 25% of its value .
There are a small number of ‘top tasks’ which users prioritize far above others.
These top tasks should be the basis for:
Site architecture
Benchmarking
Allocation of resources
Prioritization of projects
Performance measurement
Tasks Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Case study #1: Making a Higher Education Inquiry University of British Columbia Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Starting at the mobile site… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

To email from mobile site… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

To short website “inquiry” form… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

To easy-to-scan online response… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Case study #2: Donating from a Smartphone Susan G. Komen for the Cure Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

From the Komen mobile website… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Start with the gift amount… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Add personal information… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Finish with payment information… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Revisiting 7 main points…
People visit websites to compete top tasks
A poor experience damages your brand
Use of smartphones to access the Internet is growing
People will expect a good mobile experience
Mobile requires cleaner, simpler design
Mobile design must highlight top tasks
Content strategy should focus on reducing content

The Holy Grail… one website
One website for every access point

Sources for top tasks and mobile… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

The U.S. government… http://1.usa.gov/4kgbK8 Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Gerry McGovern… http://www.customercarewords.com/the-long-neck.html Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Jakob Nielsen on mobile… http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

“ The Stranger’s Long Neck”… Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Thank You! Bob Johnson, Ph.D. President Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 226 Chauncey Court Marshall, MI 49068 248.766.6425 [email_address] Customer Carewords Research for Online Marketing Success: http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/customercarewords.html Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC

Top Task Design: The Key to Integrating Content Strategy for Mobile & Traditional Websites

by Bob Johnson

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Top Task Design: The Key to Integrating Content Strategy for Mobile & Traditional Websites Presentation Transcript

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