Requirements Gathering for Better Web Site Conversions

Keep Your Ducks in a Row with Documented Web Site Requirements Copyright 2009 Cre8pc.com SMX East NY 2009 Kim Krause Berg, Web Site Usability and SEO Consultant Founder/Owner: Cre8pc.com, est. 1996 Cre8asiteforums.com, est.1998 Usabilityeffect.com, est. 2002 Akesana.com, est. 2009 Usability, Accessibility, Search Engine Optimization, Internet Software QA Testing, Requirements Document & User Manuals

You Can Get A Horse to Drink….

“ I want this!”

“ I want that!”

“ We need video!”

“ Users can read that font!”

“ Nobody has dial-up anymore!”

“ They’ll never view our site on their cell phone.”

“ Blind people don’t use our site.”

“ I want lots of pretty graphics and JAZZ!”

“ I can use it. So what?”

Line up your ducks…

Project management

Organizing and planning your web site

Napkins, sticky’s, whiteboard

Write everything down!

Team signs off

Test cases and guidelines

What Are Site Requirements?

It’s difficult to convert traffic to sales when you haven’t figured what your web site is expected to do and who will use it.

What is a Requirements Document?

Business Requirements (BR)

BR1. Sell products online

BR2. Provide information on our company

BR3. Provide excellent customer service

BR4. Be accessible to everyone

These are called “Parent” Requirements

Aid in IA

A business requirement is a goal or primary use such as…

Provide services

To inform

Offer search services

Get sales leads

Create community

Sell products

BR2 .0 Provide Company Information

BR4.0 Sell Online

BR2.1 About Us page

BR2.1.1 Provide bios of staff

BR2.1.2 Presidents message

BR2.2 Blog

BR2.2.1 Global reach

BR2.2.2 Host ads

BR2.3 Catalog

BR2.3.1 PDF version

BR2.3.2 Subscription

BR2.4 Social Network

BR4.1 Shopping cart

BR4.1.1 Custom cart

BR4.1.2 SEO-friendly

BR4.2 Marketing

BR4.2.1 Insert and list the ways you plan to sell online; i.e. user generated content, social media, weekly sales, coupons, online accounts, etc.

Functional Requirements (FR)

FR1.0 Server

FR1.1 Describe server environment

FR2 .0 Performance Testing

FR2.1 Server

FR2.2 Browser

FR2.3 Mobile

FR3.0 Shopping cart

FR3.1 Php

FR3.2 User Friendly

FR3.2.1 CSS

FR3.2.2 Secure

Functional requirements refer to technical issues .

Derived from use cases, mental models, user personas.

Programmers’ domain

Determine specs for browsers, OS, accessibility, bandwidth, performance, platform, mobile use, programming

Traceability of Children Req’s and Other Parent Requirements: FR, UIR, SER, SMR, UAR

ALL of these MUST be traceable to Business Requirements

If you wish to write a solid Requirements Document or

set of Web Site Guidelines, include:

UIR – User interface requirements (includes IA, design, fonts, images)

SER – Search engine requirements (SEO, PPC, SEM, Linking)

SMR – Social media requirements (blog, forums, social sites)

UAR – Usability and Accessibility requirements (usability heuristics, mobile, Section 508, PAS 78)

Example: UAR1.0 Adobe PDF

UAR1.1 Provide html version

traceable to BR4 (Be Accessible to Everyone)

Documentation

Why?

Developer Checklists

Programmer Checklists

Create Stakeholder signoff doc’s

Web site guidelines

Test cases ex. tasks

Test plans ex. heuristics

Track enhancements

Project management

Bug management (because a failed metric is a bug, defect, concern)

Benefits: Save money, team communication, validation, no surprises

Re-use on multiple sites

Stakeholder sign off (comes in handy when they question you)

Analytics can show if requirements are met or should be modified

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SEL’s JUST BEHAVE Column

http://searchengineland.com/library/just-behave

“ D ives deep into searcher behavior and how search engines constantly tweak their operations to improve user experience. The Just Behave column appears weekly at Search Engine Land .”