Thinking Inside the Box: Using Personas to Prioritize Content

Thinking Inside the Box
Using Personas to Prioritize Content
June-July 2005
UPA 2005 conference
Katrina Friedman, Hot Studio

©2004 Hot Studio Page 2
About me
Former writer
Then content strategist
Then IA
Now Director of UE, Hot Studio

Are you thinking inside the box?
Content goes here

When content goes wrong
Nothing can blow up a project like poorly planned and
managed content process
It’s often the thing that stands between a great design and
a great site.

Our magic weapon
Persona? Yes!
Missile defense
system? No!

What is a persona?
Alan Cooper:
“We make up pretend users and design for them. We call
these pretend users “personas” and they are the
necessary foundation of good interaction design.”
(from “The Inmates are Running the Asylum”)

How do we use personas today?
The good:
They help design teams to think about
who they are designing for.
They can be a powerful tool in building
consensus.
The bad:
After they’ve been created, they often
sit on the shelf, collecting dust.
They can be somewhat time-consuming
to create, for little payoff if they’re not
used throughout the project.

Personas can help
Age: 37
Job: Technology Coordinator, Grandview
Elementary School
Responsibilities:
• Research
• Support
• Teaching
• Training
Experience:
• 14 years in education
• Previously taught English and 3rd, 4th
& 5th grades
• Four years in current job
Barbara, tech coordinator
“Help me find a technology
product that’s going to
improve achievement but
won’t scare away teachers .”

Example: Educational technology company
Project: Redesign site to better support sales process.

Challenge: Explaining the products

Step 1. Create personas
Goals:
• Recommend the best technology
possible
• Keep her boss happy
• Provide technology solutions that are
easy for everyone to use
Barbara
“Help me find a technology
product that’s going to
improve achievement but
won’t scare away teachers .”
Pain Points:
• Finds it difficult to work with
technophobic teachers and staff
• Funding is tight and grants are rare
• Burned in the past when a vendor
went out of business
• Very busy with constant
interruptions from students and staff

Step 2. Extract key questions
What do you have to offer me?
Does it work?
How does it work?
Who uses it?
What do other people think about it?
What do I need?
What does it cost?
How do I purchase it?
Is it easy to implement?
Is it easy to use?
How can I give others the info they need to
make a decision?

Step 3. Map existing content to questions
key questions old content
gaps

Step 4. Map new content to questions
old contentkey questions new content

This method worked well for
Identifying content gaps
Prioritizing what new content should be created
Helping client plan for additional resources needed

Happy ending

Example: Leading specialty retailer
Project: Redesign corporate site for leading specialty
retailer to better reflect brand.

Challenge: Responding to a gazillion requests
From Governance & Compliance More robust information on the board; From Corporate Sales Visibility (of corp. sales info) on
companyinc.com with links to the Corporate Sales site for more information; Messaging about company Inc.’s policy on unsolicited
proposals (for Corp Sales); From company Foundation company Inc. executives speak to importance of company Foundation; Images of
employees volunteering; Metrics (hours and dollars donated); International efforts in Canada and Europe, eventually reaching out to Asia
(need to budget for international funding); Expanding employee gift-matching programs; From Compliance & Environmental Affairs
Content that educates people on what each issue is; Content that educates people about what company means by social responsibility; Tell
a Friend; Links to reports published by third parties; A short description about what third parties are saying about company’s role on certain
issues, along with link to their sites; Curriculum for school kids ; Video clips (e.g., interviews with vendor compliance people); Information
on the vendor approval process; Provide updated information on the “product lifecycle” (and provide more detail than is currently on the
site); Explain decision-making process; Provide ways to interact with the information (e.g., clickable diagrams); Use more graphs and other
visual representations of important information; From Global Media Pitch stories to media with downloadable press kits (PDF); Add
messaging about sponsorships (“company Inc. does not accept unsolicited proposals”) near/within Contact info; Provide videos of TV
commercials* ; Special content area with sneak previews of upcoming commercials, imagery for new season for fashion press; *Repurpose
FAQs in appropriate places (e.g., Social Responsibility); Showcase community relations work in Europe (some of this content exists on
companyWeb); Talk about brand-specific sponsorships in Press Room; Show product prices; Consolidate Contact Us in one place; From
Investor Relations Give definitions of financial terms and how to understand financial reports; Downloadable financials as Excel
spreadsheets, in addition to PDFs (very useful for analysts who need to make their own projections with this data); Product walk-through
(must be password-protected); Some standard questions (flow dates, commercial dates) we can’t answer, but maybe we can provide
historical dates or other related information; From Recruiting Add links to international job sites for company Inc. (France, Canada, UK,
Japan); Eventually offer careers section in multiple languages (French, Japanese, English) and tailored to the country’s culture (e.g., country-
specific benefits).; Make store pages look exciting and vibrant, with photos of different locations and amenities; Bundle marketing
information into a “job seeker kit” for candidates (articles, at-a-glance, annual report, CSR report, brand marketing material, links to maps,
and directions to locations of interviews and work sites); Add content about cities (e.g., what is San Francisco like, what can I do there,
housing costs, what’s it like to work there); Add more content about career paths, locations and pictures of company’s work sites, recruiting
process (what to expect), audio clip, “on boarding” kit, “pre-boarding” kit for new hires; Add more information about fashion (especially for
Japan), why company Inc. is the world’s largest specialty fashion retailer, differentiators; Add section about company Inc. designers, with
bios and awards for best-designed pants, etc. New Functionality Requests Need printer-friendly versions of pages; Want to be able to
track previous versions (this is mostly a CMS tool issue; however, we may need to provide a date stamp to each page); Provide a mechanism
to notify “subscribers” if new information is published about a specific issue (global compliance and environmental affairs); Provide a useful
search and make it generally easy to find information; Develop process for alerting media team members of new information/press kits on
the site; Improve and expand on email alerts for disseminating timely information; Allow recruiting team to list all job postings on the site
(team currently has issues with posting process for logistics, call centers, college-related, field, and hourly jobs); Provide means for
recruiting team to monitor metrics; Use an easy-to-remember URL (from recruiting team); Add to job application “are you willing to
relocate, and to which countries/cities?”; Allow candidates to categorize questions when sending email to expedite response process.
More than 50
requests for
new content or
functionality!

Step 1. Create personas
“I live my life
“according to my
“values. My husband
“and I encourage our
“children to be active
“in our community.”
--Louise, socially
responsible investor
“I’m not just looking
for a job after
college— I want to
find a good“career
path in business.”
--Carl, job seeker
“I can read a balance
sheet in 2 seconds.
Don’t make me waste
10 minutes finding it.”
--John, institutional
investor
Everyone else
(includes students
and current
employees who use
the corporate site)
“I just got moved into
“business reporting,
“but I don’t know
“what all the
“numbers mean.”
--Jessica, business
reporter

Step 2. Organized list into categories
Executive board -- more robust information
Executives speak on Foundation
Foundation metrics—hours and dollars
donated
International efforts—community work in
Canada, Europe, and eventually, Asia
Employee gift-matching programs—info on
how these are expanding
Global Cmplnce & Envtl Affrs
Compliance and environmental
background—info to educate people about
what company thinks about issues
Definition of Social Responsibility—explain
what this means to company
What third parties are saying about company
and CSR—short descriptions and links to
reports
Curriculum for the classroom (CSR)—similar
to press-kit download
Vendor approval process—info on the
process, video clips with compliance people,
clickable interactive diagrams, etc
Product lifecycle—updated info (and
illustrations) with more detail than currently
available
Global Media
Downloadable press kits—organized on
theme-based stories
TV commercials—short video clips with
accompanying text
Brand-specific sponsorships—e.g., Banana’s
sponsorships of the arts, etc.
Product prices—in all currencies where
company Inc. has presence (note that this is
problematic)
Definitions of financial terms—e.g. How to
read the financial report
Excel spreadsheets—financials in
downloadable format for analysts
Product walk-through—video, or still photos
and text
Multiple country versions of careers
section—Japanese, French Recruiting
Job-seeker “kit”—including at-a-glance,
annual report, CSR report, etc.
Content about cities—where company Inc.
has offices, including maps, photos,
directions
Career paths at company Inc.—additional info
to cover all main departments, could include
employee profiles
Recruiting process (what to expect)
On boarding and pre-boarding kits
Company and fashion—why we’re world’s
largest specialty fashion retailer; great ops for
designers
Company designers—bios/profiles, awards

Step 3. Map content requests to user needs
content requests “I want this!” items

Step 4. Show level of effort for “I want this”
Easy, medium, or lots of workcontent requests

Step 5. Make final recommendations
content requests
Easy, medium, or lots of work

Step 6. Rinse and repeat for functionality requests

This method worked well for
Site that already had a lot of content
Giving order to long list of requests
Giving a large and diverse group a chance to
participate
Keeping internal politics to a minimum

Happy ending
text

Deep Thoughts
Be sure to focus on most critical
questions
Give everyone their say but don’t
make any early promises
Color-coding made a big
difference
Use the personas’ words and
photos wherever possible
Be sure to focus on most critical
questions
Give everyone their say but don’t
make any early promises
Color-coding made a big
difference
Use the personas’ words and
photos wherever possible

Thank you
Katrina Friedman
Hot Studio
848 Folsom St. #201
San Francisco, CA 94608
415.284.7250 x34
katrina@hotstudio.com
www.hotstudio.com

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