Advertisement
Check these out next
How to improve your UX
Sep. 22, 2019•0 likes•245 views
1 likes
Be the first to like this
Show More
views
Total views
0
On Slideshare
0
From embeds
0
Number of embeds
0
Download to read offline
Report
Design
In this talk I aim to outline the complexity of UX and the responsibilities required to achieve a good UX approach. I will demonstrate key ways to help you improve the UX of a service, application or website and show you how to go about creating user personas and journeys to ensure better understanding of your customers and identify areas which require improvements. I will also discuss the benefits of performing UI and usability testing with your users to confirm whether these improvements are successful.
Natasha WylieFollow
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
How to improve your UX
- IMPROVING YOUR UX APPROACH By Natasha Wylie @natashawylie@Natasha_Wylie@natasha.a.wylie
- EZJET
- USER RESEARCH • Talk to their users where possible • Don’t guess or assume they know their users • Understand what the users goals and frustrations are • Ask what EZJET can do to make it easier to achieve these goals Type to enter a caption.
- • Identify customer types (e.g. Business Use, Frequent Traveler or Occasional Traveler • Give them a identity • Give them a story • Identify their goals • Identify their frustrations https://xtensio.com/segment-your-audience-with-user-personas/ USER PERSONAS
- USER PERSONAS
- USER PERSONAS
- USER PERSONAS
- USER PERSONAS
- USER JOURNEYS
- ANALYTICS AND UX • Analyse user analytics • Understand where users are exiting the process • Investigate and test exit points • Perform A/B tests and analyse results • Use event tracking to identify how the user achieves their goal • Report on the analytics and make small changes then re-analyse
- USABILITY TESTING • Test new interfaces or products with real users • Ask users to achieve a pre-defined goal • Monitor how users interact with the interface or product • Task up any bugs found by the users to fixed • Gather feedback of any difficulties experienced by the user • Retest changes with the same users and reflect on them
- UI IS NOT UX • UI means User Interface “the means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular the use of input devices and software” - Oxford Dictionary • UI is what the user sees and interacts with • UI can altered to improve the UX • UI developers focus on developing the core interface • UX means User Experience “the overall experience of a person using a product such as a website, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.” - Oxford Dictionary • UX is how the user feels when interacting with the UI • UX improvement can drive how the UI is changed • UX developers focus on improving the placement, consistency, wording and flow of the interface UI UX
- CONCLUSION! By Natasha Wylie @natashawylie@Natasha_Wylie@natasha.a.wylie
- QUESTIONS? By Natasha Wylie @natashawylie@Natasha_Wylie@natasha.a.wylie
Editor's Notes
- In this talk, I aim to outline, the complexity of UX, and the responsibilities required to achieve a good UX approach. I will demonstrate key ways, to help you improve the UX of a service, application or website. I will show you, how to go about creating user personas and user journeys, to ensure better understanding of your customers, and identify areas which require improvement. I will also discuss, the benefits of performing usability testing, with your users, to confirm whether these improvements are successful or not.
- Let me introduce my company EZJET (not to be confused with EasyJet) EZJET need to improve the user experience, of their booking process and on-boarding experience. We will look at ways in which they can identify the areas, they need to focus on improving, for their target market.
- The first thing EZJET need to do is some user research. It’s not always possible to speak directly to the end user, but if you can it’s extremely valuable. With EZJET, they interact with their users on a daily basis, so there’s no reason for them not to. They can collect information by doing surveys, (in person or online), or simply via open dialog and talking to their users. Don’t try and guess, or make assumptions about what the end user wants. Therefore, when asking questions try to keep them as open as possible. Never conduct a survey to prove the user wants, what you think they want. This will only encourage bias discussions. Keep surveys and questions simple, with the ability to ask further questions. This will help in gathering more detailed information, and give them a better understanding of what the user really wants or needs.
- One thing, EZJET can do, to aid their user research is to create user personas. They can identify their customer types, making it easier to understand, how their user journeys may differ. Giving the personas an identity… so a name, photo and description etc, can help EZJET to relate to them, and talk about them like they are a real customer. Identifying the users goals and frustrations, will give EZJET direction, and help them understand what that persona is trying to achieve. Link at the bottom to a user persona builder to help you get going.
- So… EZJET have identified their customer types: Barry their business user Emma their frequent traveler Hayley their occasional traveler EZJET have given them quotes, that have been collected from their customers, to give an insight into what these types of users wanted, when booking with EZJET.
- So Barry… “Traveling is a large part of my job, and I seek to minimise my travel time and expenses” This suggests that Barry travels a lot, so wants the process at the airport, to be as quick as possible, and doesn’t want to have to make loads of expenses claims. EZJET can see that Barry travels 4 or more times a month and is tech savvy. He prefers a more premium service with versatile options which can be personalised to suit him. His goal is to be able to find the best flight options and make his purchases quickly. He gets frustrated when he’s asked to re-enter personal information, and doesn’t like it when he has to use multiple websites to book everything he needs. Therefore, with this information - EZJET can say, Barry would prefer the booking process to be: Quick to make bookings Show him the best flights available Store his personal information Store his flight preferences including flight class, add-ons, preferred airports etc And allow him to book everything he needs in one process EZJET can expect him, to want to be able to book the following options based on the information collected: Business or Premium class Priority checkin or larger carry on luggage Speedy boarding All inclusive business lounge Food and drinks to be included on the flight
- So Emma… “I want to find cheaper flights for my job and vacations without much hassle” This suggests that Emma travels regularly for her small business and personal enjoyment, so wants to keep costs down without having to visit lots of websites, to get the best deal. EZJET can see that Emma travels 3 or more times a month, and that she is cost conscious. She prefers a more affordable service with some options which can be personalised to suit her. Her goal is to be able to find the cheapest flight options, make her purchases quickly without having to check multiple websites. She gets frustrated when websites do not make it easy to find the cheapest rates, and can not save her preferred airlines when searching for flights. Therefore, with this information - EZJET can say, Emma would prefer the booking process to be: Quick to make bookings Show her times and dates when flights are cheaper Store her preferences including preferred airlines/airports, add-ons etc Allow her to book everything she needs in one place EZJET can expect her to want to be able to book the following options, based on the information collected: Economy class Carry on luggage Speedy boarding Front row seat Uses the same home based airport Low cost airline
- So finally Hayley… “Most of my travels are vacations, so I hope to minimise hassles of exchange flights and delays” This suggests that Hayley travels occasionally, for vacations, so wants affordable flights, which fit with her travel schedule and avoid having to spend too much time at the airport. EZJET can see that Hayley travels once a month and is out to have fun. She prefers a more affordable service, but has the budget, to allow her to be flexible if a flight better suits her travel schedule. She doesn’t want loads of add-on options and or personalised services. Her goal is to be able to find flights that fit with her schedule, and gets her to final destination without transfers and waiting around at the airport. She gets frustrated when she has to transfer flights, and wait around in the airport for a long time. Therefore, with this information - EZJET can say, Hayley would prefer the booking process to be: Quick to make bookings Gives her the option to choose direct flights only Show her flights around to the times and dates she selects Doesn’t offer her loads of add-ons and up sells EZJET can expect her to want to be able to book the following options based on the information collected: Economy class Hold and carry on luggage
- Once EZJET have identified their personas, they can then focus on the user journeys. At the top, EZJET have defined all of the possible steps, from finding a flight to arriving at their destination. They have identified the basic journey flow for each persona. As you can see, Barry wanted to be able, to book flights quickly, using the information he’s provided previously. Therefore, it makes sense for him, to login, before searching for a flight. This way we can tailor the results to suit his needs. It’s advisable to produce, a detailed journey for each personal, once the flows have been identified similar to this:
- Here, EZJET have detailed each step, of the booking and boarding process for this persona, or Barry as we know him. If they wanted, EZJET, could go into further detail on each step, outlining all use cases and optional steps. We’ll stop here for this example though. EZJET would need to create one of these for each of the personas, to give them everything they need to identify a best fit, and aid any decision making. With the user research collected, it’s now possible to work out areas to improve on. For example: The user research shows EZJET, that Barry wants to make multiple bookings without having to re-enter his details. Currently, the booking process, doesn’t pre-fill the users information when making a booking. Through creating the user journey, EZJET has identified the areas that could be pre-filled, with the information that has been provided before. This can then be tasked up for a developer, and improve the user experience for Barry and customers alike.
- Most websites have some form of analytics. EZJET have Google Analytics set up, which has been collecting data since they launched in 2014. EZJET can use this data, to better understand their actual users. It can aid in helping them, to continue to adjust, and improve their user personas and journeys, as users behaviours change over time. One great feature of Google Analytics, is the exit page analytics. Here, it is possible, to understand what point users are exiting the process, and potentially highlight any issues or difficulties. EZJET can then investigate, and test the exit points, to see what could be causing the drop-off. Tasks can then be created for a developer to address any issues found. Google Analytics and Google Optimise, can also be used to perform A/B tests, which results can be analysed to determine which page, or component is more performant. There are other tools, which offer comprehensive A/B testing including: Optimizely, VWO and Adobe Target to name a few. EZJET could configure, event tracking, to identify how the user, achieves their goal and what path they take to get there. These results can be analysed, to help identify, areas that can be improved, or made more prominent to the user. It’s recommended, to make small changes on the back of analytical investigation, and monitor how those chances affect results over time, this allows you, to understand whether the changes were successful or not.
- Usability testing, is a technique used, in user-centered interaction design, to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen, as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input, on how real users, use the system. Identify a pre-defined goal, for what the user should achieve during the test. This helps to keep the tests focused, and reduce the amount of red herrings. Monitor how the users interact with the interface, and note down anything of interest, e.g. difficult to find something, clicking things that aren’t clickable etc. Task up any bugs, that are found during the testing. Gather any feedback from the users. Try not to ask closed questions, and ask how they think, it could be made better or easier. Retest the changes made, with the same users, and repeat the process. Reflect on the changes, and ask if they saw an improvement or not, and why.
- UI and UX often get banded together, as the same thing, but truth is, they are very different, and come with their own responsibilities. UI means User Interface - “the means, by which the user, and a computer system interact, in particular, the use of input devices and software” UX means User Experience - “the overall experience of a person, using a product such as a website, especially in terms, of how easy, or pleasing it is to use.” The UI and UX work together, to achieve a common goal. We can use the knowledge gained from our user and analytical research, to affect how we change, or create our UI, to improve the UX for our users. UI developers are responsible, for developing the core interface. Whereas, UX developers, are responsible, for improving placement, consistency, wording and flow of the interface. The UI and UX developer, may be the same person, or it may be different people, that work together.
- To conclude: Create personas, and user journeys, to better understand your customers, and using them to help improve the UX of your website or application. Use analytics, to identify any real world issues, that may be present, and attempt to resolve them Perform usability testing, with actual users, to ensure, what you have created is usable Don’t confuse the line between UI and UX, both are important, in different ways, and can be carried out by different people. So why are we doing it? Customer satisfaction - ease of use - overall opinion of your brand - more likely to return Increase conversion - customers don’t get frustrated and go elsewhere - targeting the right customers with the right products will mean you increase your sales potential Reduces development time - as you spend more time building things your customers want - stops technology define the solution
Advertisement