The document discusses content strategy and user experience (UX) best practices. It provides examples of how redesigning an internal company intranet (Citrix Backstage) improved employee satisfaction by reducing unnecessary content by 75-90%, increasing search and page views, and decreasing time spent per session. It emphasizes that content should be thoughtfully ruthless, precise, and help users accomplish their goals efficiently. Readability scores and preemptive error messages are discussed as ways to improve content understandability and satisfaction.

1. Content Out is
a
UX Strategy
Aug. 24, 2016
Mike Donahue
@mdonahue37

2. Content is not a replacement for place
holders
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
adipiscing elit. Cras facilisis aliquet vehicula.
Maecenas feugiat mattis urna, nec feugiat neque
tempus ut. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante
ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce non facilisis
urna, ac aliquam sem. Vivamus laoreet ligula
quis enim ultricies, finibus rutrum arcu aliquet.
Nam ac blandit sem. Etiam rutrum gravida nulla
ut commodo. Ut congue fermentum nisi porta
sollicitudin. Aliquam pellentesque ipsum felis.
Sed molestie consequat nibh nec blandit. Sed
cursus, leo sed tincidunt lobortis, enim nibh porta
lorem, non porta justo dui vitae massa.
Button label

3. Content is not just text.

4. Content is not
king!

5. Definitions from my Mac
Adjective
in a state of peaceful happiness: he seemed more content, less bitter.
• satisfied with a certain level of achievement, good fortune, etc., and not wishing for more: he had to
be content with third place | the duke was content to act as Regent.
Noun
1 (usu. contents) the things that are held or included in something: he unscrewed the top of the flask
and drank the contents | he picked up the correspondence and scanned the contents.
• [ usu. in sing. ] the amount of a particular constituent occurring in a substance: milk with a low-fat
content.
• (contents or table of contents)a list of the titles of chapters or sections contained in a book or
periodical: the contents page.
• information made available by a website or other electronic medium: online content providers.
2 the substance or material dealt with in a speech, literary work, etc., as distinct from its form or style:
the outward form and precise content of the messages.

6. Satisfaction
How it makes
people feel
Stuff
What it is
Substance
What it’s made
of or means
content
The 3 S’s of
great
content

7. Does the content of your content leave
people feeling content?
substance stuff
satisfied

8. Content is core!

9. Would you spend $8
in bar for an empty
glass you can’t keep?

10. Satisfaction comes from the
substance of stuff.

11. Content should inform design,
design should not dictate content.

12. People want content that
helps them accomplish their
goals.

13. There is a huge difference between writing
brand copy (text) and writing UX copy.
Brand copy supports the image of the
company. UX copy gets shit done as
directly and simply as possible.
Joel Marsh
http://thehipperelement.com/post/72080847673/daily-ux-crash-course-3-of-31

14. Creating the right content
Be thoughtfully ruthless to create appropriately precise content.

15. Case study: Citrix intranet redesign
(Backstage)
• Employees felt they spent
too much time trying to
locate relevant content –
too much stuff to sift
through
• It was painful and confusing
to locate and open support
requests
• They came to get answers
so they could get back to
work, not be entertained or
socialize
Old version

16. Without UX

17. Or worse.

18. This is what we want.

20. Page table - Priority Index
http://www.slideshare.net/donahuephoto/page-table-template
Put 90% of your time
into these two box

21. Emotion-driven goal (page table objective)
We want employees to feel confident and
efficient finding the right information and support
so we will remove noise and downplay
distractions so they can return to work as
quickly as possible.

22. There can be only one...Priority 1
Get thoughtfully ruthless.

23. After page
tables...
…and a complete
overhaul of the IA, UI,
and visual design.

24. Net results
75-90% reduction*
in content across sections
383% increase
in search use
224% increase
in page views per session
34% decrease
in average time per session
59% decrease
in bounce
Massive improvement in
employee satisfaction
*excluding support section

25. Creating functional content
Great content makes it easy for the viewer to
find and comprehend what is presented

26. Expanding our definition of interaction
The hand isn’t the only way to interact with content.

27. Most
interactions
begin the eyes.

28. Most
interactions
begin in the
eyes.

29. Function: Findability – through looking
stock image

30. Content is not the text you get two days before launch
to replace the lorem ipsum, that’s too long or too short
for the space you alloted in your wireframe, that got
carried over to your Photoshop mock-up, and then to
the coded prototype. Nor is it some irrelevant stock
image of a smiling couple with a cute puppy or baby
playing at the beach that has no connection the
aforementioned last minute text that was selected
because some read an article that said images of
people lead to higher conversions, but instead draws
the eye away from the primary call to action action you
want the visitor click on.

31. Content is not the text you get two days before launch to replace
the lorem ipsum, that’s too long or too short for the space you
alloted in your wireframe, that got carried over to your
Photoshop mock-up, and then to the coded prototype. Nor is it
some irrelevant stock image of a smiling couple with a cute
puppy or baby playing at the beach that has no connection the
aforementioned last minute text that was selected because
some read an article that said images of people lead to higher
conversions, but instead draws the eye away from the primary
call to action action you want the visitor click on.

32. • Content is not a replacement for lorem ipsum
• Content is not a pleasing but irrelevant stock image

33. Function: Findability – through
clicking/typing

34. Function: Findability – through
clicking/typing
Decision fatigue Pogo sticking

35. Emotion-driven goal (page table objective)
We want employees to feel confident and
efficient finding the right information and support
so we will remove noise and downplay
distractions so they can return to work as
quickly as possible.

36. After page
tables

37. Net results
46% reduction
in support content
48% increase
in online support tickets
21% decrease
in misdirected tickets
$383K
annual cost savings

38. Test the content like
you test the UI?
Content optimization yields bigger
rewards.

39. All content is UI.

40. Case study: Citrix.com redesign
• Tracked NPS score before
and after redesign
• Applied the same design
changes to all category and
product pages
• Only had resources to
rewrite the content within the
networking categry and
products

41. Function: Readability – which feels
easiest?
A B C

42. Function: Readability – what is easiest?
https://readability-score.com/text/

43. Function: Readability - scoring
Grade level • Ideal grade score for average audience is 8±
• Lower grade indicates easier reading
• Is a good indicator of vocabulary required by reader
• Avoid unnecessary big words at all cost
Reading ease • Ideal reading score for average audience is 45 or higher
• Higher scores indicate easier reading
• Is a good indicator of sentence quality
• Avoid run (long) on sentences

44. Function: Readability – impact on
satisfaction
Networking and NetScaler readability scores before and after
Before
Average grade: 20±
Average readability: 12
Worst scores: 27/-47
After
Average grade: 14±
Average readability: 35
and higher

45. Function: Readability – impact on
satisfaction
Networking and NetScaler readability scores before and after
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Before NPS
-40%
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
After NPS
416%

46. Function: Understandable
What does that mean?
Why did wait until I
finished everything to
check?
What do you mean
invalid? That’s my
number!
How should I know this
was required?

47. Function: Understandable
Avoid errors with preemptive messaging
Validate as you go, avoid unnecessary for visitor
Provide hint text – especially if you want something that’s
not the norm

48. Simple error message template
What went wrong? What should have happened? Message
User entered dashes into the
phone field.
User should only enter numbers
without space or dashes
Enter only numbers without spaces
or dashes (hyphens). Example:
0000000000
User submitted form without filing
in required phone field.
User must fill in phone field. Phone number is required.
Example: 0000000000
Employee tried to create a new
account
Employee should just log in with
credentials.
Employees can sign in with their
network credentials to begin. Sign
in now.

49. 3 keys to successfully working content
out
• Be thoughtfully ruthless, cut content until it’s appropriately precise
• Get everyone on board, content is everyone’s responsibility
• Make content that helps people get shit done and measure it

50. Content is not king.
Content is CORE!