UX professionals often put a lot of effort into making informed and data-backed design decisions. This presentation shares ideas for communicating the ROI of UX to stakeholders (sales), and provides a framework for supporting UX and IA decisions, thereby improving the decision quality and stakeholder confidence. With the cloud leveling the tech playing field, UX is a growing competitive advantage.

1. It’s All Sales
Selling and Defending UX
Michael Zarro, PhD
mzarro@gmail.com
PhillyCHI Workshop Series
Temple University
Sept 19, 2015
"Websites that are hard to use frustrate customers, forfeit revenue and erode
brands.”
-Forrester

2. Presentation Format
CIA: COMMENT, INTERRUPT, ASK
• Introductions
• Background
• “Sales”
• UX in the wild
– Sell
• UX Decision Support Framework
– Sell
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

3. About Mike
I’m 5’10”
I use a Mac laptop
I designed ecommerce checkout with $1 Billion
yearly sales
I wear size 11 shoes
I researched and fixed usability issues impacting
flagship software adoption for 2000+ customers
My mother says I’m handsome
What facts say “listen to this guy about UX / IA topics?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

4. Introductions
• Your Name
• Non-UX facts about you
• UX accomplishments or
background
– "It ain't braggin' if you done it"
attributed to Dizzy Dean
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

5. Dual Process Theory
Systematic Processing Heuristics
HSM - Heuristic-Systematic Model of Information Processing
ELM – Elaboration Likelihood Model
You can’t judge a book by its cover… but it almost always has an influence.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
e.g., Reading
Investigating
e.g., Aesthetics
Author

6. Goals for Today
Link UX work to client motivations
A system to support / defend UX decision
making with research
Your goals?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

7. Genesis
Well meaning, but
ill informed,
colleague makes
design suggestions
I use a few
academic citations
in my design
deliverables
Client gets a great
design.
Subsequent
design discussions
with team greatly
improved.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

8. Client:
1. Internal and external people / teams who will
use your designs and deliverables
2. Internal and external people / teams who will
want to work with you again and again
because the benefit outweighs the cost
UX Client
$$$
$
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

9. What is UX?
What is a UX professional?
Still have no generally accepted terms. My UX is your UI, is her IA…
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

10. Q: Why do you rob banks?
A: Because that’s where the money is
- Willie Sutton
Businesses want UX largely because it makes money.
With cloud technologies, the smallest entrepreneur can take on SAP, IBM, etc.
UX is a competitive advantage
Image: Wikipedia
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

11. Relative Cost to Fix an Error
System Analysis and Design Methods (2004). Whitten, Bentley, and Ditman

12. “You must sell”
Morville and Rosenfeld.
Information Architecture,
p. 365

13. Sell is sometimes a 4 letter word?
Source: Michael Cornellius, Flickr
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

14. Sales is Not a 4 Letter Word
UX contribution?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

15. Neither is Metrics
Increased newsletter signups on a website
Increased sales?
CEO likes the photo on the “about us” page
Improved Net Promoter Scores
Improved System Usability Scale (SUS) scores
Not a good metric, but sometimes gets more buy-in than anything else…
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

16. UX ROI / Metrics?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

17. UX Potential Impact
• $12 Million difference in profit for Expedia – changing one data field
in booking path
• $300 Million simply by changing a button (Jared Spool)
• Forrester UX report (Mike Gualtieri, 2009) :
– 14.4% more customers willing to consider another purchase
– 15.8% fewer customers who are likely to consider doing business with a
competitor
– 16.6% more customers who are likely to recommend their products or
services
– 200% higher visit-to-order conversion rate
– 400% higher visit-to-lead conversion rates
– 41% lower page abandonment rates
– Can greatly reduce the need for extensive redesign and redevelopment
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

18. Presenting and “Sales”
1. Seeing the client as someone they have to please:
Your client hired you because you are the expert at what you do.
2. Not getting off your ass:
This is your room. Your first job is to inspire confidence.
4. Not setting the stage properly:
You have gathered all of these busy people together. They probably have other things
to do. So let them know why they are in this presentation.
11. Reacting to questions as change requests
13 Ways Designers Screw Up Client Presentations
September 18, 2014 by Mike Monteiro
http://muledesign.com/2014/09/13-ways-designers-screw-up-client-presentations
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

19. UX in the Wild
ISO
Constraints
Cloud – the great equalizer
User Centered Design
Design Thinking
Agile / Scrum
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

20. International Organization for
Standarization (ISO)
ISO creates thousands of standards, from hole punches to Usability.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

21. ISO 9421 - Ergonomics of Human
System Interaction
• Usability has three components:
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
– Satisfaction
There is an internationally accepted definition of “usability” in ISO 9241. Use it.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

22. Project Constraints
The Iron Triangle
Cost
ScopeTime
“UX is expensive”
“We don’t have time for UX” “This project doesn’t need design”
Arguments against UX
Yes, some people still think this way
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

23. Cost
ScopeTime
“What is the cost of missed features?”
“Build to the user needs,
not the deadline” “UX is more than just the UI”
Reactions?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

24. Cloud
Salesforce
Pinterest
Others?
Cloud = Equalizer
Any entrepreneur can take
on the giants
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

25. User Centered Design (UCD)
User
TechnologyBusiness
The cloud leveled the playing field.
A focus on the user is the best way to gain
competitive advantage.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
UCD puts user goals and needs on the
same level as technology constraints and
business goals.

26. Design Thinking
Stanford Design School
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
One way to find out user needs, goals and problems is to ask them
(shocking, I know), and then prototype and test your solutions

27. Agile / Scrum
“Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation” – Agile Manifesto
In practice: regular delivery, testing, and demos.
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

28. Where Does UX Fit?
UI Designer
Full-stack developer
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

29. * Design and Sell
Pope Francis is visiting the city
Design a mobile app for
residents who want to remain
in the city, and go about their
normal routine
Scope:
- Live and work in the city
- Want to go out to dinner at
least once
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

30. UX Decision Support
Why should anyone listen?
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

31. Bernsen, 2009

32. Bowles 2010 -Validation Stack
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/winning-a-user-experience-debate/
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

33. UX Decision Support Framework
Thinking
and
Experience
UX/HCI
Theory
and
Principles
UX
Patterns
and
Heuristics
Related
Projects
and
Articles
Project
Specific
User
Research
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

34. Thinking and Experience
• We must have learned something in our
collective years of experience?
– I’ve seen this before – I’ve designed something
like this a dozen times…
– Hmm, never saw this before, better investigate...
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

35. UX and HCI Theory and Principles
• Magic Number 7 +- 2
• Fitts’ Law
• Design standards or principles
– iOS and Android design principles
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

36. UX Patterns and Heuristics
Example: Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics:
1. Visibility of system status
2. Match between system and the real world
3. User control and freedom
4. Consistency and standards
5. Error prevention
6. Recognition rather than recall
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from
errors
10. Help and documentation
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-
heuristics/
* There are many other lists of heuristics an rules, most
are quite similar to Neilsen’s
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
You probably know what
most of these icons represent

37. Research Articles and Related Projects
Government sources, research
articles…
Do you pay taxes? They belong to
you!
• Google Scholar
• Google Books
• ACM Digital Library
• Forrester
• Gartner
• NNGroup.com/articles
• UIE.com/articles
• MeasuringU.com
• Competitive Review
• Previous projects at your
agency / client / company?
• Personas
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
We call this “secondary research”
in academia

38. Project User Research
• Ethnographic
– Interviews
– Observation
• Usability Testing
– AB Testing
– Evaluative
Build the right thing *
Build the thing right
* See Natalie Hanson’s presentations at
http://www.slideshare.net/ndhanthro
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015
We call this “primary research”
in academia

39. * Design and Sell
Pope Francis is visiting the city.
Design a website for visitors to the city who will stay 3-5
days afterwards and combine with a site-seeing trip.
Scope:
• Things to do
• These visitors will stay in a hotel in “the restricted
zone” while the Pope is here
• English speakers
Michael Zarro, PhD 2015

40. Thank You
Stay in touch!
Michael Zarro
Ph.D. Information Studies, Drexel University
M.S. Library and Information Science, Drexel University
Email: mzarro@gmail.com
Web: www.mikezarro.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mzarro
Twitter: @mzarro