Kelly, 28, is a Senior Account Manager for
a PR Consultancy based in Central London. She has a two-bedroom apartment in St
Johns Wood, moments from Lord's Cricket Ground. She is “too busy enjoying life”
to settle down but when it comes to a good time she ....
OK, before the tech chaps get a bit hot under
the collar I must point out that Kelly is not a “real” person. Kelly is a
fictional portrait of a typical user of web site X, created from a solid
understanding of users attitudes, behaviours and motivations. Kelly is an example of a believable
'persona', a powerful tool for creating user-centric designs.
I am often quizzed how I gather the
customer insight to produce accurate personas.
The answer is “from whatever means I can”. Personas are based on sound user research – talking
to actual users might be the most effective method, but there's a host of
other research methods which will surface valuable data on user attitudes and behaviours. As I am
currently in the middle of gathering user information for a project here are
some of the ways I intend to analyse their current and potential users:-
- Interview
real users, one-to-one or using focus groups. Nothing beats talking to
actual users
- Interview
people within the organisation. This includes both office staff and store
staff (online and bricks & mortar store).
- Talk
to all other stakeholders and gather their opinions
- Review
all available marketing research data
- Talk
to friends and family to see if they are current or potential users.
Sometimes actual users are closer than you think.
- Trends
analysis. Use resources such as Forrester to understand specific consumer
trends.
- Investigate
site analytics. Provides data about site visitors and their online
behaviour
- Analyse
search data
- Gather
data from customer satisfaction survey & site feedback forms
- Study external audience reports (if available). For example, Quantcast
- Call-centre
listening and/ or call transcripts
- Emails
and letters from customers
- Read
relevant groups and discussion boards on social networking sites such as
Facebook and MySpace
- Directly
observe users in the field
- Read
blogs to see what others are saying about the clients brand
A fellow User Experience Consultant told me
a few years back about the time she had to research the target audience for
a well-known high street sex shop.
Before walking in to the shop to kick off some observational study she
sat in a cafe opposite to get her morning caffeine fix. A chance rendezvous with a double espresso
was rewarding and gave her an unexpected and valuable insight to the stores customers. Firstly, a large numbers of customers were visiting
this cafe after purchasing from the sex shop.
By sitting there she was able to observe these customers and listen-in
on their conversations. Secondly, she
noticed that a large number of potential customers were stalling from entering
the sex shop. A pattern emerged and she
conducted field interviews with these customers who did not have the courage to
enter. These interviews proved very
revealing.
The lesson here is use whatever sources you
have access to, to get inside the head of the user. Whatever the budget or time constraints there are ways and means to get to know your audience. If you have any suggestions of other ways to gather user data then please share by adding your comments.
P.S.
Conchango are recruiting! If any of my ramblings interest you and you
are passionate about User Experience the we'd like to hear from you.
Why not contact me and let's have a chat?
Listening to: In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel