Where’s the Darn Button? The Value of an Intuitive Interface

1. Where’s the Darn Button?The Value of an Intuitive Interface www.ranked-one.com 571-933-3706

2. Introduction Michelle Chance, CEORanked One, Inc.571-933-3706 michelle@ranked-one.com info@ranked-one.com Michelle has been creating websites for about 20 years, and implementing Tridion since 2006. Ranked One’s clients are primarily Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Ranked One offers both end-to-end solutions and specialized staff augmentation in support for Tridion CMS implementations, ECRM Solutions, Customized Decision Support Systems, system integrations, and training.

3. The Problem • How many times have you become frustrated when searching for information on a website? What makes you frustrated? • Learn how to avoid the common pitfalls and leverage SDL Tridion’s power to deliver a better user experience.

4. User Obstacles • “There is too much information on this page” • “I know what I want, why are they making it so hard for me to get to it?” • “The website I was just on disappeared. Where did it go? How do I get back to it?” • “There was a button here before and now it’s gone” • “Why does the Contact Us link keep moving all over the page as I move through the site?” • “27,153 search results! How do I find what I want?” • “I’m getting errors…where do I go to fix them? How do I fix them?” • “I am unable to tell if this content is current or outdated” • “Why must I register on the site?” • What are YOUR pet peeves?

5. Reality Check • Facts: • Most people don’t go beyond the first page of search results when using search engines • A 30% Bounce Rate is considered good • You have about 3 seconds to convince the User that your website is worth reviewing • People spend 1-2 minutes on detail pages they care about

6. Your Main Goal: • Make visiting your website an enjoyable and rewarding experience for your Users. • Happy customers are repeat customers!

7. Who is your Target Audience? • DEFINITION: A Target Audience is the primary group of Users that are or will become customers and regularly access your information. • Stakeholders may or may NOT be your target audience • If it’s an eCommerce site, these are the people who will or have bought products • You can’t please all of the people all of the time

8. Quick User Interface Process • Step 1: Basic Usability TestingConduct 5 interviews of various types of Users • Use this data to create Personas • Have at least one person from each User Group • Ideally observe these Users working on the current site to understand how they interact with the content and where the challenges are • Step 2: Taxonomy (Card Sort)Organize your content into categories and sub-categories • Use this data for your Categories and Keywords for content metadata tagging • Use this data for creating the organization of your Structure Groups • Step 3: Gap AnalysisIdentify the issues/challenges that exist between how the website is set up currently, and what the Users need it to do for them • Use this data to create a list of improvements to make the website • Better Organized • Easier to Navigate • Consistent • Searchable • Helpful • User-friendly

9. Navigation Solutions • “I can’t go back to the previous page” • “The website I was just on disappeared.Where did it go? How do I get back to it?” • “I can’t go back and correct what I typed in” • Design Solution: • Carefully design your navigation links to allow Users to move through the site easily and efficiently; don’t rely on the browser’s buttons for your website. • Open files and other’s websites in a new browser window so Users can always navigate back to your website. • All types of forms should give the Users the option to skip a section, go back to a section, and review and edit their input prior to submission.

10. Organization Issues • “I can’t find what I’m looking for” • “There is too much information on this page.” • Design Solution: • Don’t overload your audience with too much information per page. • Remove clutter. • Present information in a consistent manner. • Minimize the number of pages one must click through, but not at the expense of a page that scrolls on and on. • Always give User the option to “Browse” through your content or “Jump” to the conversion.

11. Consistency Solutions • “There was a button here before and now it’s gone” • “Whydoes the Contact Us link keep moving all over the page as I move through the site?” • Design solution: • Streamline page layout throughout your site. • Create a Master Template to be set as the global parameters for all of your pages so they are consistent. • Global Headers and Footers make maintaining that consistency easy.

12. Ease-of-Use Solutions • “Why must I register on the site?” • “I know what I want, why are they making it so hard for me to get to it?” • Design solution: • Reduce the number of steps to the conversion. • Only ask for the information you MUST have to allow for hassle-free browsing.

13. Search Solutions • “27,153 search results! How do I findwhat I want?” • “I have to start the search AGAIN!!! Why can’t it just remember what I asked for?” • Design solution: • Use terms you Users will likely use versus terms used within your company, and avoid acronyms. • Carefully design your taxonomy so the Categories and Keywords you use to tag your Components will really help your Users find what they are looking for. • Offer Users advanced search features like filters and faceted search so they can manually manipulate the data to drill down to what they are looking for.

14. Feedback/Support Solutions • “I’m getting errors…where do I go to fix them? How do I fix them?” • “I am unable to tell if this content is currentor outdated” • “Who do I ask for help?” • Design solution: • Provide straightforward, easy-to-understand error messages. • Make sure that the placement of the error message will be easily visible by the Users regardless of their device or screen size. • Provide timestamps on the content to indicate when it was last updated • Help the Users help themselves by giving them the tools to find answers and contact the organization if they need to. • Include contact information on every page • Provide a detailed FAQs page and an easy-to-find link to it • Provide Users a Feedback Form so they can communicate with you and provide you with comments and suggestions

15. Quick Resource to Ensure Usability • Is all of your content organized into categories and sub-categories and reflected in your navigation? • Is your content concise and current? • Are you using standardized templates and Global Headers/Footers to ensure your navigation is consistent? • Does your navigation allow Users to freely move from page to page, make edits to forms, and always opens up a new browser window when a file or another website is being accessed? • Is your Search intuitive to your Users (their language, technology level, geared towards their needs), and provides them with the ability to fine-tune their search results via filters, faceted search, etc.? • Is your Contact Information easy to find and accessible from every page? • When the information on a form is validated, are the error messages clearly visible to the Users and explain what needs to be modified? • Have you set up your website with the fewest number of barriers possible, by only collecting the data you MUST have instead of what you want to have? • Whenever possible, include time to observe a sample of Users doing usual tasks on your website to see how they really interactive with the content versus what your best guesses are.

16. Case Studies: Avery

17. Case Studies: Avery

18. Case Studies: Motel 6

19. Case Studies: Sallie Mae

20. Ask the Expert • What are your challenges on your projects? Michelle Chance, CEORanked One, Inc.571-933-3706 michelle@ranked-one.com info@ranked-one.com

21. Where’s the Darn Button? The Value of an Intuitive Interface www.ranked-one.com 571-933-3706