Understanding User Behavior Online

Website Navigation and Design For eMarketing:Understanding User Behavior Online

October 19, 2005

© 2006 Avenue A | Razorfish Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary to Avenue A | Razorfish.August 6, 2008 Page 2

Identify How to Best Serve Your Users

Research Tactics

Prioritize Your Audience Segments

Understanding User Behavior Online

Where They Look

What They Expect

Why They Scroll

How They Read

How They Find Information

How They Navigate

Agenda



Knowing Your Audience: Research Tactics

Contextual interviews in users’ workplaces and homes captures information about daily activities, attitudes, and needs

Camera studies allow people to interpret their environment and activities when we can’t be there

Focus groups solicit opinions and preferences from in-person samples of customers

Surveys capture quantitative data about usage and preferences

Collaborative design, such as collaging, actively engages customers

Card sorting captures customer feedback about categorization and labeling

Traditional techniques

solicit opinions

Interactive techniques observe behaviors




The choice of which customers to prioritize is a business decision


Focus on the most valuable customers

Inflexible Destination

Very flexible Destination

InflexibleSchedule

Very flexibleSchedule

Date Shufflers

DateExplorers

Destination Seekers

Know-it-alls


Retail case study:

Let’s go shopping!


Retail Industry Case Study

All shoppers are different… in predictable waysThe Insight…

1-on-1 interviews and other research revealed patterns in their perceptions, behavior, objectives and tasks

The Research and Analysis…

How to cater to the various types of shoppers: those who love shopping, those who hate it, those who are good at it, and those who are terrible at it

The Problem…


Experienced“I love your hand soap, and I’ve just run out…”

• Likely to be a repeat customer who has been to the site before

• Wants to be able to get right to her product

• Wants the site to remember who they are

Functional“I’m looking for a gift

basket of bath products…”

• Has a need but isn’t sure what will meet it

• Appreciates consultative selling

• Responds well to “solution set” cross-selling/upselling

Surgical“I want a new blusher…”

• Knows what they want, but unsure if you sell it online

• Wants to find the solution easily and quickly

• Appreciates product comparisons

Recreational“I work hard—

I deserve a treat!”

• Not looking for anything specific

• Receptive to new ideas, expert advice, trend content

• Enthusiastic user of compelling “viral” features

There are 4 Different, but Predictable Shopping Modes


There are also Different Levels of Skill

“I do like trying on clothes and experimenting with different styles. I suppose I like trying to create a look that people who know me will see me reflected in the clothes.”

(Susan, Rochester)

“I’m not good at mixing and matching, I just don’t know how to do that… I need help with it.”

(Colleen, Chicago)

Others feel at a loss when it comes to making an outfit that looks good on them and inspires confidence

Bad

Some people have developed their own personal sense of style and dress confidently

Good


And also a Love/Hate Preference for Shopping

“I almost never buy an outfit already pulled together. I love to shop and usually make many trips to put an outfit together.

I like trying to find pieces from a variety of source and especially like to find a good bargain!”

“I have always hated shopping. Even when I was financially secure, I hated spending a lot of money on clothes…I would shop out of desperation with no idea what I was looking for…”

Others would rather have all their teeth pulled than go shopping.

Hate

Some people love to shop – they go frequently, trolling for ideas and bargains.

Love


Retail Personas = Mode + Skill + Preference

Hate Shopping

Outfit Confident

Love Shopping

Eclectic

• Most confident – doesn’t mean they are objectively fashionable, but have own sense of style

• More fluid wardrobe, shop for bits consistently, shop for fun

• Pride of the hunt

Hapless

• Needs help learning how to put outfits together for different occasions

• Needs help with fit

•Needs ways to get the right thing, quickly

• Shopping can become more enjoyable when the results are better Outfit Challenged

Systematic

• Creates mix and match wardrobe to make shopping and dressing easier

• Shops at fewer stores, based on where they have been successful

• Needs help getting out of a rut

• Needs to make shopping fun

Hopeful

• Needs help learning how to put outfits together for different occasions

• Needs help with fit or problem areas

• Shopping is enjoyable, especially when hunting for “bargains” – good value



Identify How to Best Serve Your Users

Research Tactics


Understanding User Behavior Online

What They Expect

Where They Look

Why They Scroll

How They Read

How They Navigate


Agenda



What They Expect

Homepages generally offer the greatest degree of flexibility for layout and content promotion

Depending on the nature of the site and the target audience, users have certain expectations and tolerance for how information is organized


What They Expect

Lower level pages typically employ limited and more consistent content layout templates

Web pages should be designed to best present information according to the purpose of the site / content, yet…

A large percentage of sites employ a 2 or 3 column layout, where:

• Primary site navigation is located on the left, top or both

• Content is placed in the center

• Secondary or contextually relevant links or content are positioned in the far right column

Users have been trained to expect these types of content relationships



Where They Look

Source - Eyetrack III research

On an eye tracking study performed on online news sites, researchers noticed a common pattern amongst participants' eye movements across several news homepage designs

* This pattern is not true of all sites/designs. Different sites will yield different patterns.

A:

How effective is my page layout? Are users looking where I want them to look?Q:

http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/main.htm




Where They Look

Habit and design dictate where users go

Good information architecture and strong visual design are key to leading the user’s eye around the page

Content positioning and relationships

Relative weight / volume / size

Use of color, typography, imagery and iconography

Sparing use of animation / movement



Why They Scroll

Defining “the fold”

The "fold" is an analogous reference to a newspaper folded at its mid-point. On a computer screen, the fold is the point where content is no longer visible without scrolling

Most websites, including pmusa.com, are built to be viewed at a minimum display resolution of 800x600 – long held the standard, but is evolving

800 x 600 1280 x 10241024 x 768

The Fold

The Fold

The Fold


Why They Scroll

Computers are capable of displaying a variety of video resolutions (i.e. a physical number of pixels wide x high)

About 67% of computers in the US employ a video display resolution greater than 800x600 - this number is increasing daily


With the adoption of larger display resolutions, the need to scroll diminishes

Users are willing to scroll when they… Don’t see what they’re looking for on

the page, but assume it’s there

Are compelled by the content and it’s obvious there’s more below “the fold”

They may not scroll if… The page layout visually suggests,

“there’s nothing else below this point (fold)”

Microsoft Commerce Server Product Overview

Why They Scroll



How they read

Web usage is typically motivated by the desire to save time

Users are only interested in a fraction of what’s on the page and know they don’t need to read everything

Scanning is a behavior common to everyday interaction with newspapers, magazines, and books

*Source: Don’t Make Me Think, Alertbox column

Users don’t read pages, they scan them

http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html

http://useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html



How they read

To help users scan, web pages should employ:

*Source: Don’t Make Me Think, Alertbox column

Use significantly less words than in conventional writing Half the word count

Users will skip over additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph

One idea per paragraph

Start with the conclusionInverted pyramid style

Lists break content into small, easily digestible pointsBulleted lists

“Clever" subtitles don't necessarily help users find information quickly

Meaningful sub-headings

Hypertext links, typeface variations, and color serve as highlighting

Highlighted keywords





How They Read

Text size influences how people relate to information People tend to skim larger text And read smaller text

People are less likely to read a descriptor blurbs when: There is a large size difference

between headline and blurb Headline is underlined (visual

separation)

*Source: Eyetrack III





How They Navigate

Users tend to prefer fewer clicks: a broader, shallower site architecture is a good starting point.

More choices means… Better exposure to breadth of site or section Better chance of recognizing desired keyword Less chance of choosing the wrong one The myth of “7 +/- 2” - Recognition vs. recall

Fewer levels means… Less complex navigation system Faster site (user perception) Faster navigation back up the hierarchy “The 3-click rule” serves as a good guideline but isn’t mandatory

*Source: Usability News

http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/42/hypertext.htm


How They Navigate

People frequently rely on the Back button

People expect links to take them somewhere, and buttons to perform an action

Learn More >


How They Navigate

Search vs. Browse?

Which method a user employs is influenced by the following:

How well the site is designed Good information and visual design provides

cues and “information scents” that guide users to the content they’re interested in

How big or complex the site appears Sites with many content categories or appear

very deep may overwhelm user’s ability to “know” or evaluate where information might reside


How They Navigate

Certain information tends to be more searchable Information which is discrete,

known, or with standardized attributes• Books: title, author, etc.• CDs: album title, song, artist

Certain tasks tend to encourage searching Seeking specific item or piece of

information Looking for any answer (fast) vs.

the best answer (thorough)




Users don’t figure out how things work, they muddle through

*Source: Don’t Make Me Think

Most users don’t care about the nuances or intricacies of a system, product, or application as long as it’s usable

When users find something that works, they stick to it even if it’s inefficient

Users tend not to look for a better way, but will adopt one if they stumble across it




Why? Time is scarce – it takes more time to

consider all the options than to guess intelligently

There’s usually not much of a penalty for guessing wrong – the Back button is always close by

*Source: Don’t Make Me Think

Users don’t make optimal choices, they choose the first reasonable option





Figure out who your customers are

Figure out how they want to use your website

Don’t assume they WANT to be on your website

Make the website easy for them to use!

Business

Understanding User Behavior Online