Contextual Personas for Content Design (WCTO16)

Jesse Emmanuel Rosario

Contextual Personas for Content Design

WordCamp Toronto 2016 | August 6-7, 2016

•  User Experience Specialist,

Analy4cal Engine Interac4ve, Inc.

(Toronto, ON, Canada)

About Me

@jemrosario #WCTO2016

SLIDES HERE:

http://bit.ly/1VtUQHJ


Iwantawebsite!

Iwantanotherwebsite!

I’vegottonsof

websites!YEAH!

Acme, Inc.’s Web “Roadmap”

Metoo!

Me!Me!Me!


Me!Me!

Me!

Me!

Me!

Me!

Me!

Me!

Me!Me!

Me! Me!

Me!

Me!

$@)#(^*%&!!!

RESULT: Too. Much. Websites.

Me!

Me!


Meanwhile, in Good Guy Joe’s crib…

Onemillionhits?!?

WhatamIsupposedtodowiththat?

Good luck getting through ALL of them, dude…


Our World Today…

IMAGE FROM: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/animals081911/a09_RTR2P4Y2.jpg

We don’t need more of

the same content, keywords,

ads or whatever per se.

We need a

be4er understanding of our users’ deepest needs and build our products and

services surrounding them –

including content.


CONTEXTUAL PERSONAS

Teases out user types and usage scenarios to better inform your product and

content strategy decisions.


“What you post is not as important as why you post…” - Kathi Kruse (Kruse Control, Inc.)

FACT:

quality content

(SWEET!)

moar content!!!


“Content Design”

“When we talk about content design we mean taking a user need and presen.ng it in GOV.UK in the best way possible.”

UK Government Digital Service, “What is Content Design?”

Deliver the most useful content in the most appropriate format.


User Needs = “Job-to-be-Done”

•  People don’t just buy

products. They “hire”

them to do a job. –  Pain Point: Situa4ons where

customers want some problem

solved

–  The Thing They’ll Hire: …and they’re

looking to hire something that fixes

that problem


CONTEXTUAL PERSONAS

UX research method that was born out of a need to combine behavioural insight and product

context.


CONTEXTUAL PERSONAS

Surfaces your users’ potential relationship with the product/service being

built by calling out the most critical and uncertain

factors surrounding them.


Try It!

Porter Airlines is opening a new Porter Escapes seasonal route to Puerto Rico this summer!*

As the airline’s newest Senior Director, Digital Strategy,

how would you get the Internet buzzing about Porter’s

newest route?

What content strategy would you deploy and why?

*NOT REALLY. But suppose it’s the case… for now.


•  Big-@cket + Uncertain factors surrounding your users.

Find your Critical Uncertainties

What is the most hard-hitting/crucial factor about

your users that could affect the

product/service’s creation?

What is the most uncertain/

volatile factor surrounding your

users?


•  How do we find that?

– User research (user interviews, primary and

secondary research, analy4cs research,

surveys, ethnography, contextual inquiry, etc.)

– Synthesize the raw data

•  Affinity mapping

•  Iden4fy recurring themes (put a heading on them).

•  The Five Whys (a.k.a. root cause analysis)



Don’t be that guy or girl!


•  Iden4fy the cri@cal and the uncertain.


CRITICAL: Travel Budget (a.k.a. “How much

money do I have to go on this trip?”)

UNCERTAIN: Time of Booking


RICH TRAVELER

MONEY-CONSCIOUS TRAVELER

PRE-PLANNED

CRITICAL: Travel Budget

(a.k.a. “How much money do I have to

go on this trip?”)

UNCERTAIN: Time of Booking

RichEscapist

TravelArchitect

ThrillseekeronaBudget

ThoughEulWanderer

LAST-MINUTE, SPONTANEOUS


RICH TRAVELER

MONEY-CONSCIOUS TRAVELER

PRE-PLANNED

RichEscapist

TravelArchitect

ThrillseekeronaBudget

ThoughEulWanderer

LAST-MINUTE, SPONTANEOUS

RESULT:

User types

•  MoreUXresearch(e.g.Personas,CustomerJourneyMaps,etc.)

•  MoreContentDesignandStrategyplanning


Great!SowhatcanyoudowithContextualPersonas?(a.k.a. Hmmm…)


BIG PICTURE: Content Design Workflow

SOURCE: Bailie and Urbina, “Setting A Context for a Content Strategy Vocabulary” (2012)

Content Architecture Content Development

Content

Types

Content

Flows

Content

Models

Content

Genres

Editorial Structures

Editorial Standards

Content Design

U S E R R E S E A R C H

by Rahel Ann Bailie and Noz Urbina (2012)

Jem added this, by the way…


SOURCE: Donna Lichaw and Lis Hubert, “Storymapping: A MacGyver Approach to Content Strategy” (2014, Slide 10). Additions in yellow mine.

JOBS-TO-BE-DONE FRAMEWORK (Christensen, 2013)

STORYMAPPING (Lichaw, 2016)


SOURCE: Donna Lichaw, The User’s Journey (Rosenfeld Media, 2016)

Our goal as product

designers and content

strategists is to

support the user in their overall journey through the design and

content decisions we make

with our products.

Turn your user from zero to HERO!


HIGH AWARENESS OF CANADA AS A BUSINESS DESTINATION

StatusQuo

Keeper

TheDeter-minedInvestor

TheCuriousInvestor

“WhyCanada

?”

LOW UNDERSTANDING

OF DEVELOPED MARKETS

LOW AWARENESS OF CANADA AS A BUSINESS DESTINATION

HIGH UNDERSTANDING

OF DEVELOPED MARKETS

So we once worked with a consultant who wanted a website that helps foreign investors establish their business in Canada…


Content Funnel/Plan User Type/Scenarios

Content Ideas

Ques@ons of Concern

Content Types we can offer

Status Quo Keeper Ar4cle: Biz in

Canada vs US

Has anyone else

done this before?

Infographics

Determined Investor Home Page: How

[client] can help

Who should I work

with?

Case studies,

tes4monials

Curious Investor Online quiz, who to

follow on social

media

How do I take my

business global and

where?

Ar4cles,

infographics,

white papers

“Why Canada?” Ar4cle: How is

Canada a good biz

environment?

Why pilot in

Canada?

Ar4cles,

infographics, ebook

User Research informed Content Strategy


“Future-Friendly Content”

SCREENSHOT FROM: Mike Atherton and Carrie Hane, “Designing Future-Friendly Content” (GatherContent Webinar)

Structured, presentation-independent, and in “chunks” than “blobs”

Title

Author

Date Published

Body

Social Buhons

ARTICLE Event Name

Time

Venue

Descrip4on

Contact Info

EVENT Name

Job Title

Company

Session Name

Contact Info

SPEAKER

…

Content elements

e.g. Page, Quiz, Survey, etc.


•  Contextual Personas = Behavioral Insights + Product Context.

•  Surfaces your users’ poten4al rela4onship with your product/

service by calling out the cri4cal and uncertain factors

surrounding them.

•  Content-wise, it covers much more ground cri4cal to achieving

relevance and user goals.

•  The start of a user-driven and research-informed content strategy.

In Conclusion


If you only have to remember one thing…

IMAGE BY: Ed Lea

Jesse Emmanuel Rosario

Contextual Personas for Content Design