More efficient fundraising through better user experience

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Tactics for more efficient fund-raising through better user experience

Digital communications for charities 2009

21st January 2009

›

www.cogapp.com

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/ Pete Gale

Head of User Experience

/ Cogapp

23 years in business

100s of successful projects

User centred approach to development

Dedicated user experience & usability

consultancy team

A wide range of public sector, government

and charity clients.

Who we are Our clients

/ The British Museum

/ Macmillan Cancer Support

/ Arthritis Research Campaign

/ The Home Office

/ Transport for London

/ The National Portrait Gallery

/ The Institute for Philanthropy

/ BBC

/ National Environment Research Council

/ A major UK mobile & broadband provider

/ Shakespeare's Globe

/ The Department of Health

and many more...

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Overview

/ What do we mean by user experience?

/ Why is it important

/ Developing a business case for improving

user experience

/ Designing to meet the business case

/ Common issues and solutions

Tactics for effective fund-raising through better user experience

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

What do we mean by user experience?

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

User experience is not

1. just user interface design

2. just a step in the process

3. just about technology

4. just about usability

5. just about the user

6. expensive

7. bug fixing

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Defining user experience

• The sum of an individuals experiences with a product, service or organisation.

• In more concrete terms, for an online interaction:

~ Does it meet needs?~ Is it intuitive?~ Is it satisfying?

~ Does it conform to expectations?~ Is it in tune with touch points?

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Why is it important?

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Poor UX in online fund-raising

• Research in the US last year has shown that the majority of would be web donors never complete their gifts.

~ In some cases as many as 98% of visitors to an organisations donate page left without giving *

* Sea Change Strategies, December 2007

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

What is the impact of that?

~ Reduce overall task completion

~ Increase support costs

~ Reduce loyalty

~ Lost transactions = lost relationships

~ Poor UX in business critical interactions will impact

revenue

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

The business case for better user experience

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

The steps to building a business case

Justify the results you expect, not the process of achieving those results

• Estimate the cost of the problem to your organisation

• Estimate the potential for improvement

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Sources of data

• Site statistics provide evidence of behaviour on your site.~ How many complete specific process?~ How many abandon, and at what point?

• Usability studies of the process:~ Pinpoint specific exit points & causes of problems.~ Build an understanding of the desired experience.~ Identify best practice examples. ~ Identify potential scope for improvement.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Map out the user journey

Pulling it together

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Identify drop-out points

Pulling it together

17%14% 0%

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Pulling it together

17%14% 0%

Identify user experience issues

Issue 1Issue 2

Issue 3Issue 4Issue 5

Identify drop-out points

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Pulling it together

17%14% 0%

Rate their severityIssue 1 Issue 2

Issue 3Issue 4 Issue 5

Identify drop-out points

*******

***

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Pulling it together

Issue Drop-off Estimate potential for improvement Potential revenue

Issue 1 10% 0%

Issue 2 4% 100%

Issue 3 5% 50%

Issue 4 7% 75%

Issue 5 5% 25%

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Pulling it together

Issue Drop-off Estimate potential for improvement Potential revenue

Issue 1 10% 0% £0

Issue 2 4% 100% £15,000

Issue 3 5% 50% £9,000

Issue 4 7% 75% £19,500

Issue 5 5% 25% £4,500

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Designing to meet the business case

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

How do we build a better user experience?

No-one gets it perfect first time, no one is that good, regardless of what they say:

“Iterative design, with its repeating cycle of design and testing, is the only validated methodology in existence that will consistently produce successful results.”Bruce Tognazzini, Nielsen Norman Group

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Building a better user experience?

User Research

Concept-level wireframes

User Test

Refinement

User Test

Document

iterative revisions

Create & Build

iterative revisions

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Common user experience issues

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

What sor t of problems should you look for?

• Approaching~ Issues relating to first engagement with the process~ Issues that may prevent people from attempting the task.

• Interacting~ Issues that may cause people to abandon the task~ Issues that may cause errors within the task

• Ongoing~ Issues relating to the ongoing relationship

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Cost benefit evaluation

• Balance cost and benefit..

~ Reinforce motivation to act

~ Show how easily or quickly a task will be

accomplished

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Behavioural norms

• We like to behave as others do.

~ Increasing the visibility of user activity can act as a powerful persuasive tool.

~ Ensuring behavioural norms for the site are quickly established to support the site’s objectives.

~ Just like a sponsorship form

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Apparent complexity & scaled interaction

• Many will abandon an interaction that seems

more complex than expected.

~ Any interaction should always be as simple

as possible.

~ The first steps should always be the

simplest.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Only ask for what you absolutely need

• Only ask for the minimum information necessary to

process the interaction

~ Be careful not to overload and clutter your pages.

~ Keep forms as simple as possible.

~ Don’t ask for registration to complete transactions.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Justify the information you do need

• When asking people to enter personal data, consider explaining the

reasons why it is needed.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Handle er rors gracefully and clearly

• Where possible, errors should be anticipated and handled seamlessly

~ Those errors that cannot be handled by the back-end should be clearly

highlighted.

~ Error messages should clearly identify the source of the error

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Alternate channels

• Not everyone is happy to conduct

transactions online

~ Where possible, provide alternate

channels for those unwilling to

complete transactions online.

~ Ensure alternate channels provide a

unified experience with the online

experience.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Conform to interface conventions

• Increasingly, conventions are being established for a

number of interactions.

~ Where possible, any interaction should conform to

existing conventions.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Finally, the ongoing relationship

• When people have completed tasks, don’t leave

them hanging

~ Task completion provides an ideal opportunity

to introduce new topics and build the ongoing

relationship.

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Digital communications for charities 2009 January 2009Cogapp

Any questions?

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