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Christine Perfetti's presentation from Confab 2011: How can you be confident that your content pages are understandable? How do you assess if the content is appropriate for your audience? How do you ensure you've written content that effectively communicates the essential information? It turns out there are many different techniques for measuring your content. In this presentation, Christine Perfetti will show you some methods you've probably never heard of -- techniques only practiced by the most adventuresome content strategists.
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Essential Techniques for Measuring Your Content’s Success
Christine Perfetti www.perfettimedia.com @cperfetti
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800,000 of Microsoft’s pages have never been loaded from the server
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Measuring your content’s success
Teams have many tools for measuring their content
Web analytics
Traditional usability tests
Advanced content measurement techniques
5 second tests
First click tests
Inherent value tests
Comprehension tests
Catalog-based tests
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Are web analytics the solution?
Web analytics are the most common technique for evaluating content
Data sources
Visitor traffic and server logs
Conversion funnels
Search engine logs
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Web Analytics Have Limitations
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Web Analytics Are Just a Starting Point
Web analytics highlight potential problem areas
Tells you what is happening on the site
Doesn’t tell you why users behave in a particular way
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The Best Approach for Content Evaluation
Design teams and content strategists need to observe people interact with their content
Assess where content fails to address users’ questions, concerns, and opportunities
Identify where content successfully excites and engages users
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Traditional usability tests
A usability test involves putting your users in front
of your product and observing what they do
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How did users perform?
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Running a test session
Greet the user
Introduce user to observers
Explain to user how the test will work
Give the user tasks to complete and observe problems they experience
General Q&A
Debrief with observers
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Start testing your content
anywhere
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Signs of content and design failure
Back button
Pogosticking
Going to Search
FAQs, Help, and Site Map
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The Handbook of Usability Testing, 2nd EditionJeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell
A Practical Guide to Usability TestingJoseph Dumas and Janice (Ginny) Redish
Don’t Make Me ThinkSteve Krug
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Advanced techniques for measuringcontent
Techniques for answering specific questions about your content
5 Second Test
First Click Test
Inherent Value Test
Comprehension Test
Catalog-based Test
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Research Question
How do we measure the success of
content pages?
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5 Second Page Tests
Quick and dirty technique for measuring content pages
Takes less than 10 minutes to run
Measures if content pages quickly convey their purpose
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Sharing your pictures online
You want to post pictures online from your last vacation
You are concerned that the upload process will be difficult
How confident are you that you can upload photos quickly and easily?
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Sharing your pictures online
You want to post pictures online from your last vacation
You are concerned that the upload process will be difficult
How confident are you that you can upload photos quickly and easily?
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Sharing your pictures online
You want to post pictures online from your last vacation
You are concerned that the upload process will be difficult
How confident are you that you can upload photos quickly and easily?
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Not for the Home Page
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Research Question
How do we measure the success of
the home page?
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First Click Test
Useful method to assess where users first click on your site’s home or entry page
Provide users with a specific task to complete when they arrive at the site
By observing where users first click, it’s a clear indicator whether they’ll eventually be successful
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art.yale.edu
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Research Question
Do users understand your product or
site’s complex content?
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Comprehension Test
Pages containing complex content Such as policies or procedures
How your product works
User comprehension is imperative to their success
Questions determine if users understand content
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Research Question
How well does the site communicate the
value of the product or service?
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Variant of traditional usability test
Identifies why loyal users love the site/service
Determines if new users see the same value
Inherent value test
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Two phase test
Phase I: Identifies the value of the site for loyal users
Ask existing customers to give you a tour of your site or product
Ask them to share what they find most valuable about your product
Phase II: Do new users see the same value?
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Research Question
What information is most important to
users?
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Catalog-Based Task Testing
User or task understanding is fuzzy
Print brochure/catalog describes products or services
Ask users to review catalog and highlight important content
Can they easily find the same content on your web site?
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Thank You!
Web: www.perfettimedia.com
Twitter: @cperfetti
Email Newsletter: UX Ideas
One-day Workshop: Measuring Your Content’s Success
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What about A/B Tests?
5% conversion rate 11.6% conversion rate
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