1. Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 1
INCREASING WEBSITE
PERFORMANCE:
TOP TASK WEBSITE DESIGN
eduWeb Conference 2012
Boston, MA
July 30, 2012

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Gerry McGovern partnership…
http://www.customercarewords.com/

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Why a “top task” design approach?
http://www.socitm.net/events/event/245/
• “…the design and information architecture
of future council websites should focus
heavily on 'top tasks'.
• “…we see a 'top tasks' approach as
essential to developing websites that work
easily and quickly for customers...”
• Society for Information & Communication
Technologists, 2011, in the U.K.

4. Overview of the research process…
Assemble a longlist Poll the audience Analyse results
Refine to a shortlist
4

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TOP TASK DESIGN
Lessons from 3 research projects
November 2011 through April 2012

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The top task design goal…
• Create websites that give priority to quick identification of
links to complete top tasks...
• “Branding” images and messages & minor tasks should not slow
top task completion
• For new students…
• Academic programs offered
• How to pay, how much will I pay?
• For alumni
• Request a transcript
• Send and read class notes
• For faculty and staff
• “Find a person” to get something done

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Information Architecture…
23 colleges and universities
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Search
Menus and Links
Layout
Visual appeal
Speed

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(1) Future students… 400+ responses…
Negative votes Positive votes
4% 2% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12%
Up-to-date
Accurate
Complete
Language
Contact
Participation
Open
Recommendations
Search
Menus and Links
Layout
Visual appeal
Speed

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Action priorities…
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%
Menus and Links
Complete
Open
Layout
Search
Contact
Speed
Recommendations
Participation
Visual appeal
Up-to-date
Language
Accurate

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Top Tasks… 9 of 60 dominate
Top 25%
26-50%
51-75%

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Most important tasks…
• Most were about costs, financial aid
available and what investment return to
expect after graduating.
• Also popular were the details of earning a
degree
• How long to earn a degree and flexible
scheduling were high interest tasks

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Please choose and score the TOP FIVE tasks from the list
below that best describe what is important to you when
choosing to go to university.
800
700
600
500
Vote
400
300
200
100
0
1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56
Tasks

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Topics among the bottom 20 tasks…
• Social media connections
• Info about alumni, presidents, and deans
• School news
• Profiles and connections to current
students

14. (2) Faculty & staff… 303 responses
Negative votes Positive votes
20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 5% 10%
Up-to-date
Accurate
Complete
Language
Contact
Participation
Open
Recommendations
Search
Menus and Links
Layout
Visual appeal
Speed
14

15. Faculty & staff action priorities…
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Menus and Links
Layout
Visual appeal
Search
Speed
Complete
Contact
Up-to-date
Open
Accurate
Language
Participation
Recommendations
15

16. 16
Top tasks… 9 of 50 most important
Top 25%
26-50%
51-75%

17. (3) Current students… 592 responses
Negative votes Positive votes
15% 10% 5% 0% 5% 10% 15%
Up-to-date
Accurate
Complete
Language
Contact
Participation
Open
Recommendations
Search
Menus and Links
Layout
Visual appeal
Speed
17

18. Current student action priorities…
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Menus and Links
Speed
Visual appeal
Layout
Contact
Search
Complete
Participation
Up-to-date
Open
Recommendations
Language
Accurate
18

19. Current students… 6 of 45 at top
32 My course info
(schedule,…
Course
materials
(notes, … Top 25%
26-50%
Grades (check,
availabili…
51-75%
3
7
19

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Key to successful website design…
• Identify top tasks for each audience
• Give priority placement to the top tasks for each
audience
• Make sure content exists for top tasks and tasks are
easy to complete
• May require…
• Different entry pages for each audience
• Not written on a stone tablet…
• Everyone must start on the same “Home Page”

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9 EXAMPLES OF A “TOP
TASK” DESIGN APPROACH
From Home Page to Lower Level Pages

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University of Glasgow… home page
http://www.gla.ac.uk/

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University of Leicester… home page
http://www2.le.ac.uk/

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BU… professional school home page
http://management.bu.edu/

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University of Manitoba… home page
http://umanitoba.ca/

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Augustana College… admissions
http://www.augustana.edu/x96.xml

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University of Oslo… student life
http://www.uio.no/english/student-life/

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Carleton College… annual report
http://apps.carleton.edu/giving/report/2011/

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Stanford… “About” topics to tasks
http://www.stanford.edu/about/

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Harvard… Helping alumni fix things
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/lefa/

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
U.S. Government guide to top task design
Gerry McGovern’s blog and books
NeoInsight newsletter reports

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Top task steps from U.S. Government…
http://www.howto.gov/web-content/manage/focus-on-top-tasks

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Gerry McGovern’s blog and books…

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Practical tips from NeoInsight…
http://www.neoinsight.com/newsletter/index_by_topic.html

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THANKS FOR BEING
HERE AT EDUWEB!
Bob Johnson, Ph.D.
bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com