2. Contents Introduction
Listen to your users page 4 Technology has changed so many elements of our clients’ businesses: from the
provision of information, to ease of donation, to mobilising thousands at the click
Case study: Curly Wurly page 8
of a mouse. These changes have made a massive impact, but one valuable
Watch your users page 10 opportunity doesn’t always get included in the list of ‘big’ digital breakthroughs:
Involve your users page 14 the ability to engage with your audience. We think this is among the most
important. Thanks to digital you can now reach out to your audience and they
Case study: ‘Get Together’ - Participle page 18
can reply in a way that is faster, cheaper and more responsive than ever before.
Carry out desk research page 20
We believe that if you put the user at the heart of your digital strategy, not as a
Use it yourself page 24 customer, but as an influencer and product developer, you will create a better
Pause and take stock page 26 product. Of course, there is still an important place for expertise, but it’s easier
to make expert decisions when you’ve gained deep insights from engaging with
Case study: Return on investment page 30
real people.
Thank You page 34
People constantly surprise us and challenge our assumptions when we seek their
involvement in our work. We can honestly say that user research has improved
every single project we’ve worked on. This handbook offers some simple ideas
about how you can engage your audiences, and examples of organisations that
have reaped rewards in doing so.
Special thanks to Julie Dodd, our user experience design director, for putting this
together. In the spirit of this handbook, get in touch and let us know what you
think, and feel free to share these ideas among your networks.
The Public Zone team
This handbook was written in 2010 and is the second in the series.
2 thisiszone.com/public-zone It was reprinted in 2012 using our new branding. 3
3. Why do this?
They can’t give you the People may not be able to articulate
Listen
solution but they can give you exactly what a product should be (they
didn’t ask for a car) but they’ll tell you
the criteria by which you need
what they need, what they like and
to judge the solution.
to your
dislike, and how they feel about your
organisation or product. Talking to
them before, during and after digital
When he designed the world’s first project development will help identify
users
car, Henry Ford once said: “If I had the product requirements and optimise
asked people what they wanted, they performance.
would have said ‘faster horses’.” This is
Every time your audience visits your site,
sometimes quoted by people who think
Facebook page or app they’re telling you
that customers don’t know what they
something, and showing a willingness to
want until professionals give it to them.
engage. Why not listen? Reviewing these
But we think there’s a different lesson to
comments, conversations and analytics
be learned from Ford.
should be part of your everyday process.
“Faster horses”: these two words convey We see many very good organisations
a surprising amount of information and set up the tools to listen to users, but not
insight. What users were unknowingly follow up by regularly reviewing what’s
giving Ford was a useful set of criteria for being said. If you’ve built a social media
his product design. They implicitly meant: following or have polls on your website,
use them to review your work.
“I want to get where I’m going faster”
“I want something that feels familiar”
“I need something I can rely on”
“I need something I can afford”
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4. How to
If you do
listen to your users one thing:
Ask fewer questions but ask them well page designs, see where users click What we’ve learned: Keep the conversation going
One-to-one interviews are one of the and how a design makes them feel,
most valuable research activities you all through simple two-minute tests. We interviewed people with a range People’s behaviour changes all
can do, but aim to get depth rather than of disabilities for the redesign of the the time, especially on the web, so
Use social media channels BBC’s My Web My Way site. The site your products and services can get
breadth when interviewing. You don’t
to find the right people provides how-to guides that help out of date very quickly. To stay
need to talk to everyone who uses your
People love being asked for their advice, people with sensory, cognitive and relevant, gather feedback from your
services, you can gain major insight from
and social networks have made finding motor disabilities more easily use users regularly. It doesn’t need to
a half-hour chat with just a few people.
users for research a doddle. If you’ve the web. The interviews highlighted take much time or effort – request
Asking just a handful of open questions,
got followers on Twitter or Facebook, some common misconceptions about feedback through Facebook,
and following up on interesting snippets
ask them what they think. Or try finding living with disabilities. Users with Linkedin or Twitter, or set up a survey
from the answers, will tell you more
relevant Facebook or Linkedin groups partial sight are heartily sick of being using a tool like Survey Monkey. One
about your audience’s needs than a
to join and ask the people there. grouped with the fully blind, yet that’s of our clients, Diabetes UK, started
five-page questionnaire. To help
interviews go smoothly, set up a time the way most sites treat them. The the design process for an iPhone app
Put a feedback button and
to talk so they’re not in a rush, let growing awareness of screenreaders by asking their Facebook group what
contact us page on your site
people know that what they say will be is a good thing, but use of screen their favourite apps were – it resulted
The Stanford University ‘Web Credibility’
confidential so they feel able to tell you magnifiers and simple enlarging of text in one of the best briefs we’ve ever
project has shown that letting users
the truth, and leave plenty of time for is a lot more common. As a result, we received, and cost them nothing. But
contact you easily is one of the top five
people to think before they answer - completely changed the signposting they couldn’t have done it if they
factors in making sites appear credible
don’t jump in to fill silences! used on the site so that people with hadn’t spent time nurturing their
(bit.ly/stanford5factors). Ask users
visual impairments would get how- Facebook pages through frequent,
what they think directly through your
Use simple online tools to guides that were relevant to their thoughtful updates.
site and make sure the contact link is
There’s a new online research tool needs, and blind users aren’t just told
obvious. You’ll also need to make sure
popping up every month; we’ve found to make their text bigger. (bbc.co.uk/
it’s someone’s responsibility to read
a few that make it really simple to listen accessibility/accessibility_beta)
the feedback log or it’ll just sit and
to what your audience has to say. Verify
gather dust.
(verifyapp.com) allows you to compare
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5. Curly Wurly
Case study
Cadburys breaks from tradition
Cadbury failed to look Cadbury made a mistake in failing
at what Curly Wurly to look at what the Curly Wurly
consumers wanted from their
consumers wanted from
chocolate bar. If only they’d known
their chocolate bar. that in 2011 there would be more than
50 Curly Wurly appreciation groups
on Facebook waiting to give them
A few years back, Cadbury changed some feedback! The failure to do user
the recipe of the Curly Wurly. The new research turned what seemed like a
recipe meant that the chocolate on practical business decision into an
the bar didn’t flake off as easily and expensive flop.
didn’t melt as quickly. A desirable and
sensible improvement you’d think? Yet
it went down badly. In fact it prompted
a backlash so strong that Cadbury had
to return to the original recipe having
wasted months of R&D and packaging
budget. Why? It rendered the Curly
Wurly un-stretchable, thwarting a
practice which people, young and old
alike, had used for fun since the bar
was launched in the 1970s. In fact the
practice of Curly Wurly stretching is
the subject of more than one Guinness
World record!
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6. Why do this?
They often say one thing but Ask any health professional and they’ll
Watch
do another. Find out what tell you that there’s a big difference
between what people say they do
they really mean.
and what they actually do (“I drink
your
less than 10 units a week, doctor”). So
it pays to observe people using your
product in their workplace or at home
– wherever they might typically use it.
users
You don’t have to spend thousands
immersing yourself in people’s daily
lives. In fact, you can learn from
watching as few as five people: your
flatmate, mother, teenage cousin,
whoever. Just make sure they’re people
outside your office team. They’ll show
you the pre-conceptions people have,
the first thing on a page they notice,
and perhaps more importantly the
things they miss, like that strapline you
assumed everyone would read before
they started clicking! Every time we
watch someone use the web we learn
something new.
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7. How to
If you do
watch your users one thing:
Do a usability study Analytics What we’ve learned: Spend five minutes
Sometimes projects need specialist Spending quality time with your site with a stranger
user testing labs but there are much analytics is one of the most cost We ran usability research for Livity
cheaper, more accessible ways to do effective ways of learning what your on our prototype for their new site, Go to an internet café or library
usability tests today. With the help users do and don’t want. Google somewhereto.com, which connects and ask some people to spend five
of brilliant and inexpensive tools like Analytics has a simple but powerful young people who need a place to minutes using your site or app. You
Silverback (silverbackapp.com), you In-page analytics function that shows pursue their hobbies with people who may want to set them a specific task
can now do full usability tests in your at a glance where users are clicking have space to offer. Users filled in the or just ask them to find something
office, in users’ houses, or completely on each page. Your site analytics are online form with ease and reported that interests them. They may not be
remotely through brilliant software like an amazing resource and not looking that they felt positive about offering your exact target market but they’ll
Loop11 (loop11.com). at them is like a retailer ignoring their their resource. But when we watched still show you a lot about what real
sales figures. the footage from the test, we found users like, dislike or find difficult.
Get in context that our sample users were hesitating Being in a busy public space also
Try to observe people in the before they clicked the ‘submit my means you can get through a lot of
environment in which they would space’ button. When asked if they people in just an hour or so without
normally use your site. They’re more would get involved in the project in the need to spend time setting up a
comfortable and will behave more person, they all said yes, but their more formal test.
naturally. Most people are surprisingly body language suggested otherwise.
open to visitors at home or work but It turned out they liked the idea but
if you can’t do that then get them they didn’t feel reassured enough
to sketch room layouts on a piece of to commit at this stage. As a result,
paper. This helps put them in the right we’re changing the experience, adding
frame of mind, and shows you what a more reassuring explanation and
influences or interruptions may affect clearer next steps.
their online use.
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8. Why do this?
Bring your users into the heart back to their peers throughout the
Involve
of the design process and find process. Their involvement totally
changed the design of the site –
out exactly what they need.
the visual route we thought was a
your
sure-fire winner was universally
panned by the young people and they
Involving your users in the design went for a much simpler option in the
process can be really helpful, not only end. It was a reminder to us all that we
users
for delivering useful insights but also should never second-guess what the
unexpected benefits, for instance, target audience wants.
turning potential detractors (most
But beware: users’ design suggestions
people dislike change at first, even
shouldn’t be taken too literally. It’s not
for the better) into vocal advocates.
the user’s job to design your product
And it is always an eye-opening and their inexpert efforts to do so
experience. Changing Faces, the could be a red herring. What they’re
disfigurement charity, asked us to brilliant at telling you is what their
develop a website for young people priorities are, not what colour your
with disfigurement. The site was to be logo should be.
run by the Charity’s Young People’s
Council so it was incredibly important
to involve them in the design process
from the beginning. We offered two
weeks’ work experience to Council
members to help us with the visual
design and site functionality, reporting
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9. How to
If you do
involve your users one thing:
Draw the homepage Follow up What we’ve learned: Turn your site
Ask people to draw your homepage (or You’ll start to build a productive, into breakfast
other key pages) based on how they trusting relationship with your Nowadays, when we get users to
think the page should be organised. audiences if you remember to follow draw a homepage, people tend to What would your brand look like if
See what they’ve put in or left out, up with them. You get major kudos by place a horizontal line across the top it were a box of cereal? It sounds
and ask them why. You’ll quickly learn reposting revised designs/prototypes of the page to represent the main daft but thinking about your brand
what the user’s priorities are and what showing how you’ve responded navigation, and a search box in the in this way encourages you to see
they’re expecting to see. to their feedback. If there was strong top right corner. When asked why, what users think your main priorities
feedback that you couldn’t take on generally the response is a quizzical are – this is often quite different from
Share early look and “that’s just where it goes”. what you’d think. Give people a blank
board, tell them why it wasn’t included
Post initial designs or prototypes in This is a big change from five years template of a cereal box and get
to show that you’re listening.
your own social media channels or ago and shows us that people’s them to sketch what should be on
forums. You can ask for open feedback, increasing familiarity with the web the packaging. You can give prompts
or if you want something easier to means they’re making less conscious like “what’s the slogan?”, “what are
analyse ask for one thing they like and effort to navigate sites. This means you the top ingredients”, “what free toy
one thing they’d improve. That way need to have a really good reason to do you get inside?”. This is a great
it’s easier to compare answers. To get put core elements somewhere else on way of seeing what users think your
opinions outside your current users, a website, because it risks making a main message is and in what areas
make contact with other Facebook or site less intuitive to use. they think you deliver most value. It’s
Linkedin groups connected to your also a great tool to use on internal
desired audience. stakeholders to get them thinking
about your brand in a fresh way.
There’s a template on our blog to
start you off.
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10. ‘Get Together’
Case study
Tackling loneliness among older people, from Participle
Loneliness and social isolation Current solutions are letting the older
can have severe social, population down, so in response
Participle prototyped a new service
financial, physical and
called ‘Get Together’, working in
mental repercussions. partnership with Westminster City
Council. To research the service,
Participle worked with over 50 socially
Currently in Greater London, 250,000 isolated people in Westminster, getting
people over 65 do not see a friend, a unique insight into their world.
neighbour or family member at least They also spent time watching and
once a week. 150,000 have no contact interviewing Westminster Council
with others even once a month. Those service delivery partners, such as
figures rise to 3.1 million and 1.8 million, meals-on-wheels, mobile libraries and
respectively, UK-wide. Loneliness sheltered and residential housing units.
and social isolation can have severe
The new service provides telephone
social, financial, physical and mental
and in-person social networks by using
repercussions, not only for the elderly
matching technology to introduce
themselves but also for the families and
like-minded individuals. They can meet
welfare systems that support them.
one-to-one or join group phone and
face-to-face meetings or activities
based around shared interests. It’s
proved to be highly successful thanks
to its research-led innovative approach.
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11. Why do this?
A lot of your questions Whatever nut you’re trying to crack,
Do desk
already have answers – go someone has probably already tried
to crack it before. So don’t miss the
out there and find them.
opportunity to learn from other
research
people’s data, research and insight
(sometimes called secondary research).
We’ve worked with over 50 charities,
and almost always start by searching
for existing insight about our target
audiences and looking at websites
from comparable organisations. Don’t
view other organisations as a threat;
see what you can do that’s different.
You’ll save yourself unnecessary risks
by, for instance, avoiding an idea that
has already been realised.
Google is an obvious place to start, but
it’s important to check that sources are
credible and that quantitative data is
statistically valid.
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12. How to
If you do
do desk research one thing:
Use the National Centre Find profiles (personas) What we’ve learned: Share your research
for Social Research or personal stories
NatCen are doing a great thing: If you’re not the teenager facing Newsround asked us to find out how The commercial sector doesn’t
opening up their research archives to education choices, the ardent sports 7-12 year olds discover and react to like to share its audience research
the public. In their vast library they fan, or the partner of someone living news. We researched existing sources for fear of competitive advantage.
have top quality studies relating to with an illness, how can you be sure of alongside holding workshops with children Thousands of research docs are
everything from teen attitudes to sex what might help them? and teachers. squirreled away collecting dust in
and booze, to British attitudes about filing systems. It’s a tragedy!
If you can’t talk directly to users, Swapitshop’s monthly survey data (children
stay-at-home mothers and fathers.
existing profiles (text or video) are the self-reporting their activities) revealed that Let’s not make the same mistake
Well worth a look (natcen.ac.uk).
next best thing. Many organisations major current affairs stories rarely pique in our sector. Of course there’s
Competitor analysis have them on their sites; use them to kids’ interest. A few topical items made it competition among charities with
What are competitor organisations visualise what the person profiled is into the ‘most talked about list’: Halloween, similar goals, but ultimately if
doing online to engage with your trying to get from your site or app. heavy snow, Olympics and Swine flu, but everyone shares what they know
audiences? Don’t just look for best They’ll also help reveal the context these were blips compared to the persistent then everyone benefits. So let’s
practice, look for the elements of in which they might use it. Typing appearance of football, computer games, declare a research amnesty. If you’ve
their site that seem awkward or phrases like ‘living with [your issue]’ or schoolwork and girlfriends/boyfriends. got something interesting, be it
unloved – you don’t want to make the ‘being a [user type]’ into youtube often survey results or user profiles, share
Disheartened at first, we realised we could
same mistakes. To help clarify your turns up great first person accounts. the insights.
turn ‘snow’, ‘schoolwork’ and ‘games’ to our
discoveries, try plotting the results on
The personal stories we incorporated advantage. ‘Snow’ was directly affecting
a simple matrix graph, with axis like
into our redesign of BBC My Web their lives at the time, ‘schoolwork’ filled
serious/fun and sparse/crowded.
My Way reveal a lot about how 60% of their day, and analytics reavealed
disabilities can affect the way many current Newsround users came from
people use computers game-based sites. If Newsround could
(bbc.in/MyWebCaseStudies). make news relevant to children’s personal
and school lives and more interactive, they
could be onto a winner. This theory was
backed up by our user research.
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13. Why do this?
You can test your own It’s easy to lose sight of how we
Use it
products for free. If you don’t appear to the outside world. Brand
communications are often the
like using them, why would
responsibility of more than one team
anyone else?
yourself
– the person writing copy for your
website may not be the same person
that produces your mailouts or writes
your tweets. So put yourself in your
users’ shoes.
When thinking about users’ reactions
to you, try starting with your own.
They are not a different species,
they’re people just like you. Being
on the receiving end will help you to
discover errors that can damage your
brand such as broken links, typos,
overwhelming newsletters,
and irritating forms.
And don’t forget your social media
channels. Do you like the way you
sound and is the tone appropriate and
consistent between your Facebook and
Twitter pages? Have faith in your own
reaction and response – it can help to
guide your decisions.
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14. How to
If you do
use it yourself one thing:
Sign up for your newsletter(s) Turn Javascript off What we’ve learned: Stalk yourself on
right now! Browse around your site with social networks
Register to get your e-communications Javascript disabled so that you see This book is part of a set we’re writing
and open the next newsletter you what non-Javascript users see. Does it about different things our sector can Follow your organisation on Twitter
receive. Which bits are eye-catching or still work? Is it still a pleasure to use? do to make better digital stuff. Since or become a fan on Facebook and
sound really interesting and which bits Around four per cent of people will be writing our first book, The Online keep an eye out for posts every
did you skip? Which bits seem punchy using your site in this way. They include Campaigning Handbook day. Think about which ones gave
and insightful? Do this with three more people using assistive technologies (bit.ly/PZCampaignHB), we’ve done you an emotional reaction – made
- is there a pattern in what works well such as screenreaders, as well as IT some research into what people you smile, made you angry and
and what could work better? Sign up staff who may turn it off for security thought of it. Happily, everyone’s been most importantly, which made you
your family and friends too; they’ll be reasons. Many mobile devices don’t very nice about it but there was room want to find out more. The style of
honest with you! come with Javascript interpreters so for improvement. Some of the things your social media messages has a
it’s increasingly vital that your online readers pointed out: huge impact on how effective they
Pretend you don’t have internal are. If a status update left you flat,
services work elegantly regardless of
systems 1) It looks a bit serious.
where and how people are trying to your users may well have felt like
If you want to know something about 2) We haven’t put in enough of our
use them. that too. If there was a link and you
your own organisation, you probably own work examples.
didn’t feel like clicking, what would
use your intranet or other internal Stress test your navigation 3) It looks pretty on your desk but
have made you do so?
network. Try finding information as the On our blog you’ll find a handy form isn’t very shareable.
user would have to, i.e. through your (bit.ly/PZStressTest) designed to
So we’ve tried to incorporate that
website. If there’s better images and show what it’s like for users to navigate
feedback to improve this one. We’ve
information in your internal libraries your site if they land on a page via
also republished each chapter on our
than on your site, you’re not promoting search. Do they know where they are
blog and tweeted them to make it
your brand as well as you could be. and how to get around or are they a bit
easier to share.
lost? Start on a page that’s quite deep
down and see how easy it is to answer
the questions on the form. It only takes
ten minutes.
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15. Why do this?
Don’t develop a strategy until Doing research is pointless unless
Pause
you’ve drawn conclusions you can apply what you find. A lot of
feedback can feel a bit overwhelming
from research.
so try to categorise insights. For
and take
example, if one user complains that
you don’t update your news pages
often enough, and another is reluctant
to donate because they’re not sure
stock
how the money is spent, there’s a link
– you need to get better at telling your
audience what you’re up to.
You should listen to your users as often
as possible, but that doesn’t mean you
need to be in a continuous process of
redevelopment. Build moments into
your schedule where you can take
stock of what you’ve found out.
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16. How to
If you do
pause and take stock one thing:
Appoint a third party Keep your organisational What we’ve learned: Get anyone who talks to your users
There’s huge value and enjoyment goals in mind (researchers, for instance, or your
to be had in trying out user research Thinking about your research findings During the development of The call centre staff) together for an
yourself; however, it can sometimes be in the context of your overall goals Prostate Cancer Charity website, we hour or so and discuss what they’ve
hard to stay objective or turn a chorus will create structure around your invested a month in user research, learned from them. Write individual
of voices into clear insights. External analysis and help prioritise emerging spending time exploiting many of the bits of interesting feedback on a
expertise can be really useful at the requirements. For example, if techniques in this book and talking to post-it note. Then look across the
analysis stage (or if you simply don’t fundraising is your top goal then you teams in the organisation. However, set for similar points that can be
have time to carry out the research might want to spend time fixing any the key moment was not sitting face- grouped together under a theme.
yourself) and of course we’re more issues in your donations form and the to-face with a user, or pouring over Fiddly but fun, this is a great way
than happy to help! (Well, there had user journey to get there. analytics; it was when representatives to see the big themes that are
to be a plug in here somewhere from across the charity came together emerging from your research.
didn’t there?) to discuss the conclusions.
It was a great meeting because it gave
internal teams a chance to think about
the website as a whole rather than just
their section. Within an hour and a half
we were able to reflect on what users
wanted, and create a holistic view of
the site’s content requirements. It really
emphasised to us the value of sharing
research right across an organisation.
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18. Thank You
Public Zone would like to thank the
many people who contributed their
time and wisdom to this report,
including Steve Rogers, Martin Belam,
Julia Whitney, Jennie Winhall, Duncan
Letcher, Nicky Smyth, Chandra
Harrison and Hannah Forbes-Black.
Special thanks to our very own user
experience design director, Julie Dodd,
and to all our fantastic clients who
continue to invest in user research.
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