optimising accessibility, relevancy and conversions - Greenlight Digital

UX & CRO

F E B R U A RY 2017 UX & CRO

OPTIMISING ACCESSIBILITY, RELEVANCY AND CONVERSIONS

www.greenlightdigital.com

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: GET DIGITAL RIGHT BY APPLYING A CUSTOMER-FIRST APPROACH

WHAT IS CONVERSION RATE OPTIMISATION AND USER EXPERIENCE?

BY MATTHEW WHITEWAY Client Services Director

BY SARAH FABER PETERSEN Head of CRO & UX

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HOW CRO AFFECTS YOUR BUSINESS BY SARAH FABER PETERSEN Head of CRO & UX

Greenlight is a multiple award-winning integrated digital marketing agency that designs, builds, deploys and measures marketing solutions and campaigns across Search, Content and Engagement, Display, Mobile, eCommerce, and more, with the unwavering objective of achieving dramatic growth for its clients. Greenlight promotes brands and products in 32 languages and 42 territories on behalf of such clients as Hiscox, ghd, Dixons Carphone, Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Laura Ashley and many more. Ready to grow? Call us on +44(0)20 7253 7000 or go to www.greenlightdigital.com/get-in-touch

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www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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UNDERSTANDING UX AS AN SEO RANKING FACTOR

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BY BEA PATMAN Head of SEO

UNDERSTANDING DATA-DRIVEN OPTIMISATION

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BY SARAH FABER PETERSEN Head of CRO & UX 6

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IS SHOPPING ON YOUR SITE LIKE TRYING TO FIND A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK?

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BY CHRIS DUNN Operations Director, FoundIt! 6

UX: STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME IN 2017 BY MONNY LAM Senior Digital Designer

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PUTTING USERS AT THE HEART OF YOUR BUSINESS

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BY SARAH FABER PETERSEN Head of CRO & UX


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INTRODUCTION GET DIGITAL RIGHT BY APPLYING A CUSTOMER-FIRST APPROACH BY MATTHEW WHITEWAY, CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR

Ever found yourself shouting at your

marketers to take the time to ask themselves

computer when attempting to buy

some core questions which are focused on

something online? Whether or not it’s

customer behaviour and how well their

just me that reacts that way, what’s clear

offering responds to key needs.

is that we now expect to have a seamless experience when buying online, regardless of where we are at the time and of the device we’re using. That being said, we often

over the past few years has changed, and we’re now seeing a paradigm shift in favour of consumers, where they define the terms and parameters. Just

forget how much digital has evolved over

look at the way TV has evolved and think about the

the last decade, and that it really wasn’t too

last time you watched your favourite show; statistics

long ago that playing Snake on our mobile

would suggest you viewed it “on demand” rather

phone was considered revolutionary. But we do forget, and we do expect. The pace at which digital has evolved is massive, but at the heart of success is the ability for

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The fact of the matter is that media consumption


than live, confirming the degree to which users are controlling when and how to consume. Online is no different. Simply being able to buy or enquire online is no longer enough.

“Users want an experience that is tailored to them; they don’t want to have to think about on-site navigation, they don’t want to have to click through dozens of filters. They want instant access to content or items, all on their terms – and they expect that journey to be perfect from start to finish.”

That’s why user experience (UX) and conversion

attract more traffic, and the potential gains that come

rate optimisation (CRO) is so important. Creating

from site optimisation to get more from your existing

a frictionless experience that guides users from a

traffic are often overlooked.

landing page to a purchase button should be a key consideration for any digital marketing process today.

It’s been suggested that it takes 1/20th of a second

Digital marketers have been the envy of traditional

for a user to decide whether they like a website or

marketers for years due to the data they have at their

not. Whilst I don’t entirely agree that a key purchasing

disposal. However, it’s up to website owners to use that

decision is really made that quickly, it’s clear that

data to really understand how their consumers are

users are now expecting and demanding a far richer,

engaging with their website, and to identify pain points

engaging, and personalised experience than ever

and clarify how to tackle those. All too often, digital

before; and long-term growth and brand value will

marketers simply accept their site conversion rates and

effectively be offered to those who optimise to meet

instead put more money into the top of their funnel to

those requirements.


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UX & CRO

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WHAT IS CONVERSION RATE OPTIMISATION AND USER EXPERIENCE? SARAH FABER PETERSEN, HEAD OF CRO & UX

Over the years, I’ve met quite a few clients

We all use remote controls, probably daily (depending

asking for ‘conversion experience’ and

on your TV viewing habits, of course), yet we’ll rarely use

‘user rate optimisation’ – this is, of course,

more than a few of the buttons. In fact, if we’re being really honest, very few of us (engineers and avid techies

an exaggeration, but the point remains:

aside) are likely to know the functionality of 90% of the

user experience (UX) and conversion rate

buttons on them.

optimisation (CRO) are often confused, combined as one or thought of as two terms

So, why are they there? All they do is clutter up the ‘interface’ and cause frustrating moments of “why is

for the same practice. By having a look at the

everything blue? How do I undo that?” after hitting a

ever popular ‘granny remote’ analogy, it’s easy

random, and often unknown, button when you pick up

to understand what CRO and UX really mean

the remote. Wouldn’t life (read: TV watching) be much

and how they operate in different spaces.

easier if we removed all the clutter and kept the most used buttons on display with a ‘view more buttons here’ option, should you ever need them.


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UX & CRO

The illustration below shows three remote controls. The first remote is your standard non-optimised festival of buttons – the functionality you need is there, but it takes effort to find them, and making a mistake is easy.

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Remote #1

Remote #2

Remote #3

Standard

UX optimised

CRO optimised


“Your site isn’t really serving a purpose that’s of true value to your business unless it’s optimised to your user base and their behaviour and makes the user journey clear and simple in order to engage and convert.”

After extensive user research and data analysis of

Now, let’s apply this logic to your website: does it

button use (not really, but you get the point) we’ve

offer content, navigation and functionalities that may

optimised the user experience of the second remote;

confuse users and distract from the main purpose of

the most used buttons stand out and are further

your site? Is it clear what users are meant to do on

enhanced with supporting titles, and all remaining

your site, how it benefits them and how to proceed?

buttons are hidden but remain available. This makes

These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves;

for an easy to use remote, an effortless user experience

your site isn’t really serving a purpose that’s of true

where you’re not required to do any thinking or

value to your business unless it’s optimised to your

endless searching. This is a remote my two-year-old

user base and their behaviour and makes the user

niece and seventy-year-old mum can both use – it

journey clear and simple in order to engage and

excludes no one.

convert. What’s interesting is how often the seemingly greatest of websites are, in fact, not serving their

Moving on to the third remote which has been further

audience correctly and aren’t making their most

optimised with a bit of conversion rate optimisation

valuable touchpoints visible – and that’s exactly where

(CRO) logic. In this example, we want viewers to pick

UX and CRO come in to help improve those journeys

up the remote, turn on the TV and keep it on for as

and maximise the value of touchpoints you want users

long as possible. We encourage them to do so by

to engage with.

applying a few psychologically persuasive cues. We separate the ‘on’ and ‘off’ buttons and enhance ‘on’ while ‘off’ is discretely placed to the side. To really get people excited at the prospect of watching TV, we add a few prompts or USPs to remind users why TV is the best. We highlight channel 2, because that’s the one we make most money on, and add some urgency with a countdown to when the next show will begin. Finally, we add some social proof for good measure – other people love TV, you probably will too! This fully optimised remote is not only easy to use, but also encourages users to engage with it. www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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UX & CRO

HOW CRO AFFECTS YOUR BUSINESS SARAH FABER PETERSEN, HEAD OF CRO & UX

While conversion rate optimisation (CRO) has

at the end of the year – something which really

always been around in one way or another, it has

puzzles me.

yet to find proper ground in many businesses, big or small. As a marketer of any kind, your success is likely measured on ROI and growing sales. And

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HOW TOUCHPOINTS IMPACT KPI’S

so, when it’s time to develop a digital strategy

Over the years, I’ve been told by many brands that they

geared towards acquiring more high quality traffic,

just don’t have the funds to invest in CRO services due

CRO would be the obvious path to follow – after

to low sales numbers and a need to focus on traffic

all, more users must mean more sales. That being

performance first. In my (granted, very biased) opinion

said, investing in CRO is often at the bottom of the

this makes little sense as this very challenge would

list when allocating budget, and as a function it

suggest that conversion optimisation is where they

tends to get what’s left of the marketing budget

stand to gain the most.


“Working with CRO means optimising the performance of your site and with that, the performance of your traffic, benefitting the overall business and improving different teams and channels’ performance – everyone’s a winner!” If, like many brands, you invest in paid traffic and as a result achieve an increase in conversions of 2%, that’s a

conversions of x%. This takes away any uncertainty and guess work, and you’ll not lose any resource implementing changes unless you’re certain they’ll have a positive impact on your bottom line. On the other hand, some businesses overlook CRO because they don’t feel it’s relevant to them; their product is not click-to-buy or they offer a service that requires quotes and a longer sales process. The reality is that no matter what product or service you offer, there’s almost always a way to help enhance sales through online conversion optimisation.

great ROI. But if you optimised your website alongside that

Let’s say you sell yachts. Sure, it seems highly unlikely

activity and achieved a further increase in conversions of

anyone is going to make an impulse purchase based on

50%, you’d be getting more conversions at the same ad

a big flashy call-to-action – even if it were possible to

cost (lowering your overall CPA). Such cost savings would

complete an order online. But, if you break down your

give you the option to reinvest your savings back into

main goal (selling a yacht) into sub goals, you can work

more digital activity, but most importantly, your site will

on optimising conversions on these. Examples of these

be performing at its best and adding a net improvement to

could be downloading a brochure, filling out a request

your paid media activity.

form, setting up a viewing or making a phone call. Digging

Embarking on a CRO adventure may seem daunting to some, and resources may be a cause for concern. Sure, a list of recommended changes to the site which will improve conversions sounds great, but who’s going to implement the changes? How do the changes fit in with

into your data further will allow you to discover how often a document download leads to a viewing, and how many viewings ultimately lead to sales. This allows you to set a value for each goal and gives a clear indication of where you should be focusing your CRO efforts.

current schedules? What if the recommendations don’t

And so I rest my case that CRO is definitely worth investing

have a positive effect after all? These concerns are exactly

in for just about any business. CRO is an effective tool no

why we test.

matter what, whether you have a big budget and want to do lots of test plans or you simply want to do some low-

CRO IS APPLICABLE TO JUST ABOUT

cost investigative analytics and observe user behaviour.

ANY SITE

Ultimately, CRO can give you enough insights to develop a list of quick wins which will improve conversions based on

If your site has sufficient traffic volume and conversion

your goals and your site’s overall performance. Irrelevant of

or goal touchpoints, CRO teams can conduct experiments

how much you spend, you’re almost certainly guaranteed

across your site based on thoroughly researched

that your money will be well spent – after all, you’ll

hypotheses. Conducting experiments leaves us

continue to reap the benefits of a better performing site

with scientific proof that a given recommendation,

for time to come, alongside visible improvements across

if implemented on your site, will result in a lift in

other marketing channels. www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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SEO

UNDERSTANDING UX AS AN SEO RANKING FACTOR BEA PATMAN, HEAD OF SEO

It’s only been a few months since Sarah (Head of

ways in which our respective channels overlap

CRO & UX) joined the Greenlight team, but in no

and the many benefits that we can bring to one

time at all we’ve fallen into step on all things site

another’s traditional KPI sets. I have to admit that

optimisation. So much so, in fact, that we spent

we’ve found it a little odd to still be encountering

the back end of last year attending a number

dissent from those who feel that the two channels

of industry conferences together, preaching the

continue to operate at cross-purposes, or who

gospel of integrated UX and SEO. For us it feels

frequently encounter conflicts between the two

like a no-brainer – working so closely together

teams within their own organisations.

means that we’re easily able to identify the many

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I want to convince continuing doubters of the

In my experience, disagreement tends to arise not

symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines,

around content-related matters, but when bigger

and hopefully provide some constructive methods for

decisions about site structure, navigation and user

better integrating siloed UX and SEO departments.

journeys need to be made. Menus have long been

After all, whether your focus is on acquisition

a particularly rancorous UX and SEO battleground,

or retention, the likelihood is that any website

with (and forgive the generalisation) SEOs usually

stakeholder will ultimately be striving – and in some

arguing either for fewer links or for prioritisation of

way accountable – for conversions. So, with that

commercially significant pages, and UX managers

common goal in mind, how is it exactly that these two

pushing to have all content quickly and easily

channels overlap?

available to users up-front. In this instance, it’s likely that SEO decisions are being motivated (consciously

ENGAGEMENT IS AT THE HEART OF

or unconsciously) by PageRank, which was one of the original driving forces in SEO. Based on the principle

UX AND SEO LOGIC

that page equity is passed around the web through

The first thing to keep in mind is that this intersection of interests is by no means new: UX considerations have been creeping into the SEO canon for several years. In fact, the Panda algorithm, which is central to organic optimisation and turns six this year, is

links, PageRank was for a long time one of the most visible and easily measured ranking factors, which is why it’s ended up playing such a significant role in shaping the way that organic optimisation is carried out.

entirely focused on the depth, breadth and quality of a website’s content – factors specific to a user’s experience of that site. Then there are engagement metrics to consider; search engines observe user interaction with results and look for “long clicks”, whereby users stay on a page that they’ve clicked on rather than immediately returning to the search. It’s for this reason that SEOs will obsess about lowering bounce rates and increasing the ‘stickiness’ of page copy. But these are the exact performance metrics that CRO and UX teams are also focusing on, so, why is it, then, that conflict still exists between these channels?

“Whether your focus is on acquisition or retention, the likelihood is that any website stakeholder will ultimately be striving – and in some way accountable – for conversions.” www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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SEO

But PageRank is just one factor of many – and a deprecated one at that. Google began pulling back support for public-facing PageRank measures after about a decade, slowly decommissioning the Open Directory, the Search Console interface and, eventually, the Toolbar view. At the same time, new measurement tools were being introduced to help with optimising more experience-focused site features, such as speed.

FINDING A MIDDLE GROUND

In fact, Google introduced the family of PageSpeed tools at its 2010 developer conference – the same year

So what’s the compromise? Well, sticking with the

the Open Directory was shuttered. This isn’t to say that

menu issue for another minute, I don’t believe there

PageRank is dead: it’s still operating in the background

really needs to be one. The priority for SEO is ensuring

as a component of the ranking algorithm. However, its

that the navigation helps robots to crawl sites

importance has decreased significantly over the past

effectively and understand their hierarchy, while for UX

six or seven years while that of user experience has

it’s a case of making it easier for users to move around.

increased correspondingly, and it’s important that we

This is because UX and CRO are founded on a “don’t

SEOs learn to adapt our old habits to align with this

make me think” rubric – a user shouldn’t have to apply

new state of play.

any mental effort when interacting with a website. Fundamentally, therefore, both channels are working to clear a simple, intuitive path around site content. This parity extends beyond just navigation, too. I mentioned earlier that content tends to be an area in which UX and SEO see eye-to-eye, and that goes right down to the granular details. Mark-ups such as H1s are clear demarcations both for robots and human users; quality copy benefits relevancy, ranking performance and adds value to a user’s interaction with a site; and meta data helps both robots and users to understand what a page is about and what information it might help to deliver. In almost every aspect of on-page optimisation, both teams should be working towards the same goals, albeit for subtly different purposes.

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If that still isn’t the case in your organisation, how

Once you’re integrating data at the top end of your

can you go about bringing the two teams into line?

working processes, the next step is to review KPIs. The

Probably the most powerful olive branch is data.

likelihood is that you’ll discover a lot of similarities

Each team has insights into particular aspects of

– probably in the form of conversion and revenue

the customer journey that the other lacks – SEOs

targets. It’s these, more than anything else, that really

are likely to have much more data on search query

serve to highlight the fact that you’re not dealing with

volumes and intent than UX teams, while the latter

two parallel channels; rather two teams that handle

will know how users behave on-site after they’ve

different points on the same user journey (one lines

clicked on the organic result. Sarah’s team favours

them up while the other knocks them down, in other

Hotjar for user analysis because of the invaluable

words).

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insights its visitor recording can deliver. For me, these have been revelatory: imagine discovering that a

With algorithmic advancements making it easier

page that we’ve carefully optimised and have ranking

for search engines to measure user signals, and the

for a given search query is confusing the hell out of

mobile-first index placing speed and simplicity at the

visitors who land on it from that SERP! Watching their

very centre of site optimisation, the significance to

cursors frantically search the page for mentions of the

SEO of what were once purely UX considerations is

topic, or perhaps for products they expect to find and

only set to grow. My bet is that the brands that thrive

don’t, is helping us to reflect on accuracy, relevancy,

will be the ones that take proper steps to integrate

content and layout to make sure that the journey from

their digital teams rather than allowing them to

acquisition to interaction is much more seamless. This

continue working in siloes. The reality is that much

helps to win longer clicks, lower bounce rates, higher

of that work has been done by Google anyway: little

relevancy scores and, of course, better conversions.

by little, the requirements placed on both teams

Meanwhile, I’ve been able to reciprocate with search

have been pushed closer in line over the last few

query data; helping, for example, to shed a light on

years. Now, the final step is communication, which, as

why a highly competitive short-tail term might not be

marketers, is inherent to our roles so should be the

converting as the CRO team anticipated.

easiest step overall. 1. https://www.hotjar.com/


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UX & CRO

UNDERSTANDING DATA-DRIVEN OPTIMISATION SARAH FABER PETERSEN HEAD OF CRO & UX

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In my years working in conversion rate optimisation, I’ve often come across companies which insist that they’re already doing CRO and have been doing so for a long time. Many will settle with installing heatmapping technology such as Crazyegg1 on their site and running the odd A/B test. The only problem is, they don’t use the data they gather through Crazyegg and there’s no hypotheses or purpose behind the A/B tests they’ve run – and while they may get lucky and strike gold here and there, it’s not a winning strategy, and will rarely ever result in major long-term improvements. In my younger days, I always cringed a bit when someone mentioned the word “data” – I thought it sounded a bit geeky. Now, I’m all aboard the geek train, and I’m hoping after reading this article you too will jump on board (if you haven’t already). Many marketers will use data to measure how different marketing channels perform and to monitor overall site performance. But why not also use the data to discover where the site is suffering and take it a step further to discover not just where the problems lie, but also what the problems on those pages really are for users.

“

Your analytics platform is a gold mine of

information and should be the foundation of any data-driven optimisation strategy.

”


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UX & CRO

WHAT ARE YOUR CHALLENGES, AND WHERE DO THEY OCCUR? Your analytics platform is a gold mine of information and should be the foundation of any data-driven optimisation strategy. It helps identify where your site is struggling and gives insights on what to include in your optimisation plan.

HERE’S A LIST OF SOME OF THE FIRST THINGS TO EXPLORE

DEVICES

BOUNCE RATE

CONVERSIONS

A high bounce rate is the first

Identify the pages with high

indicator that something is

volumes of traffic and low

wrong. Something on these

conversion; these are often

pages discourages users from

the pages where there’s most

engaging further with the site.

to gain. It’s also worth taking

It’s also worth checking the

a look at how pages convert

traffic source here, as that may

compared to the site average.

How is your traffic split between devices? Do the majority of users visit your site on a mobile device and, if so, does that channel lead to more conversions? This is a great way to learn where your efforts in optimisation should be focused.

also be a factor.

FUNNEL VISUALISATION

BROWSER

If you haven’t already, set

Do some browsers convert

up a funnel in your analytics

much better than others? You

platform to discover at what

could potentially be losing out

point within the funnel your

on lots of conversions due to

users tend to drop off, as that

technical and compatibility

will be a marked pain point to

issues.

investigate further.

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WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AND HOW

And then there’s the most qualitative data of them

DO WE FIX IT?

all: user playbacks, which are end-to-end recordings

Now we’ve identified where the problems are, but we don’t know why or how we go about fixing them. Sometimes the answer will be obvious once you’ve had a second look at the issue in question, but more often than not you’ll have to dig deeper and do additional research before you can develop a valid hypothesis for implementation or testing. To gain this kind of insight, we need to study how users interact with your site. Fortunately, we live in an age where there are tools for pretty much anything, and user insights are no exception to this, with tools like Hotjar2, Clicktale3, SessionCam4, Crazy Egg5 and Lucky Orange6 (the list goes on) which can help to gather all the user behaviour data you could wish for.

of individual user journeys. Playbacks, however, can be tricky and aren’t the easiest insights to analyse – they’re time consuming and, without a systematic approach, can result in more confusion – and sometimes even the wrong conclusion altogether. But with the right approach, there are invaluable learnings in observing how your users interact with your site from which you can easily notice trends and walk away with some immediate takeaways. Ultimately, when it comes to optimising your site, data is vital. It’s impossible to develop a valid optimisation strategy without knowing where opportunities lie and without having gained an understanding of how you can achieve them. And while this article can only give you a tiny glimpse of the amazing world of data, I hope it’s inspired you to explore it further.

These tools allow you to set up scroll, movement and click maps to discover where on the page users

1. https://www.crazyegg.com/

engage (and where they don’t) so you can identify

2. https://www.hotjar.com/

areas and touchpoints which are ideal for conversions.

3. https://www.clicktale.com/

Form analytics will tell the story of how your users

4. https://sessioncam.com/

are interacting with key forms, as well as which

5. https://www.crazyegg.com/ 6. http://www.luckyorange.com/

fields make users hesitate and where they drop off altogether.


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UX & CRO

IS SHOPPING ON YOUR SITE LIKE TRYING TO FIND A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK? CHRIS DUNN, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR,

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In its latest annual report1, ASOS acknowledged

I can just hear those conflicting boardroom

that because it offers one of the largest product

discussions now:

collections, shopping on its website could feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

“We have a key strength in that we have significantly expanded

“ASOS is the online fashion

our range of products, and now

destination with one of the

have a great amount of choice to

largest collections of products

offer our customers.”

and content anywhere in the world. It’s why we’re growing so quickly. But having everything

“We also have a key weakness…

any customer could want is a

in that we have significantly

challenge – how do we make

expanded our range of products,

sure that, among the tens of

and now have a great amount of

thousands of items available, our

choice to offer our customers.”

customers can find just the right ones for them? Go onto our site and search for, say, ‘black dress’.

That’s exactly the crux of the issue; by adding more

You’ll get close to 3,000 results.

and more product lines to eCommerce sites we are,

Who can find the needle in the

in effect, creating a journey for many customers that

haystack of 300 dresses, let

truly is like finding a needle in a haystack.

alone 3,000?”

There is a significant negative correlation with the time and effort taken to find products and CVR:

This really struck a chord with me, and it’s not just ASOS that’s creating haystacks. In my role at platform, I see it happening industry-wide – with many well-known eCommerce brands actively

CVR%

FoundIt!2, a ground-breaking journey optimisation

expanding their range and moving into new product areas.

T I M E S P E N T O N S E A RC H/B ROW S E


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UX & CRO All that clicking, searching and filtering. Then there’s the sorting, the scrolling, and all the ‘click here for page 2’. It’s a minefield. And it’s no wonder that customers who are unable to find what they want is one of the biggest sources of customer frustration, low conversion rates and lost sales opportunities. This is a major headache for CRO and UX practitioners alike. As the title of this article suggests, we’ve created haystacks and, by and large, we don’t help the customer when they’re trying to find those needles. Search functionality and navigation bars should be our friends here, but quite often those features are unintuitive, not relevant and, crucially, not reflective of human behaviour. Take this page:

“

Search functionality and navigation bars should be our friends, but quite often those features are unintuitive, not relevant and, crucially, not reflective of human behaviour.

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”

If we stop and think about it, do we honestly

In order to have any chance of finding

think the user’s most likely next step on the

needles in an ever-increasing haystack world,

site shown on the left is to filter by price (let

eCommerce marketers are going to need to

alone by £5 to £10 for that matter)?

really understand their customers’ continually changing intent, at every level of their website

We could check our page analytics, but that

navigation while also instantly surfacing those

would be swayed by a self-fulfilling prophecy

‘best of the best’ navigational options at scale

and also reflects clickable activity rather than

and front and centre in an always switched-on

easily highlighting direct painpoints when

environment. To do this, retailers need to invest

navigating a page.

in technology that utilises customer data to create more relevant journeys. ASOS, a digital-

Better still, we can talk to our search marketing

first business and leader in the respective field,

colleagues and gauge what the wider market

has built its own systems to help surface the

thinks by looking at keywords and customer

right content and products, at the right time,

intent around a category. In this particular

using an array of customer data and machine-

example, it’s all about ‘Brand’ and ‘Storage

learning algorithms to make sure it holds its

Capacity’, and in fact when digging deeper,

customers’ hand each step of the way.

the lion’s share of the demand is in just two brands: Seagate and WD. This issue could

However, if you’re not ASOS and don’t have

be further exacerbated for our customer if

the budget or resource to create your own

this was an A to Z sort as well, which would

systems, journey optimisation technology has

effectively bury Seagate and WD, the most

been developed that can quickly be added to

likely next steps, even further down the

your site and start improving the customer

page. The problem here is we don’t surface

experience, and your conversion rates, in

this language front and centre to help our

weeks. With the amount of information that

customers navigate and filter to the products

can be collected to create a personalised and

they’re most likely to be looking for.

relevant user experience, I’m hoping that going forward we’ll see an important shift away

By understanding what customers want

from sites that resemble haystacks and move

before they land on a website, we can present

towards fast, sleek and simple interfaces that

more personalised and intuitive customer

are driven by user data and interactions.

experiences. Many eCommerce marketers are looking beyond the out-of-the-box eCommerce platform capabilities and facet navigation engines to solve this problem. As I point out above, inherently those solutions offer a one-

1. http://www.asosplc.com/~/media/Files/A/ASOS/ results-archive/pdf/2015-annual-report.pdf

2. http://www.foundit.com/

size-fits-all approach, which no longer fits our customers’ ever-changing needs.


23

UX & CRO

“

In UX, how you deal with your users and how they feel when using your product are key factors of success.

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”


UX: STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME IN 2017 BY MONNY LAM, SENIOR DIGITAL DESIGNER

With the digital landscape constantly evolving

target audience’s age, which could feature adaptations

and new UX trends frequently appearing, it can

such as:

be a challenge to make sure your brand is as up to date as can be. To give you a head start, we’ve summed up three new user experience practices

•

Font sizes and kerning adjusted to be bigger and clearer for the elderly

that we believe will be the biggest gamechangers for brands in 2017. •

Select colour schemes dependent on the user’s age; for example, the use of more

1. AGE RESPONSIVE DESIGN

vibrant colors for kids or higher contrast color schemes for older users

A one-size-fits-all approach to web design is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Already, responsive web

•

Navigation options optimised to suit a

design adjusts the content of your website to fit around

user’s competency level; it’s much easier for

a device screen size or resolution. With a plethora of

beginners to navigate around a site using

audience data now available at our fingertips, designers

prominent menu options, whereas more

will increasingly take advantage of data to identify

advanced users may prefer less clutter

unique visitors and offer them age-specific adaptations over the coming years. Web users today have a dramatically different level Through the intelligent use of audience data, there’s a growing ability to create universally user-friendly, ageappropriate experiences. Age-responsive websites can be designed to tailor the perfect user interface experience depending on your

of digital literacy - from digital natives right through to silver surfers. With that in mind, UX designers need to start taking advantage of audience data to make subtle changes to accommodate for younger or older audiences.


25

UX & CRO

2. CHATBOTS Chatbots are’t a new thing, but they’re definitely one of the hottest topics in the industry right now, and we’re pretty confident you’ll be considering integrating one of these onto your site soon. A chatbot, short for chat robot, is a computer program which simulates human conversation, or chat, powered by system rules and natural language processing, allowing users to interact with them via a chat interface similar to Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Slack, Telegram or text messages. Chatbots in apps are similarly an upgrade to a mobile user interface, as they bring the most basic type of human interaction – conversation – into the digital environment. Digital audiences are currently using messenger apps more than they’re using social networks. Strategically, if you want to grow your online business, you need to be where your audience is and, at the moment, that place is inside messenger apps, which makes chatbots all the more important. It’s potentially a huge business opportunity for brands who want to re-create an instore experience online, supported by technology that users will welcome. With chatbots in place, brands will be able to provide more personalised customer service, generate sales leads around the clock and subsequently increase revenue.

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3. MICRO-INTERACTIONS Micro-interactions are the tiny on-screen animations, transitions or reactions that are triggered when a user interacts with an interface – from pushing a button to refreshing a feed. They give users an important form of visual feedback in return for their action and when they’re well designed, they can transform an interaction that’s usually dull and forgetable into one that feels human and satisfying. They make the user’s life much easier by allowing them to know what’s happening, what has happened, and what will happen next as they interact with the interface.

There are four stages that make up each micro-interaction to consider: trigger, rules, feedback and loops and modes.

TRIGGER

RULES

FEEDBACK

LOOPS AND MODES

The trigger is the action

Rules determine what

Since rules are invisible,

Loops and modes are the

that starts the micro-

can or cannot be done,

feedback helps us to

last components. Loops

interaction; it should

and form part of the

understand what’s

determine how long the

be clearly visible to the

user flow by defining the

happening and to learn

micro-interaction should

user and behave in a

sequence of events.

the rules. Feedback also

last, and define how they

predictable way. The best

offers an opportunity to

change over time. On

triggers should be able

add brand personality to

the other hand, modes

to anticipate the user’s

your micro-interaction,

should only be used as

need without explicitly

such as a CSS transition or

the critical but infrequent

explaining it.

a related sound effect.

action that would disrupt the flow of the microinteraction.

In UX, how you deal with your users and how they feel when using your product are key factors of success. Even minor details deserve close attention. It’s important that designers recognise the subtlety of micro-interactions while also taking care to design them beautifully. Getting these right will elevate your interface from one that users will tolerate to one that they’ll love.


27

UX & CRO

PUTTING USERS AT THE HEART OF YOUR BUSINESS SARAH FABER PETERSEN, HEAD OF CRO & UX

“We’re spoilt with a plethora of data these days, and there’s so much we can learn about who our users are, which gives us a great starting point when trying to understand how to reach our target audience and adjust the user experience accordingly.”

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Websites are made for users – or, at

The battle of the stakeholders often

least, they should be made for users.

results in a power struggle over who

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the

gets first placement in the hero slider

case; user needs, expectations and

(a massive bone of contention for

overall experience are often an after-

many, I can confirm!) and which mes-

thought rather than the foundation

sage can scream the loudest across

on which websites are built.

the site; in such instances, stakeholders tends to lose sight of the fact that

GAME OF STAKEHOLDERS

their individual goals are all elements of the bigger picture and the overall

Developing a new website is quite

business objectives. Ultimately, work-

an arduous task which often requires

ing against each other is not only

tedious research and planning before

frustrating for everyone involved, but

you get to the design and develop-

it’s also counterproductive.

ment stages. The general questions that underpin web development are

The biggest casualty in this battle

usually as such:

is almost always the user in the form of poor user experience. The

•

What’s the general purpose of the site?

•

What should it communicate?

•

What’s the main end goal for the users?

•

What are the KPIs and what are their priorities?

finished product may look new and shiny, complete with messaging and offers which visibly compete for users’ attention – but none of these things mean that the site is in any way pleasant to use. This reality will be hard to accept for stakeholders

Now, you’d think that the answers to these questions ought to be fairly straightforward, but unfortunately they rarely are. When you’re working

who have built something that they believe is great, but in practice isn’t a reflection of user preferences or behavioural tendencies.

on a site rebuild or are optimising a pre-existing site, stakeholders from different departments will get involved – each with their own agenda. This is because departments are usually measured against varying and different KPIs, and so they want a site that promotes and improves areas related to their performance. www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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This phenomenon is puzzling to me

To learn more about what your users’

– shouldn’t the user experience be a

needs are, what content they interact

central part of the overall conversa-

with and where they’re struggling

tion? After all, if users have a hor-

or getting lost, look to your current

rible experience, what are the odds

website. Many tend to overlook this

of them converting into customers,

goldmine of user insights because

let alone returning to your site or

they believe there’s little point if it’s

recommending it to their social

being scrapped anyway, but there’s

network?

so much to learn from how users currently interact with your site and

While it may seem obvious to some, not all are convinced that UX should have a voice, let alone a loud one, in the stakeholder battle of the bands. But when you look at brands that have crushed their online competitors, it’s not always because they offer something new or different, but usually because they’ve simply

RETURNING TO THE

your brand.

USER

You may discover that an internally

customers’ wants and needs by put-

celebrated functionality is complete-

ting them at the centre of all their

ly overlooked by users or rejected

decisions.

So, how do you create a site that offers a good user experience? Simple, you go straight to the source: the user. Take the time to discover who they are and what their wants and needs are so you can be the brand on the market that best speaks to the facets that matter most to them. We’re spoilt with a plethora of data these days, and there’s so much we can learn about who our users are, which gives us a great starting point when trying to understand how to reach our target audience and adjust the user experience accordingly. For instance, if the majority of your users are over 65 and your

30

WHY BOTHER?

because they can’t figure out how to use it, or that a feature which you were prepared to leave behind in the redesign is actually very popular and helpful to users.

adjusted their product to meet their

Take Facebook as an example – while there were plenty of social media platforms popping up around the same time, Facebook was the platform that stood out from the

Take a look at the user journey and

crowd thanks to its user-centric ap-

how users navigate your site and ask

proach. The site was stripped down

yourself if they seem confused or

to just focus on simple-to-use UX

lost in any way, or whether there’s a

functionality, without flashy back-

clear path that guides them to their

grounds and clutter to distract from

end destination – these are the key

the features users craved.

nuggets of information which will fuel fact-based decisions that will result in a site that’s fit for use and that meets your stakeholders’ goals.

So, note to all stakeholders, please listen to your UX team as they’re the voice of your end users. Without a simple and easy to navigate inter-

site uses font size 10, then there’s a

face, those end users won’t interact

very good chance they can’t read any

with your site enough to contribute

of your content – or will seriously

to the core KPIs that each stake-

struggle to do so. This means you’re

holder is held accountable for; and

asking your users to make an effort

ultimately you’ll be playing a losing

to engage with your site, instead of

game when trying to convince them

making it easy and inviting.

to return back to your site.


THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX ALL OUR MAGAZINES ARE LOVINGLY MADE BY OUR DESIGN & BUILD TEAM The Design & Build team are our resident creatives; the dreamers, the rainmakers. From big ideas to creation to ongoing maintenance, their expertise spans the board – making what seems like the impossible, possible. What’s more, they always keep user experience, interactive design and ongoing maintenance in mind so that you end up with something that’s not just fit for purpose, but built to last.

Check out our showreel to learn more about our branding and creative, responsive design and web development capabilities. Watch it here: http://www.greenlightdigital.com/build/

www.greenlightdigital.com The Varnish Works, 3 Bravingtons Walk, King’s Cross, London, N1 9AJ +44 (0)20 7253 7000 [email protected]