April 26, 2011 at 10:01How to conduct research yourself before designing a site
In a previous article on site design, I called the study of the project context one of the key stages. Let me remind you that by context I mean various factors surrounding a site and that can influence its operation. Such factors include: the target audience and its needs, characteristics and trends of the environment, the behavior of competitors and others, depending on the subject of the project.
Without research, your chances of making an effective website are very small, because you will rely only on your experience and opinion, not on real data. The information that we receive as a result of the study helps to understand how the site needs to be made : what needs the target audience needs to meet and how, how to position it, what language the site should speak to the audience, and so on.
For a client, research is a guarantee that the site will be made specifically for the target audience (CA), according to its needs, and not just how the developer / client will come up with it.
For the developer, conducting research is improving the quality of the product, customer satisfaction and, of course, reaching a qualitatively new level.
Ideally, we should get the bulk of the data from the client. I know from my own experience: more often than not, a client cannot give you relevant marketing data in the right amount, but he can answer your questions and provide various useful information.
One way or another, you will have to take the initiative into your own hands, including because no matter what the client gives out, you still need information directly about the visitor’s interaction with the site, which the client definitely doesn’t have.
I’ll say separately: a study, at least minimal, can and should be carried out for almost any site - a business card or an online store, service or promotional site.
And one more important point. This is certainly not a business analysis or marketing research. Our study will not answer the questions: Is it worth it to make a website? How to make money? What is the size of the market? Who is the target audience? etc. This is all the subject of marketing and business analysis.
Our study provides qualitative information: How to make a site according to the selected business model? What does CA expect from such a site, what tasks does it plan to solve? What are the criteria for evaluating a site? etc.
The study is divided into three stages:
The main goal of the study can be formulated as follows: to find out what needs CA has and how to satisfy them as efficiently as possible using the site.
Tasks vary from project to project, but as a rule, as a result of research, the following tasks need to be solved:
Typically, you need to know the following about your environment:
We must know about the target audience:
For independent research, I offer you two methods that are most accessible to the vast majority of studios and do not require a tremendous amount of time and money:
The main task at this stage: to get a general idea and prepare for a qualitative study (interview), identifying the main actors, whom we will interview, what we will ask them and why (what we want to evaluate, what conclusions to draw).
Interviews provide quality information, which will give us an idea of what the site visitor will be guided by - its goals and objectives, evaluation criteria, expectations.
Depending on the project, determine how much time you are going to spend on researching the sources and in what sequence you will study them.
In an average project, we spend on studying sources no more than one working week: we study websites, articles relevant to the subject, articles (on the Internet or in print) and analytical studies. Good analytics is rarely published publicly; if there is none, and the project budget allows, buy analytics, for example, from RBC or Infocean.
The interview plan is already much more interesting. To begin with, an interview plan can only be done after researching the sources . In order to understand how and what questions to ask respondents, you need to dive into the context.
The questions that you outline in the interview plan should be consistent with the expected results (see “What should we know about Central Asia”). I recommend making an interview plan in the form of a tablet in which on each line on the left there will be information that we should receive, and on the right a set of questions (see an example of a research plan ).
Formulate the questions so that the respondent answers them as broadly and in detail as possible.. To do this, the question should not be forced into a rigid framework or suggest a specific answer. Only in extreme cases, when you need a clear answer “yes” or “no”, include narrowly focused closed questions in the plan.
It is advisable to keep the questions as short as possible. This makes it easier for the respondent to remember and interpret the questions.
When compiling questions, keep in mind that after the first one or two interviews they will change , be clarified, so there is no need to focus on the “ideal accuracy” of questions for the first respondents.
Plan your interview so that it takes no more than one hour . Then the respondent begins to get tired, distracted, and his answers become less informative.
I will not talk about the study of sources in too much detail. It is best to read professional literature and articles on the Internet on this subject (start with the article “Document Analysis” on Wikipedia).
From literature, I would recommend: “Sociological methods in marketing research” by M. L. Vlasova, “Methods of sociological research” by V. I. Dobrenkova and A. I. Kravchenko, “Sociology” by Giddens, as well as the magazines “Sociological Research” and “ Telescope".
A few simple tips:
My advice will be based on the in-depth interview methodology that was taught to us at St. Petersburg State University at the Faculty of Sociology, and on my own experience (I conducted several hundred interviews in my life working at Gallup Media and NIIKSI).
To begin with, remember one thing: if the interview did not work out, then you and only you, but not the respondent, are to blame.
You should get at least two points of view - future users and experts on the topic. For example, while conducting a study for the boutique XXX, we interviewed ten girls and two experts in the sale of fashionable clothes.
Try to select for interviews people who are personally interested in such a site, and not just plus or minus suitable ones. In this case, their answers will be more complete and sincere. By the way, if the budget allows, you can even pay for the interview and ask the respondent to take part in user testing in the future.
Choose different people : with a different attitude to the subject of the interview, to life, with different characters, but always within the target group.
Try to choose places where there are no distracting and annoying factors - loud sounds, a large number of people, bright light. In no case do not allow someone to distract your interlocutor during the interview. You must be tête-à-tête.
Therefore, a noisy cafe and a workplace in a room for 20 people will not suit you.
Be sure to prepare the person for the interview : tell him in advance the topic and the approximate time that you will take from him. An untrained or expecting something else person will worry and find it difficult to answer your questions. If you think that the respondent will not answer some questions without preparation, ask them in advance.
Get ready for the interview so that the questions bounce off your teeth and go sequentially, logically developing the topic. Do not ask unnecessary and boring questions. The respondent should see that they have approached the matter responsibly and are not going to take his time in vain.
Be sure to record the interview on the recorder , and do not write the answers during the conversation to a computer or notepad. Why:
In no case do not be responsible for the respondent, tell him only as a last resort. In general, your main task is to actively listen , without interfering with the respondent thinking about his answers and pronouncing them.
In my opinion, you were well prepared and had a good interview if the respondent's answers corresponded to the meaning of the questions, were informative, and there were not much more clarifying questions than the main ones.
If this is not so, then I recommend finalizing the questions, as well as adjusting my behavior during the interview.
So you examined all available sources, conducted an interview - the data obtained must be processed. We decided to write a separate article about processing the study, so here we will briefly say what will be in it. So, as a result of processing the results, we must:
Once again about the benefits of research
Without research, your chances of making an effective website are very small, because you will rely only on your experience and opinion, not on real data. The information that we receive as a result of the study helps to understand how the site needs to be made : what needs the target audience needs to meet and how, how to position it, what language the site should speak to the audience, and so on.
For a client, research is a guarantee that the site will be made specifically for the target audience (CA), according to its needs, and not just how the developer / client will come up with it.
For the developer, conducting research is improving the quality of the product, customer satisfaction and, of course, reaching a qualitatively new level.
Ideally, we should get the bulk of the data from the client. I know from my own experience: more often than not, a client cannot give you relevant marketing data in the right amount, but he can answer your questions and provide various useful information.
One way or another, you will have to take the initiative into your own hands, including because no matter what the client gives out, you still need information directly about the visitor’s interaction with the site, which the client definitely doesn’t have.
I’ll say separately: a study, at least minimal, can and should be carried out for almost any site - a business card or an online store, service or promotional site.
And one more important point. This is certainly not a business analysis or marketing research. Our study will not answer the questions: Is it worth it to make a website? How to make money? What is the size of the market? Who is the target audience? etc. This is all the subject of marketing and business analysis.
Our study provides qualitative information: How to make a site according to the selected business model? What does CA expect from such a site, what tasks does it plan to solve? What are the criteria for evaluating a site? etc.
Research Methodology
The study is divided into three stages:
- Training:
- We determine the objectives of the study,
- We make a research plan,
- We determine research methods and an action plan for each method.
- Actually, the study.
- Processing the results. Conclusions.
Study preparation
We determine the objectives of the study
The main goal of the study can be formulated as follows: to find out what needs CA has and how to satisfy them as efficiently as possible using the site.
Tasks vary from project to project, but as a rule, as a result of research, the following tasks need to be solved:
- Give a general description of the environment in which the site will operate;
- Determine the target audience of the site and its needs;
- Determine how the site can become better than its competitors;
- Determine the direction of development of the site (if required).
What data should we get
What we need to know about the environment
Typically, you need to know the following about your environment:
- The main characteristics that may affect the site: legislative restrictions, rules and stereotypes of behavior, features of the sale of the product and so on.
- How competitors work (for detuning from them).
- How the environment is developing (do we need to take this into account when designing the site).
What we need to know about Central Asia
We must know about the target audience:
- Does she need such a site and, if so, why.
- How will she be guided in evaluating the site: why the site will be liked and why not, how similar sites are evaluated (if there is experience of interaction).
- What tasks and how will be solved on such a site.
- What are the main scenarios for using the site.
- What are the expectations from the results of the interaction and site behavior.
Determine research methods
For independent research, I offer you two methods that are most accessible to the vast majority of studios and do not require a tremendous amount of time and money:
- Analysis of documents (sources) - literature, client documents, Internet sites and so on.
- In-depth interviews with key individuals - users and experts.
The main task at this stage: to get a general idea and prepare for a qualitative study (interview), identifying the main actors, whom we will interview, what we will ask them and why (what we want to evaluate, what conclusions to draw).
Interviews provide quality information, which will give us an idea of what the site visitor will be guided by - its goals and objectives, evaluation criteria, expectations.
We are planning a study
We are planning a study of sources
Depending on the project, determine how much time you are going to spend on researching the sources and in what sequence you will study them.
In an average project, we spend on studying sources no more than one working week: we study websites, articles relevant to the subject, articles (on the Internet or in print) and analytical studies. Good analytics is rarely published publicly; if there is none, and the project budget allows, buy analytics, for example, from RBC or Infocean.
Interview plan
The interview plan is already much more interesting. To begin with, an interview plan can only be done after researching the sources . In order to understand how and what questions to ask respondents, you need to dive into the context.
The questions that you outline in the interview plan should be consistent with the expected results (see “What should we know about Central Asia”). I recommend making an interview plan in the form of a tablet in which on each line on the left there will be information that we should receive, and on the right a set of questions (see an example of a research plan ).
Formulate the questions so that the respondent answers them as broadly and in detail as possible.. To do this, the question should not be forced into a rigid framework or suggest a specific answer. Only in extreme cases, when you need a clear answer “yes” or “no”, include narrowly focused closed questions in the plan.
It is advisable to keep the questions as short as possible. This makes it easier for the respondent to remember and interpret the questions.
When compiling questions, keep in mind that after the first one or two interviews they will change , be clarified, so there is no need to focus on the “ideal accuracy” of questions for the first respondents.
Plan your interview so that it takes no more than one hour . Then the respondent begins to get tired, distracted, and his answers become less informative.
Conducting research
Research sources
I will not talk about the study of sources in too much detail. It is best to read professional literature and articles on the Internet on this subject (start with the article “Document Analysis” on Wikipedia).
From literature, I would recommend: “Sociological methods in marketing research” by M. L. Vlasova, “Methods of sociological research” by V. I. Dobrenkova and A. I. Kravchenko, “Sociology” by Giddens, as well as the magazines “Sociological Research” and “ Telescope".
A few simple tips:
- If possible, use paid analytics - it gives good quantitative data.
- Try to use information only from reputable, trusted sources .
- Study qualitatively different sources : statistics, qualitative research, author opinions and articles, discussions in forums.
How to conduct a good interview
My advice will be based on the in-depth interview methodology that was taught to us at St. Petersburg State University at the Faculty of Sociology, and on my own experience (I conducted several hundred interviews in my life working at Gallup Media and NIIKSI).
To begin with, remember one thing: if the interview did not work out, then you and only you, but not the respondent, are to blame.
Who to interview
You should get at least two points of view - future users and experts on the topic. For example, while conducting a study for the boutique XXX, we interviewed ten girls and two experts in the sale of fashionable clothes.
Try to select for interviews people who are personally interested in such a site, and not just plus or minus suitable ones. In this case, their answers will be more complete and sincere. By the way, if the budget allows, you can even pay for the interview and ask the respondent to take part in user testing in the future.
Choose different people : with a different attitude to the subject of the interview, to life, with different characters, but always within the target group.
Where to interview
Try to choose places where there are no distracting and annoying factors - loud sounds, a large number of people, bright light. In no case do not allow someone to distract your interlocutor during the interview. You must be tête-à-tête.
Therefore, a noisy cafe and a workplace in a room for 20 people will not suit you.
Process
Be sure to prepare the person for the interview : tell him in advance the topic and the approximate time that you will take from him. An untrained or expecting something else person will worry and find it difficult to answer your questions. If you think that the respondent will not answer some questions without preparation, ask them in advance.
Get ready for the interview so that the questions bounce off your teeth and go sequentially, logically developing the topic. Do not ask unnecessary and boring questions. The respondent should see that they have approached the matter responsibly and are not going to take his time in vain.
Be sure to record the interview on the recorder , and do not write the answers during the conversation to a computer or notepad. Why:
- This reduces the interview time by one and a half to two times.
- It’s much easier for you to keep the thread of conversation and the interest of the respondent, because you are not distracted by the notes.
- You can ask a useful suggestive or clarifying question in time.
In no case do not be responsible for the respondent, tell him only as a last resort. In general, your main task is to actively listen , without interfering with the respondent thinking about his answers and pronouncing them.
How to evaluate the past interview
In my opinion, you were well prepared and had a good interview if the respondent's answers corresponded to the meaning of the questions, were informative, and there were not much more clarifying questions than the main ones.
If this is not so, then I recommend finalizing the questions, as well as adjusting my behavior during the interview.
Results Processing
So you examined all available sources, conducted an interview - the data obtained must be processed. We decided to write a separate article about processing the study, so here we will briefly say what will be in it. So, as a result of processing the results, we must:
- Give a general description of the environment - see "What We Need to Know About the Environment."
- Describe the target audience - see “What we need to know about Central Asia”.
- Based on the description of the target audience, create characters and basic scenarios of their behavior on the site.
- To formulate how the site will differ from its competitors , naturally, in a favorable direction: design, capabilities, information, approach to the visitor.
- To draw preliminary conclusions about what functionality will be enough to run - the site will not lose to competitors and satisfy the basic needs of Central Asia - and what the site can come in the process of development .