Virtual Floorspace

In the initial review of the millennials apparel shop along data, we’re seeing the following decision-making variables surface to the top:

• Appropriateness: Right for the situation
• Value = (Wear frequency x Matchability)/Price
• Appeal: Makes me look how I want to look
• Personality: Clothes portray the wearer’s mood or personality: flashy, professional, understated, fun, young
• Fit: Size, cut, draping
• Click: Calls out to shopper, love at first sight, drawn to it

We’re going to do a more in-depth analysis to formulate the primary segmentation dimensions. We will also overlay mobile technology.

Copyright 2010, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized design strategy, e-commerce design strategy, e-retail, ethnography, qualitative research, research methods

Ethnography fieldwork can be expensive. Part of the expense is due to the time it takes to get significant results, and the travel that is often required. Another expense factor is that ethnography studies require skilled, experienced people to guide the effort. In addition to cost considerations, the results of ethnographic research are sometimes difficult to translate directly into systems design.

Ethnography becomes relevant when design teams need to innovate, rather than incrementally improve an existing design. Ethnographic research is worth the cost when the success of a design is dependent upon being very different from current existing solutions, for example, a completely different way of supporting a real-life activity or exploring a new market opportunity that didn’t exist before.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford

“The future has already happened, it just isn’t very well distributed.” William Gibson

“The future will soon be a thing of the past.” George Carlin

Copyright 2010, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, ethnography, methodology, planning user research, qualitative research, research methods

Ethnography is a field research method developed by anthropologists to understand cultures other than their own. At one time, anthropologists theorized about other cultures from the comfort of their own life context. Ethnography was developed as a method to study the culture from within, as a participant, and at the same time as an observer. Ethnography is by definition and in practice a systematic approach for understanding cultural impacts on behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and rituals.

In recent years, ethnographic studies have gained favor across a wide range of commercial design situations. In the world of web design, the term ethnography can be used rather loosely to mean any research that is conducted on location, or in context of the activity for which a web-based system is being designed. Ethnography is most often used as a data gathering tool when the cost of research is significantly outweighed by the potential revenue of creating an innovative product. Ethnography is especially applicable to projects that are multi-cultural in nature, but is not limited to those types of projects. In design-related ethnographic research, the “culture” being studied may be a segment of a population that shares a set of common characteristics or goals.

Some of the methods associated with ethnographic research are: participant observation, in-depth interviews, participant diaries, informant debriefs, and context mapping. My presentation at UPA 2010 in Munich will focus on the application and adaptation of ethnographic research methods to the field of web design and usability, rather than a rigorous definition of anthropology research methods.

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized design research, design strategy, e-commerce, ethnographic research, ethnography, research methods, ux strategy

When the day arrives for conducting the interviews, there are many preparations to make to ensure a smooth and successful day of interviews. Many things can go wrong that were unexpected, that put customers on edge or make the sessions less effective than they could be. This is a big problem for customer research because of the expense involved and because it takes time to get funding approval for the research sessions. The more precisely you plan the actual interview logistics, the more likely it is that your interviews will be productive.

In subsequent posts I’ll cover the following topics:

• Prepare the research location
• Review the daily schedule with research team members
• Check recording equipment
• Prepare for refreshments and breaks
• Receive participants

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized e-commerce design strategy, research methods, user research

The last post talked about capturing a customer’s ideal experience. This post gives a brief example of how to do that.

Objective: Explore the ideal guest information system experience for resort visitors with young children who spend an average of $200 per day at the resort beyond room fees. Determine gaps between the actual and ideal. Prioritize the gaps based on cost to implement and business value.

Script:
“I would like to ask you about the perfect mobile guest information system. You mentioned earlier that some of the features you would like to see incorporated into our guest information system include…”

“But now I’d like to take it a step further and discuss the ideal system. Don’t be concerned about the impossibility of it, or the cost. Let me worry about that. For now I’d like to ask you to think with me about the best system you can imagine. Think back upon your stay so far at the resort. When would you have liked to pull out a mobile device and use it to get information or order something, regardless of your location.”

Allow participant to describe scenarios. If participant needs help, probe gently first with locations, such as, “What about when you were at the pool? What about when you were in your room?…” Then probe with features that are currently under consideration: “Have you ever considered what it would be like if you could request dinner recommendations and make reservations no matter where you were at the resort?”

This is different from blue sky thinking or brainstorming. This exercise elicits the normal task process, but without constraints of what currently exists. There may be a simple solution for providing what the customer is asking for that doesn’t break the scope bank.

Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (http://www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized customer interviews, e-commerce design strategy, research methods, research protocol, user research

The discussion guide consists of the interview script and notes to the interviewer. The high level objectives of the interview should be reflected in the questions and exercises that comprise the script. The script is divided into modules, each with a specific research focus, and intended to very directly and purposefully capture data that meets the predefined research objectives. The types of modules that are included in the script, and the way that they are executed in terms of specific questions and exercises, vary for every project according to the subject matter, the project objectives, and the participant sample. There is no one-size fits all for customer interviews. Research objectives and the interview scripts that achieve them should be uniquely tailored to each project.

In the remainder of this chapter, I present example interview modules that I have used for different e-commerce design research projects, which seem to have a generalized application. As I stated above each design research project has its own unique goals and requirements; so these example modules are provided as guidance for creating your own interview modules, not as a template or boilerplate. The interview modules I typically include in customer interviews are:

• Welcome
• Participant characterization
• Context of use
• Motivations
• Formation of the consideration set
• Case history of relevant online experiences
• Detailed task analysis
• Card sorting
• Description of ideal experience
• Participatory design of future system
• Evaluation of existing design work

I’ll describe each of these interview modules in a separate posting. 

The discussion guide consists of the interview script and notes to the interviewer. The high level objectives of the interview should be reflected in the questions and exercises that comprise the script. The script is divided into modules, each with a specific research focus, and intended to very directly and purposefully capture data that meets the predefined research objectives. The types of modules that are included in the script, and the way that they are executed in terms of specific questions and exercises, vary for every project according to the subject matter, the project objectives, and the participant sample. There is no one-size fits all for customer interviews. Research objectives and the interview scripts that achieve them should be uniquely tailored to each project.

I’m going to describe some example interview modules that I have used for different e-commerce design research projects, which seem to have a generalized application. As I stated above each design research project has its own unique goals and requirements; so these example modules are provided as guidance for creating your own interview modules, not as a template or boilerplate. The interview modules I typically include in customer interviews are:

• Welcome
• Participant characterization
• Context of use
• Motivations
• Formation of the consideration set
• Case history of relevant online experiences
• Detailed task analysis
• Card sorting
• Description of ideal experience
• Participatory design of future system
• Evaluation of existing design work

I’ll describe these interview modules in subsequent posts.

 Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (www.usography.com)

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts

Uncategorized customer interviews, in-depth interviews, interview questions, research methodology, research methods, user interviews, user research

Many customer or user research efforts allocate the lion’s share of hours to data collection, but the validity of results is dependent upon activities that occur much earlier in the process, in the preparation phase. The most important preparation step is pinpointing exactly what the research will measure, and how that data will be used to shape design work.

The problems that lead to customer research are typically design issues that either have led to lower adoption (people won’t use the system or device because it is too difficult or clunky) or lower than expected conversion rates (the percentage of people that complete desired transactions or events). optimizing the user interface.

Many research projects quickly, or even instantly, gravitate to a specific methodology. A list of research topics is often created to guide the design of the data collection instrument (a survey, a customer interview protocol, etc.) But there’s a critical step missing. Before selecting a research method and designing the instruments and materials, the research lead should zero in on precise research questions that need to be answered, and select valid methods that will answer those questions with an acceptable level of reliability.  Instead, what often happens is someone says, “We have a survey tool, so let’s use that to conduct the research.” Unfortunately, a survey may not obtain the answers needed to guide the design. This is especially true when the data required for design innovation is not something that customers can state about themselves, but which must be observed in context by experienced researchers. It’s analogous to using a heart rate monitor to measure glucose levels, or a ruler to measure blood pressure. To ensure a successful customer research project, the data collection method has to be selected to answer specific research questions that are formulated to address a specific set of design issues.

Uncategorized research methods, research questions, surveys, user research