Get off the phone: Helping users through better UX and tools // @sotak
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@sotak Get off the phone: Helping users through better UX and tools Marek Sotak @sotak
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Get off the phone: Helping users through better UX and tools Marek Sotak (@sotak) talks about giving your clients and site visitors the help they need without sacrificing all your productive time. Event URL: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cdb93p53gd0t6v339i06outeme0 --- jam's Drupal Camp, December 2013 edition – I can't get enough Drupal Camps and I wanted to share some of my favourite sessions and presenters from the Drupal (and open source and business) community with you at regular jam's Drupal Camp events online! --- Does this ever happen to you? You hand over a site that you have just built to your client and then the phone starts ringing… You: Hello, how can I help you? ... Customer: I can't login to my site. You: Are you sure you used the right password? ... or Customer: How do I add an article again? You: Are you logged in in the admin interface? ... or Customer: The picture I just uploaded looks wrong. You: What site are you on? Which content type are you editing? Is this for a block? Are you looking at a view or the node? Customer: um ... --- Marek Sotak, founder of Inline Manual [https://inlinemanual.com/] and longtime Drupal developer faced these situations regularly while building client sites and one day decided enough was enough. He started looking for solutions and interviewed many companies and individuals who build websites. The feedback and insight he gained into how others handle helping clients and end-users after their projects have launched was valuable. Many have tried screencasts, making manuals filled with screenshots, and other options, but none of them had any proven solution or consistent processes in place. Given the lack of reliable or measurable success, most don't offer documentation at all anymore. Instead, they have given up and simply provide their phone number to their clients. This comes at the cost of being on the phone a lot, and losing productive time when they could be working on their next project. In this session, we will look at: -- the results of Marek's research and experience looking for solutions -- how small UX changes can change user perception and behaviour -- what tools there are that can help make our clients and ourselves more productive
Transcript of Get off the phone: Helping users through better UX and tools // @sotak
@sotak
Get off the phone: Helping users through better UX and tools
Marek Sotak@sotak
@sotak
I AM...
Marek Sotak - @sotak
web developer for the past 14+ years
Drupal developer - themer for the past 8+ years
design, research, UX, rootcandy,...
FrontEndUnited co-organiser,...
http://sotak.co.uk – http://inlinemanual.com – http://atomicant.co.uk
@sotak
You: Hello, how can I help you?
Customer: I can't login to my site.
Y: Are you sure you used the right password?
C: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Y: Can you tell me what the password was?
C: Five stars.
@sotak
THE PROBLEM
Once the site has been done
– …
– …
– Provide client with sufficient support● end-user manuals● learning resources● knowledge base● ...
@sotak
RESEARCH
Is it really just us?
How do others do it?
There surely must be a solution
@sotak
RESEARCH
Interview calls – 30 subjects
– Drupal companies
– Individuals
– Other companies
Subjects from all around the world
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Hypothesis 1
– Interviews will reveal difficulty creating agile documentation-manuals for end-users
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
All interviewees expressed frustration with creating and maintaining documentation for end-users with theirs current solution
40% of the interviewees are not doing any documentation at all and rely only on the phone call support
Some interviewees expressed an idea to have a documentation department – but no budget there
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Hypothesis 2
– Problem interviews will validate our belief that customers use one or more - custom - alternatives and that there are no alternatives to a better application documentation
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
NONE of the interviewees have a service/product in-place that they will be happy with. All of the solutions were semi-custom
All of the interviewees have no process implemented or are/were experimenting with different approaches (unsuccessfully)
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Screenshots
30.8% Interviewees stated that they are using screenshots in documents
sometimes they allow client to react/give feedback within the document via notes/comments (Google docs)
everyone expressed high pain level, especially when it came to updating the docs
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Screencasts
23.1% - often used to show the basics of how to deal with the applications (overview)
the rest of the functionality client has to deduct themselves based on the overview screencasts
more popular in terms of happiness of selected approach
re-used screencasts from other sources were often being used
successful with clients/end-users but failed for developers
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Workshops
held when it was necessary to educate a team of people
painful and expensive, since there was a preparation needed and approximately one developers time
Workshops were often followed by phone call support
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
Phone Call Support
Interviewees were aware of loosing much more time on phone support, if they rather had a better documentation, but since it was so painful creating one, they didn’t care that much
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
well established companies - no idea how to improve the process
usually there is no budget for creating the documentation
@sotak
RESEARCH RESULTS
@sotak
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS THEN?
Support calls
Support chat
Workshops
Web ticketing
Knowledge base
– Screencasts
– Screenshots
– Solutions
Better UX
@sotak
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS THEN?
Support calls – expensive – approx $12/call
Support chat – still requires person to answer, exp.
Workshops – expensive – lots of preparation needed
Web ticketing – still requires person to answer, $2/iss
Knowledge base
– Screencasts – reusability?,...
– Screenshots – don't get me started here
– Solutions – good content helps
Better UX – won't cover workflows and processes
@sotak
MY PERSONAL BEST
Better UX
Self-help support
Knowledge base● Screencasts● Screenshots● Solutions
@sotak
BETTER UX
Things that are aesthetically pleasing, which we enjoy looking at or touching, and which are attractive make us feel good. And when we feel good our thinking is more creative and we have an easier time solving the problems we face. How to use a particular object, for example.
That is why attractive, beautiful, appealing, aesthetic objects work better, because they evoke positive feelings and inspire more creative thinking.
@sotak
@sotak
UCD – User Centered Design
“In broad terms, user-centered design (UCD) is a type of user interface design and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process.”
@sotak
UCD – User Centered Design
A system can be designed to support its intended users’ existing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors as they relate to the tasks that the system is being designed to support → increase userfriendlines, usability, ... → increase sales, reach business goals,...
@sotak
UCD – User Perspectives
Needs and wants
Goals motivation and triggers
Obstacles and limitations
Tasks activities and behaviors
Geography and language
Environment and gear
Work life and experience
...
@sotak
UCD – Not that
It is NOT just that you have to do
what the user asks for
“Our customer is our Master.”
Tomáš Baťa’s motto, 1909
@sotak
UCD – Not that
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want to buy a quarter-inch hole!”
Theodore LevittHarvard marketing professor
@sotak
UCD – Disciplines
Information architecture
Interaction design
Visual design
Research
Usability
...
@sotak
UCD – Process
Research
Concept
Design
Evaluate
@sotak
UCD – Process
Research
Concept
Design
Evaluate
–
Deploy
Learn
@sotak
@sotak
WHAT TO RESEARCH?
“Micro” approach
- take just one thing and analyse
access log examination
@sotak
WHAT TO RESEARCH?
The SEARCH
Needs RESEARCH
The search is one of the most valuable functionality of the self-help portal
@sotak
RESEARCHING THE OBVIOUS?
Sometimes we take granted that things that are out of the box on a widely used system work as they should.
We tend to be lazy
@sotak
RESEARCHING THE OBVIOUS?
@sotak
SETTING MY PERSONAL GOALS
Show the team that we don't know much
Showcase research approaches
Make search to be used more often
Make UCD one of the processes
@sotak
OUTPUT
An analysis of how the search works
Delivered as a presentation
Sent out to all team members and managers
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
We wanted to increase the use of self-help content > decrease raised tickets
We assumed that the search is not working based on the feedback from some users
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Making a simple scenario – user story
The ideal simplified workflow
– find the search field
– enter the search term
– click the available action to perform the search - search button
– find the solution on the first page
– --if not found, refine the search by adding a keyword or using filters
– read the solution
– optionally perform any action that might help others (rate the solution,…)
– exit peacefully with problem fixed and spread how much they loved the portal
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Keyword Searches Raised tickets Percentage Searched again
blank 3000 66 4.5% 2000
lync 1000 33 7.8% 300
nicpassword 900 24 5% 400
mindaling 800 54 4% 220
password 800 32 3% 60
outlook 700 67 6% 340
blackberry 700 12 7% 56
shared drive 700 4 8% 98
headset 600 15 5% 3
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Total searches performed in last 10 days > 10000 out of 1000000 page views
What is that blank keyword?
Why are people searching for this?
Blank > 4.5% searches – 6% exit rate
It IS an expected behavior! > intention to make it easier for user to navigate through portal!
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Reality check, are the filters being used?
Starting page:
search/apachesolr_search/blank?filters=undefined&retain-filters=1
Filters used page:
search/apachesolr_search/blank?filters=”content”&retain-filters=1
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
home – 1100
search – 510
referral – 110
ticket-page – 5
taxonomy – 5
user - 1
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Home – 1100
There is a problem!
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Search – 510
There is a second problem!
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Referral – 110
There is a wrong link on the intranet
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
Ok, if you remember, we were trying to find out whether the filters are being used
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
20Is the number
how many times the filters were used
Conclusion:
The page does not work as it was designed
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
So what did we just achieve
by just looking at one keyword, we were able to identify quite a lot of major problems
the search box might be confusing on all pages
the "blank" page is not working as designed
we found two defects related to search and one wrong link on the intranet
Conclusion
the basic search user experience seems frustrating and adds time spent on the site while searching
@sotak
THE SEARCH ANALYSIS
And importantly, the points mentioned
are not assumptionsthis is what is happening on the site
there are numbers behind it
@sotak
RESEARCHING THE OBVIOUS?
@sotak
RESEARCHING THE OBVIOUS?
@sotak
MEASSURING
Define your KPIs based on the goals
- are users searching from HP more often?
- are users clicking search button only?
- are users asking questions?
- are users entering more than one word?
@sotak
@sotak
@sotak
@sotak
@sotak
@sotak
SELF-HELP Portals
Knowledge base
– Effective search
– Categorisation
Web-ticketing
– Support agents
@sotak
SELF-HELP
Source: zendesk.com
@sotak
SELF-HELP
Source: zendesk.com
@sotak
SELF-HELP Portals
Zendesk – http://zendesk.com
Desk – http://desk.com
Uservoice – https://uservoice.com/
...
Build your own with Drupal
Support ticketing system - https://drupal.org/project/support
Search – Apache SOLR,...
@sotak
END-USER Manuals
Usually exported as PDF, or HTML
Never updated
Never read
All above leads to frustration of the author
@sotak
END-USER Manuals
Manuals were here centuries ago
@sotak
FACTS ABOUT DOCS...
Documentation is hard to budget
Documentation can't be reused
Documentation is time consuming
Documentation is boring
Documentation is boring
Documentation is boring
Documentation is everything BAD you can imagine
BUT, think again...
@sotak
When we feel good our thinking is more creative and we have an easier time solving the problems we face.
@sotak
Documentation is
ONE OF THE PROCESSES
in web development
to make your client HAPPY
@sotak
TAKEAWAYS - research
Start your research NOW with one small thing
Learn from your own work after you launch → post analysis
Analyse, don't assume too often
Think about users but keep business needs in mind
@sotak
TAKEAWAYS - self-help
Users want self-service
Providing a help is part of our process
There is a solution!
@sotak
THANK YOU!
Marek Sotak@sotak
inlinemanual.com@inlinemanual
@sotak
CREDITS
Prague photo by Grim Berge
Other icons by Font Awesome by Dave Gandy
Historical Manual image - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_44_A_8_1v.jpg
