The

bait has to appeal to the fish, not the fisherman

Websites are very often developed from the operators point of view. So it is no wonder, when customers do not find their intentions represented on a Website. This can have dramatic consequences for companies. Visitors leave the website without conversion and have no intention to visit it again. If you want to know how your users tick then you have to deal with the mental model of your users. Who doesnt know this situation: You simply want to book an online ticket, but in case of some websites this relatively easy task results in a kind of gauntlet running. In the end there is only annoyance and frustration and at best you have reached your aim and managed to receive a ticket. However, this is no pleasure and, understandably, no encouragement for a further visit of the relevant website. The next time the user will chose a different website which provides a better orientation and corresponds to the personal expectations. But what offers one website that another one doesnt? It may be that very often neither the operator nor the designer are aware of the expectations of the target group that means they do know nothing about the mental model of their main target group. The contents of a website are structured and presented in a way that corresponds to the mental model of the operator: Company purposes are transported to the outside. Furthermore, the products are arranged rather to correspond to the organisation of the purchase department. The terms for the navigation are borrowed from the companys vocabulary and the contents are presented in a way as if the reader had all the time in the world to read the texts into detail.

Users always have an aim

In real life, however, the user visits a website with a certain aim, he is looking for a certain product or a piece of information, respectively and / or he might want to carry out a certain transaction. He searches for specific key words, he has certain expectations based on experiences with other websites and he wants to reach his aim as fast as possible without difficulty. That some visitors occasionally change their intension and are easily encouraged to browse through further websites is the nature of the internet and this can and should be offered. Generally, however, the user always pursues a certain objective on a website, whether consciously or not. He enters a search term in a search engine or arrives at a new website via a link whether it is a homepage or a different landing page. The first thing he will do now is to find out whether he found a suitable site: Does it refer to the subject, he was looking for? Is the website optically appealing? Can he assume that he will have no trouble navigating through the website? These are some of the questions a user asks at the first contact with a website. Just like in case of the first meeting with another person, the first impression is of particular importance and decides about staying or leaving.

The first impression is vital / decisive

Canadian scientists discovered in a study that already during the first 50 milliseconds a user decides whether he likes a website or not. Considering that just one blink of an eye lasts about 300 to 400 milliseconds, it becomes clear how very short this moment actually is. It was also observed that this first impression has an equally lasting effect like the first meeting with another human. The so-called halo effect occurs, that means the first assessment outshines all further impressions. For this reason it is extremely important to do everything as correctly as possible just like in case of the first date. So first of all: you have to get to know your counterpart better, you have to find out how he ticks. Sympathy and acceptance occur, when something is similar, when there is some sort of a connection, when our mental model can be connected to something familiar. Therefore it is so important to know the mental model of your user. This is exactly where the methods of the User Centered Designs come in. As the term already indicates the complete process of design focuses on the user, from the concept of a product to its implementation. According to the problem, project phase and restrictions like budget and time the use of different methods is the ideal way.

Watch your users surfing the internet

If you want to know how users use your website, then you should commission a usability-test. Representative users are invited to a usability-lab and asked to perform typical tasks on a website. Therefore the users are asked to think aloud that means to say aloud everything they feel and think this is also called Thinking-Aloud-Protocol. A test leader supervises the usability test which is carried out in form of a one-on-one interview. Optimally, the management of the company concerned as well as of the internet agency follow the test live. Using special software all screen activities as well as image and sound of the test person are recorded. Afterwards the expectations as well as the needs of the user regarding the website can be identified due to a detailed analysis. In consideration of the business goals of the individual company, optimisation proposals are presented which, when implemented, lead to satisfied customers and an increase of the relevant company indicators.

Listening Lab a different form of the usability-tests

The usability-test is suitable to identify weak points in the use of websites and to understand their causes. What the usability-test does not show is how the user actually - in normal life uses the internet. The test is carried out in a laboratory situation and the test persons are confronted with predefined tasks, which directly lead them to the website to be examined. To receive a more realistic image of the use of websites, the New York design agency Creative Good has developed the method of the Listening Labs. The main difference to the usability-test is that the test persons do not receive any tasks. As the name suggests, the test is mainly about listening. In an exploratory interview, carried out before the actual test, the test persons are asked about their experiences, needs, thoughts and feelings concerning the subject to be examined. Then they are invited to look through the internet just in the same way as they would normally do.

The right instinct is required

The moderator observes the test persons while they are surfing and asks one or two questions. He subtly draws the attention to the websites the particular project is focused on this is of course the website of the client but also those of the relevant competitors. It is very important that the tests are supervised by an experienced expert. A comfortable and confiding atmosphere guarantees that the test persons freely surf through the net without being afraid of doing anything wrong. At the same time the questions have to be formulated in a way that they do not influence the answers of the test persons. The comprehensive results generated from such a test provide knowledge extending well beyond the current usability-test. One of the advantages is that the test persons evaluate the website of the client in an unbiased manner, because they do not know which website is in the centre of the study. At the same time the test persons act in an intrinsic way when searching the internet that means they look for information or carry out interactions that are inspired by their own motivation. This offers insights that are sometimes quite surprising and nobody would have expected them before.

Not the opinion is interesting but the behaviour

The listening labs as well as the usability-test mainly deal with the behaviour of the test persons. The personal view or opinion of a test person concerning a certain website is not so interesting, but it is important to know how the person acts on this website and whether he reaches his aim. People very often tell you what they liked and what they would want. But at the moment of making the decision, they mostly act completely different. In this respect an experiment should be mentioned, where the participants of a focus group were asked, among other things, which colour they would prefer for a game console. Some participants voted for yellow, others for black. As they were leaving the participants were allowed to take one console each as a present. On one side of the door was a pile of black units, on the other side a pile of yellow ones. What do you think from which pile most of the consoles were taken? From the pile with the black consoles not one of the participants decided for a yellow unit. To find out how to use the method of the listening labs, which results can be obtained and how these can be used in practice, please see the following case study.

Redesign of the Website www.remifemin.de

A new web presence was to be developed for the market leader in the field of prescription medicines in the menopause indication. It had to be taken into consideration that in information acquisition referring to health subjects, especially in a taboo area, the internet plays an important role. The interactive agency white-x had already developed some proposals it was thought to create a website giving the impression of a wellness oasis. However, to make sure to be on the right track, company and internet agency decided to have a usability study carried out. The User Experience Consulting Agency NetFlow was entrusted with the order and recommended the application of a listening lab. The test was carried out with eight participants of the target group. At first their professional background and their way to use the internet were discussed. Afterwards they changed to the actual subject of the study the menopause. The women were asked, in what way they had already dealt 3

with the subject, whether they had already gathered relevant information in the internet and whether there are more things they would like to know. With the invitation then go and see what you can find in the internet the participants were sent to the web. It was up to them to choose the internet browser as well as the search terms to look for the desired information. And already at this point the first, interesting observations were made: Which of the entries on the search engine result page encourage the user to click, which entries are skipped and which are not even found. The test was followed live from an observation room by the client as well as the agency and the astonishment and sometimes even a certain disbelief was obvious, however, this is reality, this is how users of the target group approach the web and most of the time this is completely different from our imagination. When visiting the individual websites the participants were asked for their first impression of each website and it was observed what information they were looking for and how they searched for it on the individual pages. It was also very informative to know, which kind of texts concerning the contents as well as the style of writing, but also regarding the formal presentation the participants valued most. It also turned out that the version of the website www.remifemin.de that was current at that time did very well compared to the competitive websites.

Knowledge about the mental model of your target group, gives you a clear advantage
In a dialogue between the comapny, the internet agency and NetFlow the common observations were discussed and it became clear: Concerning the redesign we have to change the direction. The women concerned did not want a wellness oasis as was the intention before the test , instead they wanted a definite answer to their questions in a normal, and unpretentious manner. Among other things it was also surprising that most of the participants thought that the otherwise unpopular package insert was useful: I think this is very good. I would print the package insert and take it to my next visit to the doctor.

Figure: Homepage of www.remifemin.de after the redesign The test led to an intensive discussion about the mental model and the behaviour of the target group. So, for example, when designing the new website those topics the test participants were most 4

interested in, were adopted as menu items in the main navigation. The formulation of the categories follows the language of the users. The texts were clearly arranged and most of them were provided with subheadings so that a quicker scanning for interesting key words which were identified using the test is possible. The package insert for the products is available in four languages German, English, Russian and Turkish and can easily be printed as PDF file. Also in terms of the entire look and feel of the Website the internet agency took its inspiration from the comments of the users. Due to the precise information from the analysis of the tests it was possible for the internet agency to develop the new target-orientated website. The manager of the white-x interactive agency for medical marketing (www.white-cross.de/blog), Henning Lorenz commented the use of the listening labs as follows: A test seemed to be the only possibility, to approach the user habits and requirements of women concerning a menopause - website. The results were surprising in many ways. We received a lot of important information that considerably influenced the new internet presence with refer to form and content. An indication that the new website is well received by the target group is the significant increase in the length of stay per session. A confirmation for us that the users feel at home on our website. (Author: Karen Lindemann of NetFlow User Experience Consulting, Publication: Magazine "Website Boosting" 07-08/2010) Karen Lindemann is a psychologist and experienced advertiser with years of experience as a writer in agencies. In 2005 she founded the user experience agency NetFlow and consults well-known companies on the optimization of websites, products and services. Karen also advises clients on information and product strategy. In addition to standard user-centered design methods such as usability testing, expert reviews, card sorting, personas, co-creation and mental model diagrams, she also conducts ethnographic studies and deep emotional-based interviews. Karen is also active in organizing workshop on user experience-related workshops for professionals in the field. Website: www.netflow-lindemann.de Website: www.ux-workshops.com E-Mail: kl@netflow-lindemann.de XING: www.xing.com/profile/Karen_Lindemann LinkedIn: http://de.linkedin.com/in/karenlindemann Twitter: twitter.com/karenlindemann/