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Support Resources: Website Audience Interaction Model

Replaced by Developing and managing an information architecture - Whole of Victorian Government ICT Guideline issued 29 November 2010.

Supporting: Information Architecture/Classification Standard (WEB/STD/08)

Version: 2.0

Release Date: 30 November 2007

Overview

This resource supports the Information Architecture /Classification Standard WEB/STD/08. A significant aspect in developing an effective information architecture is the analysis of audience and user characteristics and the actions they wish to undertake. This is done to ensure that users are able to effectively complete the tasks they initiate on the website.

This paper provides advice for gathering and recording website audience or user interaction information. Specific information architecture issues will be addressed in this paper including:

Identification and profiling of users
Describing users on the basis of their interaction requirements
Presenting different interaction model types.

What is website audience interaction?

User-centred design, ease of navigation and efficient discoverability are fundamental to providing a better web experience and service to clients. They result in users having a positive experience on the website and increased return visit rates.

Website interaction design is a component of the user-centred design process. It leverages:

business, industry and user research about target users
the context of website usage.
analysis and measurement of website statistics
other audience related business intelligence

Defining and tracking the way users interact with the website helps to determine the most user-centred and streamlined way to deliver information and services. This has an impact on:

how information is structured
navigation pathways
the user interface and content presentation
technical and performance requirements.

How can audience interaction requirements be determined?

Audience profiling and task analyses are classic methods for figuring out who the audience is and what they want to accomplish. A range of website interaction techniques can be used to translate the needs of website audiences into efficient and intuitive task completion exercises.

Website interaction analysis creates plans about how users will or do interact with the website and often involves:

Usability testing the interactions of similar sites
Site analysis of the existing website (if relevant)
Consumer research
Benchmarking against industry best practice

The plans can take the form of:

Structure diagrams such as site maps
Process flow diagrams such as flow charts
Storyboards
Wireframe diagrams of page or screen layouts
Interactive prototypes which move users through web pages to task completion
Use case diagrams and templates
User profiles interaction diagrams
Data flow diagrams
Sequencing diagrams

Identifying and profiling users

Audience profiling and task analyses are classic methods for establishing who the audience is and what they want to accomplish. Audience profiles characterise the information requirements of the web site users. A user may be a member of more than one audience and therefore may approach a website with a range of motivations or needs, and motivations can change from one visit to another.

Audience analysis and the resultant profiling generally aim to

educate the web manager and/or project team on who the web site is serving
define the priority content and functional features that should be made available on the web site
contribute to the preparation of the information architecture and navigational system to be used on the site.
Audience analysis can range from gathering demographic profiling to cultural studies of actual users. The end result of this work is usually a set of profile statements that define users, needs and required tasks.

The extent and frequency of research and audience analysis is dependent on:

time
personnel
resources
costs

However, like usability testing, informal and formal methods can be used.

Each audience profile provides an overview of the types of information required by that audience, the way in which one audience's needs are different from another, and the types of web functions and services that are required to meet the audience requirements on the actual site.

The outcomes of audience analysis and research involves the identification of:

a primary user group i.e. those who are most likely to visit the website often to satisfy specific information and service needs
a secondary user group i.e. those who may visit the website among other sites to satisfy a need
those who are very occasional users or unlikely to visit the website as they have no specific needs that they believe could be satisfied through the website.

The examples below were developed as part of an audience profiling exercise for Consumer Affairs Victoria as part of their website re-development initiative.

Example of a user profile record

Example of a user profile record (1)

Example of an individual user profile for the hospitality industry

Example of an individual user profile (2)

Research Methods

There are a number of research methods used to gather information about audiences and their interaction needs and preferences. The investment required to implement these research activities will be dependent on time, resources, costs, scope, size and the risk profile of the website. Each of these methods can use formal and informal approaches. However it is vital that some investigation is done into who might use a website and what they might want to do there.

The table below was prepared by the Australian Government Information Management Office as part of a user-profiling toolkit (3). It lists user research methods and provides details of their strengths, weakness and resource requirements.

User Profiling - User Research Methods
Method	Strengths	Weakness	Quality of Results	Resources Required
Usability test metrics, qualitative feedback	pinpoints users' misconceptions comfortable for users finds user preferences	does not show technical problems	medium quality human response feedback medium quality technical feedback	8-15 users per group 2+facilitators/observers
Questionnaires and Surveys	finds subjective user preferences provides countable data	indirect method: low validity needs good recall to be significant	high quality human response feedback low quality technical feedback	no conclusive data on numbers 2+facilitators and observers
Interviews and Focus Groups	finds subjective user preferences spontaneous reactions group dynamics	hard to analyse subjective data appointments can be hard to set up and participants fail to turn up group dynamics	high quality human response feedback low quality technical feedback	6-12 per focus group/\ 30+interviewees 2+ facilitators and observers
User Website Feedback	finds subjective user preferences spontaneous reactions	not a good representation of the user population hard to analyse subjective data	medium quality human response feedback low quality technical feedback	2+ analysts

The design of audience research activities often involves researching general users, businesses and industry representatives and internal organisational staff. Research instruments include but are not limited to:

Phone interviews with members of the public who have contacted a department or agency call centre
Observation of calls received by the call centre
Demographic profiling
Face-to-face interviews with members of the public attending a government office
Members of the public interviewed by phone
Industry representatives focus groups and phone calls
Internal organisational enquiries staff
Online user survey
Focus groups with representatives of business and industry areas
Review of organisational and other government research
Competitive analysis review of similar, comparable sites and their user groups
Analysis of existing sites

Describing audiences on the basis of their interactions

Audience/user research generates a list of information and service needs associated with website audiences. Within this list there are some significant ‘must-have’ requirements that are required by all website users:

Search - the ability to find information using keywords
Browse – the ability to find information by selecting terms from information categories

Particular interaction needs that relate to certain groups or only had low level mention across several audience groups are also likely to be included in a listing of audience needs.

Tasks can then be classified according to audience, profile, sector description, interaction types, special needs and priority. This can be represented in a matrix.

Sample audience / task matrix
Audience	User profile- Choose from Primary, Secondary, Occasional user	Sector - Major audience sectors eg., Consumer, Business, other or Youth, Seniors, etc.	Description - Short description of the characteristics of the audience	Interaction types - list typical interactions eg., online registration	Special Needs- Consider language, disability, location, etc.	Priority Rating - High, Medium, Low

Audience data is used to plan the location, functionality, presentation and investment in the interactions delivered on a website. This will ensure that the most important interaction types are provided to the widest number of users .

The list of individual interactions gathered in a profiling exercise can be grouped into a number of interaction categories and the type of functionality or service that could be offered. This helps to match the functionality with the activities that users require.

Interaction Categories / Functionality Type or Service
Interaction Categories	Sample Website Interactions Types
Identify based – I know who I am, or which group I belong to	Audience classification options e.g. Youth, Seniors, Industry, Consumers
Task based – I know what I want to do	Transactional services e.g. online bill payment
Item based – I know what specific product or service I want	Fast track options to products or services through Search or Homepage access
Location based – I want to know where something is	Interactive map showing location of offices, resources etc.
Interest based – I know my general field of interest	Subject taxonomy providing access to categorised information and services
Organisation based – I know which agency or department, or role of the person I want to talk to	Directories, organisational diagrams
Time based – I want to know when something is happening or what’s on now	Latest news, events, alert services
Random based – I am looking around to see if something interests me.	Search and browse

Presenting different interaction types

Mapping, designing and testing the effectiveness of the interactions can be presented in a number of ways. Some presentation methods such as site maps can be used to provide a high level view of the range of interactions and the ‘number of clicks’ required for the interaction. Others like flow diagrams map individual processes closely. Use Case diagrams provide a way of communicating the functional requirements of a particular interaction. Wireframes and storyboards can be used to visualise and test interactions and evaluate website navigation systems.

The diagrams below are examples of the different ways that interactions can be presented.

Structure diagrams such as site maps

Sitemaps are high level diagrams showing the hierarchy of a system. They can be used to provide a visual picture of progress through a website for the completion of an enquiry or task.

An example of a high level site map.

Reference: To see and enhanced image go to http://www.orarian.com/documents/Sample_Sitemap.pdf (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). .

Process flow diagrams such as flow charts

Process flow diagrams show the end-to-end process such as locate information or complete a specific task.

Example of a process flow diagram

Reference: To see and enhanced image go to http://www.leacock.com/deliverables/flow_ex1.pdf (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). .

Flow diagrams can be presented in a number of ways.

An example of a flow diagram.

Reference: To see an enhanced view of this image go to http://www.leacock.com/deliverables/block_diagram_ex1.pdf (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). .

Wireframe diagrams of page or screen layouts

Wireframes display page level navigation, content types and functional elements and can be used to provide an indication of the user visual and navigation experience.

An example of a wireframe diagram.

Reference: To see and enhanced image with associated instructional text go to: http://iainstitute.org/tools/download/LombardiWireframe.pdf (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). .

Use case description

A use case describes a way in which a real world actor - a person, organization, or external system - interacts with an organization such as a website. It captures the sequence of events of an actor (human or system) using the system to complete a process. Typically use cases represent business processes and assist in communicating requirements and testing the value or relevance of a process.

An example of a use case diagram

Scenario Templates

Scenario templates capture the interaction process in a formal descriptive manner. Reference: Further description of Use Case templates is available at http://www.scenarioplus.org.uk/

An example of a scenario template.

Interactive prototypes which move users through web pages to task completion

Interactive prototypes create a real web simulation and clearly define the navigation and process experience. The major issues with prototypes are the cost and time involved in their preparation.

Sequence Diagram

Sequence diagrams track the interaction between a user and the messages sent to the system and the message/information that the system returns.

Storyboards

Storyboards can show a sequence of interactions and options throughout an activity. They can use either sketch diagrams of the sequence of activity or use wireframes for a site to test and plot navigation.

User Profiled Interaction flows

This type of interaction model groups users into major audience groups and identifies required information and service requirements was prepared by iFocus for Consumer Affairs Victoria.

An example of a user profiled interaction flow.