Web presence preliminaries

The Information Design process is composed of four general phases:

1. Analysis – Determine the Who, What, Where, When, How of the information need
2. Synthesis – Construct a Creative Brief
3. Validate – Use personas and scenarios based on target audience to confirm design suppositions
4. Prototype – Develop, test, & fine tune designs with the assistance of a representative focus group

In this article I will explore two specific items unique to the web design process that are often overlooked in the Analysis & Synthesis phases: Web presence purpose & desired outcomes.

On average an "action" site has 15 seconds to motivate a new visitor to take some action before the user losses interest and bounces away from the site. While it could be argued that this blog fits more into the category of an information site (some may even propose it is a personal vanity site), the fact remains that I was unable to motivate you, the viewer, to take action within 15 seconds.

This is why it is essential that the type of site and target purpose for a new web presence be part of the early design discussions and be included in the creative brief. Without it, the site has a large probability of loosing the visitor.

Congratulations

One of the two "calls to action" on this page motivated you to click for additional information. On average an "action" site has 15 seconds to motivate a new visitor to take some action before the user losses interest and bounces away from the site.

This is why it is essential that the type of site and target purpose for a new web presence be part of the early design discussions and be included in the creative brief. Without it, the site has a large probability of loosing the visitor.

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The typical process of transforming an Information Need into an Information Design flows through four general phases: Analysis, Synthesis, Validation, Prototype. When the design medium is to be a web presence, additional information needs to be gathered.

As part of the analysis phase, the purpose of the website must be understood.  Websites can be categorized into three general classes:

• Personal/Vanity – websites focused on the author or information producer, not the information consumer – Facebook, Myspace, Google+ share this classification
• Informational – websites constructed to convey information, such as Wikipedia, Huffington Post, and Google
• Action – websites designed to stimulate a "call to action" from the end user.

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Action sites have 15 seconds to capture a visitor's attention and motivate action

Many sites on the web fall into the Action category, whether it is to send a letter to your Congressman, watch a video, join a mailing list, make a contribution, or purchase a product. Helping a client to fairly and accurately assess the intended purpose for their new web presence can be challenging.  One client I worked with recently was certain that their site was to help educate people on the advantages of craniosacral therapy.  When I asked what the business hoped to gain from a redesign of the website, I was told it was to increase subscription to their mailing list and increase attendance at their workshops.

These responses showed the desired outcome was motivating visitors to take action - join the mailing list and/or attend a workshop which in turn made it clear to the client this was an Action site.  Distilling desired outcomes down to the top two or three becomes part of the synthesis phase and can be equally challenging.

Another client I consulted was unhappy with the results their website was generating.  Analytics showed it had reasonable traffic but had an exceptionally low conversion rate and lost over 80% of all first time visitors within 15 seconds.  Looking at the home page revealed 14 calls to action including:

Read a book excerpt Peruse  the online store Meet the author Attend a book signing Attend an event Organize an event in your city Read about state and local legislation

Download a free podcast Join the mailing list Subscribe to the blog Friend them on Facebook Read about the latest events Influence your Congressman Take action locally

Working with the client we identified the key desired outcome was capturing contact information, so we reduced the calls to action to three - join the mailing list, subscribe to the blog, friend them on Facebook. One year later, the bounce rate had reduced from 80% to 30% and the conversion rate was over 10%.

Taking these factors into account early in the analysis and synthesis phases can greatly improve the outcome of the overall design project.

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