Developing Digital Strategies with Consumer Insights

ConsumerVisions
Digital Media Research+Strategy

Developing innovative qualitative research
techniques for effective digital marketing strategy

By Stanislav & Preslav Bondjakov, Directors
ConsumerVisions

Who we are...

ConsumerVisions – specialised digital media research agency,
owned by Preslav & Stanislav
Focusing on building digital strategies based on consumer
insights & helping organisations offer successful digital media
Prior to establishing ConsumerVisions, we have worked at
leading global market/social research agencies
Building on many years of research experience, including in
digital media research
Have consulted to a wide range of commercial and government
organisations in Australia and New Zealand

© 2009 Consumer Visions
Regular speakers at conferences and forums
Partner with specialised research recruitment agencies to recruit
top quality participants
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Website Evaluation & Usability Testing

The Internet Evolution...

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The internet evolution

[INSERT 2 minute VIDEO HERE] ...[FILE TOO LARGE TO BE
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Some promising stats...

Some key statistics in Asia show that:
Out of a total population of 3,834,792,852, there is 825,094,396
internet users (nearly 22%);
42% of world internet users are in China alone;
Internet user growth in Asia between the year 2000 and 2010 was
622%;
Half of all internet users in Asia are from China.
While Oceania / Australia accounts only for 1% of world internet
users, internet penetration is 61%
In 2010, internet user growth in Oceania / Australia was 179%

With the proposed new National Broadband Network, internet
penetration is forecasted to increase to 98% of all Australian
households

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But be wary of savvy consumers...

Digital consumers are becoming very savvy in their website selection
and the way they use websites - “Now, when people go online they
know what they want and how to do it” says Dr. Jakob Nielsen, global
usability guru
Websites are selected on the basis of good design, intuitive navigation,
high level of user empowerment, engagement, and relevance
Websites are more likely to succeed if they are designed according to
how humans think and behave
Users read web pages in an "F" pattern. They're more inclined to read
longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll
down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important
Users are extremely good at screening out things and focusing in on a

small number of salient page elements

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But be wary of savvy consumers...

Users connect well with images of people looking directly at them -
professional images are not appealing, people relate easier to more
realistic images
According to Dr. Nielsen, only 25% of people travel via a homepage to
reach to where they want to go on a website, the rest search and get
straight to the destination page
People are spending less time on websites – there is a greater need to
present them with highly relevant, well organised information

Hence, the need to develop highly usable, well organised websites
and applications which are developed with users.

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From Web 1.0 to 3.0...

4 minute video - illustrating the social media revolution...[FILE TOO
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From Web 1.0 to 3.0...

Web 1.0 is the internet before 1999, experts call it the ‘Read-Only’ era
Users were only able to read static information
No active communication flow from consumer to producer of information,
no real interaction, low levels of user engagement and empowerment
Web 2.0: The year 1999 marked the beginning of a Read-Write-Publish
era
Higher levels of user empowerment & interactivity, incl. blogging, social
media & live video streaming
Publishing of user content is only a few clicks away
Few remarkable developments of Web 2.0 are Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and MySpace.
Web 3.0: The era of personalisation, semantic web, intelligent search,

and behavioural targeting and advertising
Web 4.0: ...under development...leave it for next conference!!!

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Where to from now?

Although the internet usage is booming and users are savvier than
ever...
...digital media is still catching up
Organisations need to understand their digital customers & respond to
their needs
Perceived value of digital media research is increasing
Just as it took a while for advertising research to take off, following the
TV boom (50’s-60’s), digital media is at its peak of development now
and consumer research is starting to become an integral part of it...
The sites of the (near) future will be developed with consumers, using
innovative research solutions

We are here to enlighten you on cutting edge qualitative research
techniques for building effective digital marketing strategies...
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From research to application

Through our innovative qualitative research methods we help
clients:
Develop a consumer-centric strategy which also recognises the
business requirements and limitations
Develop sustainable digital offering through in-depth understanding
of digital consumer’s needs and expectations
Ensure digital offer is relevant, up-to-date, and usable
Improve e-commerce and m-commerce presence and sales, by
developing highly impactful and relevant ‘shop fronts’ or
homepages, as well as seamless shopping experiences

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Research methodologies...

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Consumer driven strategy

Market-driven
web offer

User experience optimisation
Insights & foresights
Brand challenges

Competitive environment

Digital Business requirements
strategy
Multi-channel
Needs & preferences Interaction
Motivations

Digital

Consumers Qualitative research Platforms
Digital lives
Brand attitudes Technology/ trends
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Methodology model

Overall goal: Assisting organisations in formulating market-driven digital
strategies, leading to optimal digital offers, e.g. websites, apps, etc.

1. Situation analysis

Digital
strategy
development
2. User needs research

Prototype
development
3. User experience research
User

experience
optimisation
4. Web development

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Overview of methodologies

Step 1: Situation analysis

Purpose: Understanding market environment, business context & goals,
current digital offer, and existing research & data

Methods:
Expert site review & web assets audit
Market/Competitor analysis
Site analytics review
Business requirements & KPIs – interviews with key internal stakeholders
Workshops with web design & development team

Key outcome:
Input into digital strategy & user needs research design

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Step 2: User needs research

Purpose: Deep understanding of digital consumers’ lives. Exploring user
needs, preferences, motivations, brand attitudes & behaviours, with a view
to developing a consumer-centric digital strategy.

Methods:
Exploratory focus groups – incl. persona development, card sorts
In-depth interviews
User workshops – incl. usability testing, task completion, observations

Key outcomes:
Digital strategy

Prototypes
Specs brief to designers

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Step 3: User experience research

Purpose: Discovering issues with usability, design and branding, with a
view to recommending optimised user experience.

Methods:
Expert review - to identify key problem areas prior to user testing
User workshops/interviews – incl. usability testing, task completion,
observations
To identify usability problems with navigation, labelling, content, page layout. Involves task
completion and provides suggestions to improve user experience

Key outcomes:

Recommendations for optimised user experience

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Focus on research methods

Focus groups
Exploratory discussions:
Number of groups depends on audience groups/segment types
6-8 participants per group, recruited & screened professionally
Exploratory funnel approach – group members participate in a spontaneous
discussion. General topics are explored first, followed by more specific topics.

Used for:
Understanding digital consumers’ needs, attitudes, motivations & behaviours
Brainstorming ideas; uncovering marketing insights; developing hypothesis

Outcomes:
Data is qualitative & directional, not conclusive. Views are analysed & then
summarised. No attempt is made to quantify the findings.

Findings feed directly into digital strategy development.

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In-depth interviews
Interviews follow the same general principles as focus group, in the context of
informal and unstructured discussions.

User workshops
3 phased session:
Involves ‘real’ users or potential users of the website
4-5 participants per session, recruited & screened professionally
– Phase 1: Unpolluted initial group discussion of people’s needs and
expectations of the site, marketing mix elements – begin to form an idea of
consumer motivations and behaviours
– Phase 2: Each participant completes a set of tasks on the site on a PC –
‘think aloud’ method or recording in a workbook is used. Each participant is
observed by a senior researcher. Key site usability issues are uncovered.

– Phase 3: Follow-up group discussion - focus website projected on data
projector. Discussion of experiences with the site, stumbling blocks,
opportunities for enhancements and optimisation of user experience. This
discussion provides specific suggestions for improvement of site’s
navigation, design, and content.
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User workshops cont’d...
Used for:
Usability testing, marketing mix evaluation
Understanding a site’s next level from users’ perspective

Outcomes:
Actionable recommendations for optimised user experience & web
performance. Aided by visual outputs such as interactive prototypes, marked-up
pages, and implementation workshops.

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Case study...

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Case study

Redevelopment of a key Australian Government
website
Australian Department of Broadband, Communications & the Digital
Economy is one of Australian Government’s key departments
It has a public website with over 5,000 web pages and over 3,000
downloadable documents
The website’s main audience is the general public, as well as businesses
Website was designed around business areas, rather than being user-
centric
It was difficult for users to achieve their tasks on the site, and there were
low levels of satisfaction

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Case study

A continuous website improvement program implemented:
1. Overall strategy for the Department’s digital offering;
2. Two consecutive qualitative research studies on the
Department’s site;
3. Expert and usability reviews of a Web 2.0 mapping application;
4. An annual web performance monitoring project, tracking website
KPIs on a quarterly basis.

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Case study

Qualitative studies:
First study comprised of 8 workshops with website users – total of 53
participants. Second study involved 9 workshops, with a total of 67
participants
Studies focussed on exploring the needs and preferences of users for the
site
Iterative development of the site with prototypes tested at each stage
Each workshop lasted 2 hours, and it was divided in 3 parts
The first part explored users’ needs and expectations of the site, its navigation,
design, and content. Also, key perceptions of the Department and its online
communication tools.
The second part consisted of an individual workbook completion, covering a set
of tasks on the old and new sites, and a set of website ratings.

This was followed by an in-depth discussion about users’ experience with both
sites, encountered issues and suggested improvements to the current site.
Suggestions included improvements to the site’s navigation, design and
content.

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Case study

Usability reviews & web performance monitoring:
Expert and usability reviews of the Web 2.0 application were concurrently
run with the second qualitative study.
Web performance monitoring program focuses on tracking website KPIs to
identify areas of poor performance and provide actionable
recommendations for improvement in navigation, design and content.
KPIs were developed in close consultation with the Department’s
executives who own the content on the site. Included business
requirements gathering and confirmation.
As a result of the qualitative research and the web performance monitoring
program, the Department has started to implement recommendations such
as improving the page design, layout, and Web 2.0 technologies.

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Case study

Original homepage

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Case study

2nd iteration of homepage - based on research

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Case study

Prototype of new homepage - based on research

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Case study

Latest homepage - based on recommended prototype

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Case study

Examples of some Web 2.0 tools embedded in the Department’s sites

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Case study

Web 2.0 application example – initiatives map

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Key outcomes for client

Digital strategy with recommendations on key areas to focus, according
to user and business requirements – transformation of business-centric
to more user-centric
In-depth understanding of key segment needs and behaviours, leading
to development of a more usable and relevant website
Actionable recommendations for key website improvements including
navigation, design and content
Implementation of Web 2.0 technologies
Implications for the re-design of the Department’s Intranet to being
more user-centric

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E-commerce example...

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A multi-channel international retailer with offline retail stores as well as
an online store
Client identified declining online sales over a year, but did not know the
reasons behind this decline
Research program included:
1. Site analytics review - identified where most drop-outs were coming from;
2. Expert review - identified some major site flaws;
3. User experience workshops – identified reasons behind poor sales, e.g.
product selection & bundling, shopping process, poor synchronisation with
offline product stock, registration, and payment page

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Following all research, it was recommended that:
Homepage design is improved to include a centre page moving-images
panel which show cases the uniqueness of the brand and products, with
ability to start shopping straight from this panel;
The shopping experience is improved, including simpler site navigation,
easier product selection, better integration with social media tools, and full
offline and online product stock synchronisation
Client has implemented key recommendations and has already started
to see improvements in sales.

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Developing Digital Strategies with Consumer Insights

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