Collaborative techniques: How to create usable content that meets business goals

Collaborative techniques:
How to create usable
content that meets
business goals
Bjørn Bergslien @bbergslien
Audun Rundberg @audunru
Confab Central 2016

Bjørn Bergslien
@bbergslien
Content Strategist
Audun Rundberg
@audunru
Content Strategist
#ConfabMN
How come our
annual report isn’t on
the home page?
Why isn’t my
department in the
main menu?
We need a button
on the home page
that takes you to our
Facebook profile.
I need a banner
for our latest
product launch.
Somebody called
me last week and
couldn’t find vacant
positions!
You should
make more
room for news.
I don’t like
purple!!
My son could
have made a
better website.

Multinational
telecommunications
company
Non-governmental
organization
Scandinavian 
construction company
Non-governmental
organization
Global fertilizer
company
Financial institution
Non-governmental
organization

Agenda
09.00 The Core Model
09.45 Get down to business  
(and make friends)
12.00 Lunch
01.30 The Core Model (cont.)
02.00 Pair writing
04.00 Content microtest
05.00 Finished

Say hello!
• What’s your name?
• Where do you work?
• Pair up!
• (Or ‘three’ up if you can’t make pairs)

Googled
Clicked a link on Facebook
Many users
will never see
any other page

Business 
goals
User 
tasks
Cores
Forward paths

The Core Model
• The Core is where your users complete 
their tasks and you reach your 
business goals
• Paths, not hierarchy
• No dead ends
@AreGH

...and establish 
business  
goals!

What you need
• Handouts with the core model (A3)
• Handouts with objectives and user needs
• Markers and post-its
• Room with a projector
• 3-4 hours per workshop
• 1-3 participants from the digital/web team
• 6-14 stakeholders/people from the client
• Snacks and lots of coffee!

6–14 participants
No design or content skills necessary!
• facilitator (you!)
• your team: design, UX, content
• people with expert knowledge
• content owners
• people who should be collaborating, but aren’t
• people with strong opinions about the website

Core workshop
People work in pairs, 
and present their work 
after each step
1. Identify core pages
2. Inward paths
3. Core content
4. Forward paths
5. Prioritize core elements

Inward paths Forward pathsCore content
Core page:
Business goals (achieve at least one) User tasks

Socionom
Lawyer
Cancer nurse
Design
Research
Cancer care
Prevention
Web editor
Fundraiser

Step #1
Identify your core pages
This is done by matching business goals
and user needs

The Norwegian Cancer
Society’s goals
1. Helping patients and their friends and family
2. Increasing knowledge about cancer and prevention
3. Increasing online self-service
4. Strengthening our position and increasing donations

Top task survey
«If you’re visiting The Cancer Society’s website,
which five tasks are the most important to you?»

Treatment of cancer
Symptoms of cancer
Preventing cancer
Cancer types
Latest research
Choosing a hospital
Patient rights
Next of kin advice
Waiting times
Dietary prevention
0 % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 %
Top 25%
1) Helping patients and their friends & family
2) Increasing knowledge about cancer and prevention
6 out of
79 tasks got
25% of the
votes

Step #2
Inward paths
How will the user get here? How will
they find this content?

Core page:
How will the
user find their
way to this core
page?

Step #3
Core content
What content elements do we need to
make sure the user completes their task
(while respecting our objectives)

Core page:
What’s the
optimal
solution, for the
user and for
us?

Step #4
Forward paths
After the user has completed their task,
where do we want to send them next?

Core page:
Where should we
send the user, after
they’ve completed
their primary task?

Core page:
 
 
Where should we
send the user, after
they’ve completed
their primary task?

Step #5
Prioritize core elements
How would you place these elements if
you only had a mobile screen
available?

The core is the same on all
devices

– More people contact the
cancer line now than before,
but now they’re more
informed when they contact
us
Anine Wiig Dagestad
Oncology nurse

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Cancer line
conversations Launch
+43%
+58%
+69%

Unique visitors
10 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Launch

Rainforest Foundation
Norway supports
indigenous people and
traditional populations of
the world's rainforests in
their efforts to protect their
environment and secure
their customary land rights.

With our goal of preserving
the rainforest, we
advocate for the rights of
its indigenous inhabitants.

Our operations are funded
by public authorities, as
well as private donors and
sponsors.

Business goals
1. Increase financial support
2. Engage more people in the work to protect the
rainforest
3. Increase the knowledge about the rainforest and
about our work

User tasks
1. Find out how I as a consumer can
reduce the pressure on the rainforest
2. Learn more about the work of the
Rainforest Foundation
3. Get information about the results of
the work the Rainforest Foundation
does
4. Learn more about the rainforest
(including animals, plants, climate and
indigenous people)
5. Find out if a product contains palm oil
6. Support the work of the Rainforest
Foundation
7. See what threats the rainforest is facing
8. What is the current state of the
rainforest?
9. Find out what kind of woods that are
categorized as tropical timber
10. Become a sponsor
11. Contact the Rainforest Foundation
12. Read the latest news/current subjects

Core pages
1. Support the Rainforest Foundation
2. Threats to the rainforest
3. Palm oil
4. Our work in the Amazon

Core page:
Write down the
goals and user
tasks for your core
page
Don’t fill out the rest
of the sheet

Core page:
How will
the user find
their way to
this core
page?
Keep the user
tasks in mind
7minutes

Share with your
table
• Each pair tells the rest of the table what
they came up with
• Steal ideas!!!

Step #3
Core content
What content elements do we need to
make sure the users can complete their
tasks (while respecting our business
goals)?

Increasing the sales of
mobile broadband

Pageviews
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
1 7 13 19 25 31 37 43 49 55 61 67 73 79 85 91 97 103 109 115 121 127 133 139 145 151 157 163
Everyone agrees
these pages are
important
«But my pages are
important too!»
Pages (ranked)

What are the different subscriptions?
What’s the price?
Coverage
My
connection
isn’t
working!

Reorganizing the
content using the
core model

Why
doesn’t it
work?
Coverage
How
much does
it cost?
What are the
different
subscriptions?

+80%
Conversion
Customer support
emails
Number of
pages
-35%-80%

Core page:
What’s
the optimal
solution for
the user and
for us?
Keep in
mind your
goals and the
user tasks
15minutes

Step #4
Forward paths
After the user has completed his task,
where do we want to send him next?

Treatment of cancer
Symptoms of cancer
Preventing cancer
Cancer types
Latest research
Choosing a hospital
Patient rights
Next of kin advice
Waiting times
Dietary prevention
0 % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 %
Top 25%
6 out of
79 tasks got
25% of the
votes

Treatment of cancer
Symptoms of cancer
Preventing cancer
Cancer types
Latest research
Choosing a hospital
Donate
Volunteer
Memory gift
Legacy gift
0 % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 %
Top 25%
Fundraising
-tasks were on
the bottom of
the list!
6 out of
79 tasks got
25% of the
votes

Goals
1. Help patients and their friends and family ✔
2. Increase knowledge about cancer and prevention ✔
3. Increase online self-service ✔
4. Strengthen our position and increasing donations ✖

Make a
donation
Research
project
User task Forward path
Increase
donations
Business goal

Treatment of cancer
Symptoms of cancer
Preventing cancer
Cancer types
Latest research
Choosing a hospital
Donate
Volunteer
Memory gift
Legacy gift
0 % 1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 %
Top 25%
But some
people are
actually
coming to
donate

Recurring
donation
Make a
donation
Increase
donations
Business goal

Regular
donors
+704%
One time
donations
+602%
Regular
donors sum
+847%

Regular
donors
x8
One time
donations
x7
Regular
donors sum
x9

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Annual income
(web)
Launch
Improved forms

No banner on the
front page - instead
let the user
complete his tasks

Products,
offers
Pay your
bills, log out
Increase
sales
Business goal

520%
increase in traffic
compared to banners
on the front page

How do you increase
membership when the
idea of membership can
be frightening?

Rehabilitation
IT
Fundraising
Webmaster
Member services

Call us for
advice
Living
with loss
of vision
Increase
member-
ship
Business goal

Core page:
Where should
we send the user,
after they’ve
completed their
primary task?
Keep your
business goals
in mind
10minutes

Step #5
Prioritize core elements
How would you place these elements
on a mobile screen?

Prioritizing 
core elements
on a mobile
screen
Inward paths
Core contents &
forward paths
Core page:
Business goals  
(achieve at least one) User tasks

Example
From workshop to
website

How do you get from
core pages to design
and content creation?

Did you
notice we
never showed
you the home
pages?

Core model
takeaways
• Objectives and user tasks first
• Start with the core
• Get rid of dead ends
• Be creative about your forward
paths
• Home page last, not first

Pair writing:
better content,
more customer-
focused

Traditional content
creation processes are
sort of broken...

We write
without getting
any critical input
from others
Photo: nivekhmng / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Who’s asking...
• Why are we creating this content?
• What is the purpose of this content?
• How does this content support our business goals?
• Who will be reading this content?
• And why will they read it?
• Could this be a video or an illustration instead of text?

Every
department is
publishing their
own stuff

We produce new
content instead of
improving what we
already have

We publish
content because
it’s really easy to
click that button  
in the CMS
Photo: Sean MacEntee / CC BY 2.0

We forget to
involve the right
stakeholders early
enough in the
project
Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives / CC BY 2.0

We love content
strategy so much
that we forget to
work with the
actual content
Photo: Ranil Amarasuriya / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Challenges
• Writing without getting any input from others
• Working separately on our own - «silo publishing»
• Producing new content instead of improving existing content
• Publishing content no one else has looked at
• Not involving the right stakeholders early in the process
• Only working on the strategy, not the content itself

Why pair writing?
• The team thinks before publishing
• It forces authors to stay focused
• It helps colleagues form a mutual understanding of
their content
• It results in a more uniform tone
• It allows authors to share best practices in regards to
writing for the web

Web
writing
workshop 
(ca 1948)

Inspired by
pair
programming
http://bit.ly/acc-prog (PDF)

What you need
• Google Docs (or a similar tool)
• Room with a projector
• 3-4 hours per session
• Snacks and lots of coffee!

Who to invite
• facilitator (you!)
• digital team: design, UX, content, …
• subject matter experts
• content owners
• stakeholders

Pair writing
workshop
1. Bring people together and
pair them up
2. Choose a page to work on
3. Write!
4. Present a draft
5. Switch roles and continue to
write

Example
Gaining leads for
construction projects

Add to cart
1
Bridge (18.000 tonnes)
Portable 
“buy a bridge”
forms!

Contact
project
manager
Key people
in projects
Increase
project
leads
Objective

Web manager
East
Web manager
East
North
South
West
Step #1:
Bring people
together and
pair them up

Before writing, each pair
has to answer these
questions. 
• Which business goals
will this page help us
achieve?
• What are the user needs?
Step #2:
Choose a
page

Step #3:
Write!
– Can you read
that out loud?
– What do you
mean by that?

Initial drafts
focus on most
important need

Step #5:
Switch roles
and continue
writing

In pairs: Draft an
outline about
threats to the
rainforest in
Google Docs
15minutes

Share with your
table
they have come up with so far
• Ask for feedback: Is anything missing? Is
it prioritised right?

Example
Small-town bank on the
windy west coast of
Norway

Financial
jargon
Product
prices hard
to find
Dull and
lifeless
content
Takes a
long time to
get to the
point

Pair writing at SSF
• 2 pair writing workshops
• 10-12 people in total
• We paired web, UX and communications advisors and product
specialists
• Objectives: Get rid of financial jargon, explain the product in an
understandable manner, support key user tasks, be open about
prices and rates
• We used Google Docs

Straight to the point
Clear call to action
Prices and rates
Try it yourself!
Contact the bank for more info

236%
increase in mortgage
calculator use

Example
Global fertilizer
company with 10.000
employees

Decentralized
publishing
practices
People
speaking
different
languages
50 different
locations
worldwide
More than 60
intranet editors
and contributors

So this is what we did...
• 60 people from all over the world in the same
room
• Half day web writing theory course to get a
common understanding of quality content
• Two and a half days pair writing workshops in
smaller groups

2. Consider cultural and organizational differences
Identify facilitators from various business segments,  
that speak the language
3. You need the right tools
It’s easier if everyone uses the same tool - such as
Google Docs
Lessons learned
1. Theory is important
HR, IT, Communications, Legal, business segments and more
Get everyone on the same page

Switch roles and
continue to work on
your draft
15minutes

Share with your
table
they came up with
• Ask for feedback: Is it easy to understand
and readable? Is it concise? Any difficult
words?

Pair writing
takeaways
• Focus on the needs first, then the
words
• Avoid a workflow where content
is sent back and forth
• Talk and communicate with key
stakeholders
• Creates a sense of shared
ownership

imprisoned
lose your job
warning
scolding
criticism
acceptance
praise
raise
If we
publish this
now, will we
get…

Content microtest
• Test before publishing with one user
• The user gets two questions, takes 10-15 minutes
 
The technique was developed by Laura Arlov from The Norwegian Tax
Authority to help writers create content that users understand.

Step #1: 
Read the title and
description. Think of
3-4 questions you
expect will be
answered on this
page.

Dementia
Get advice from professionals.
The first signs of dementia are often vague, and it may therefore be difficult
to make a diagnosis. Many people with dementia say that they are
experiencing things that were simple, has become more difficult.
Some of the early signs of dementia are:
What can you do?
Are you worried if you or a loved one has dementia, you should contact a
GP. It can take time to make a diagnosis of dementia. Before contacting a
GP, you may want to think through, and note a few key words about these
points:
reduced attention and concentration: You may think it's been difficult
to follow a conversation.
memory failure: You experience a sudden feeling to have forgotten
what you have done earlier in the day.
language problems: You may have trouble remembering what things
are called.
sudden moments of confusion: You might find that you lose track,
even in simple everyday situations.
Step #2:
Highlight where
your questions are
answered. Does
the content meet
the need?
Feedback
on needs, not
grammar
Cheap,
fast

Can be done over
the phone: 
 
Send title/
description and
the rest of the
copy in separate
emails

Step #2:
Highlight where
your questions are
answered. Does
the content meet
the need?

Microtest
takeaways
• Get feedback on your early drafts
• Get ideas on how to improve
existing content
• Teach it to others to help them
write more customer-focused
content

Bjørn Bergslien / @bbergslien
bjorn@netliferesearch.com
Audun Rundberg / @audunru
audun@netliferesearch.com
Thank you! Slides and handouts:
http://bit.ly/confab-collab

Collaborative techniques: How to create usable content that meets business goals

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