adam qureshi

Mobile is a platform. It is a tactic, not a strategy. What you need is a strategy for the connected customer. 

If a Norwegian man is sitting on the toilet reading the news on his iPhone, is he mobile? Well, research indicates that one of the most favored places where Norwegian men use their phones is on the toilet. iPads are used a lot on the couch but the iPhone is more popular in bed.

Mobile is not necessarily mobile. It is flexible, convenient, fast, and private. Pictures of sexually transmitted diseases are often accessed through mobile devices. This could be because mobile is particularly favored by young people. It could also be because a phone is more private than a computer. A number of people might have access to the computer you use, for example.

I’ve read that mobiles will be used a lot this Christmas, particularly for last minute gifts. That implies that people using them may need advice on what to buy, because by definition they will not be buying for themselves.

“Desktop copywriting must be concise. Mobile copywriting must be even more concise,” Jakob Nielsen writes in his article ‘Mobile UX Sharpens Usability Guidelines.’ We need more than content reeducation according to Jakob. “The feature set should be much smaller for a mobile site than for a desktop site.”

However, the customer is not always in a hurry. Some people read more on their smart phones than they read on websites. So, one of the most important links any mobile website can have is a link back to the main website.

A major weakness of organizations is that they behave reactively rather than strategically. “We need a mobile app.” “We need to be on Twitter.” “We need more video.” “We need to blog.”

Web strategy is far more about psychology than technology, blogs, Twitter or any other forms of content. The more people use the Web to live their lives and do their jobs, the more web professionals need to invest in understanding human behavior. This is because the Web removes the human touch points, the opportunities to observe, the empathy zones.

There is so much we learn when we are physically in the presence of our customers. If I were hiring a web professional the greatest attribute I would look for is empathy; the ability and desire to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. A web professional should have a service heart.

What are Norwegian men doing with their smart phones when they are on the toilet? What do people typically do when they are on the couch? Do the tasks change when they get into bed?

SOURCE:www.gerrymcgovern.com

Nobody likes taking a wrong turn, particularly when it’s your first turn. If you have travelled 10 kilometers in the wrong direction, then it feels like you are travelling back 20 kilometers.

Linking is the foundation of the Web. It is its key distinguishing characteristic. It is what makes the Web the Web. The essence of linking is navigation. The essence of navigation is helping someone get someplace. A link is a signpost, a promise.

That most important skill by far that any web professional can have is link design. The most important aspect-by far-of link design is the choice of words.

A 2010 study by Webusability found that, “participants were about twice as likely to succeed if they selected the correct response on the first page with which they had to deal … In addition, those scenarios that had incorrect first clicks tended to take longer to complete, and required more page views.”

Commenting on the study, Measuring Usability stated that “Few things affect task success more than the navigation of the website. If users can’t find what they’re looking for, not much else matters.”

Another research paper, published in 2011, states that when people are on the Web, “The main attention is paid to the starting and ending documents. They should be designed well.”

You can’t have good search if you don’t have good navigation. The quality of search results is directly dependent on the quality of the navigation. The better structured the environment, the better the search results will be.

The best navigation is focused on top tasks. The best navigation is simple. It has as few choices as possible. Thus, you must focus on the highest demand tasks (top tasks). Great navigation is exclusive. Each link is absolutely separate and distinct.

Let’s say you have a support problem. You see these links: FAQs, Tools, Resources. Which one should you choose? This is an example of the most basic mistake in navigation design: overlapping links.

Design the top level of your navigation in isolation. Base it on your top 20 tasks. Then test it with about 20 top task questions. Ask a minimum of 20 people what their first click would be based on the navigation you present them. You can do this manually using the simplest of wireframes. However, the simplest way we’ve found of doing this is by using Optimal Sort from Optimal Workshop.

Aim for a 90 percent first click success rate. Keep tweaking your navigation until you get that success rate. Design downwards. Get the first level right then work on the second level. Measure the success of your design based on task success. Most of what you will be doing to improve success rate will involve changing words.

source:www.gerrymcgovern.com 

Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern

http://gerrymcgovern.newsweaver.ie/h0nv0mbx1i8fnqwh0fvw3q?email=true&a=6&p=18660025&t=20046995

Source: What Makes Someone Leave A Website?