Close Encounters: Connecting with Users to Improve Content

© 2017 Autodesk @tkrytr @Center4infoDev #CloseEncounters

Close EncountersConnecting with Users to Improve Content

Patty GalePrincipal Content Experience Designer, Autodesk, Inc.

CIDM IDEAS

Online Conference January 24, 2017

© 2017 Autodesk @tkrytr @Center4infoDev #CloseEncountersSlide 4

Who do you go to for feedback

on your documentation or learning content?

Developers/engineers/QA/Subject matter experts

User experience/Product mgt/Customer support/Marketing

Data/analytics

Users

Other


Where do you get feedback on your docs?

© 2017 Autodesk Slide 6 @tkrytr @Center4infoDev #CloseEncounters

Why?

Gain empathy


Lost 1/3 here

Lost 2/3 here

Gain insights

to improve

content and

findability

Put users on

your team

Gain credibility in your organization


Team

Why?

Empathy Insights

Credibility

© 2017 Autodesk Slide 12 @tkrytr @Center4infoDev #CloseEncounters

How?


But first…



I’m more of an extrovert.

I like meeting new people

and trying new things.

It’s exciting!

Which of these best describes you?

I’m more of an introvert.

It takes extra effort for me

to meet new people

and try new things.

It can be scary.


#1: Talk to Customer Support


#1: Talk to Customer Support

• 55 support calls in the past year

• In most cases, this issue can be

resolved by the user after consulting

a support article.

• In the past year, the article has been

visited 292 times. However, the error

message does not provide a direct

link to the article; users must search

for it.

• The article is in English only, so it

doesn’t help 60% of our users.


#2: Join online user communities


#3: Conduct user surveys





Standard Video

ScreenCast




#4: Perform a diary study














#5: Answer user questions/comments






#6: Attend user events


#7: Perform usability testing







Overall score on a range

from 1 (low) to 10 (high)

Red = lots of users did not

find the correct topic

Gray = a few users skipped this task

Dark green =

some users went

directly to the

correct topic

Light green = some users

wandered before finding it


Lost 1/3 here

Lost 2/3 here



#8: Recruit user-reviewers


#9: Invite users to attend your sprint demos


#10: Visit users in their natural habitat








Support

Online

communities

Site visit

User surveys Events

Reviewers

DemosUsability test

Answer online Qs

Diary study


1. Talk to Customer Support

2. Join online user communities

3. Conduct user surveys

4. Perform a diary study

5. Answer user questions and comments

6. Attend user events

7. Perform usability testing

8. Recruit user-reviewers

9. Invite users to attend your sprint demos

10. Visit users in their natural habitat (site visits)

10 ways to know your users


Review the list of methods to engage your users

Decide on two or three that you feel comfortable with and want to try

Get management approval, if required

Do it!

Start to use what you learn from users to improve quality

and inform your design decisions

Share the results with other learning content developers

and stakeholders

When you are comfortable with those 2-3 methods,

expand your repertoire and try a couple more

Talk to UX and Product Management to learn other ways

you can connect with users

Okay, now what?


Yes! I’m inspired to start reaching out to users.

I want to…not sure I have the time or support to do it.

Maybe. It depends on my workload and other factors.

No. I’ll leave that for UX and Marketing to do.

Do you want to try to start connecting

with your users in the next month?


Team

Why? Connect with users for these reasons:

Empathy Insights

Credibility


Autodesk Screencast: http://screencast.autodesk.com

Diary studies: http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/06/25/how-to-

get-feedback-over-time-with-diary-studies/

Dscout: www.dscout.com

Usability testing at Bentley University:

http://www.bentley.edu/centers/user-experience-center

Treejack: https://www.optimalworkshop.com/treejack

Additional resources

http://screencast.autodesk.com/

http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/06/25/how-to-get-feedback-over-time-with-diary-studies/

http://www.dscout.com/

http://www.bentley.edu/centers/user-experience-center

https://www.optimalworkshop.com/treejack


From theNounProject.com

Aliens by Alexander Skowalsky

Beach by Gilad Fried

Calm by Luis Prado

Email by Lorena Salgre

Extrovert by Hadley Anderson

Eyes by Ji Sub Jeong

Index by Julynn B.

Know by Sergi Delgado

Communication by Creative Stall

Expert by Juan Pablo Bravo

Users by Vittorio Maria Vecchi

Attributions for images used in this presentation

Creative Commons licensed images:

Cloister by Kris Arnold

Child climbing over wall by Arwen Abenstern

Bandage on finger by Chu

Expert by Pete Prodoehl

Locker Room Survey by Patty Gale

Diary by Kevin Couette

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/


Patty Gale

[email protected]

@tkrytr

patty-gale-9774461

mailto:[email protected]

Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries.

All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and

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© 2017 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Close Encounters: Connecting with Users to Improve Content

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