Customer Methodology: Put your customer first
You want the best possible customer-focused, task-driven website? Created over an 11-year period, our Customer Methodology is a road-tested, practical approach to developing a customer-focused website that delivers maximum value. It is broken up into three major sections:- Readers-Tasks-Carewords
- Publishing processes
- Information architecture
Each section has a series of activities, and each activity has the following elements:
- Purpose
- Key questions
- Tasks
- Tools
- Deliverables
Readers-Tasks-Carewords
Who cares? Regardless of whether you have an ecommerce, government, or intranet website, you must have a business case. The essence of this Methodology is about managing a website in a way that maximizes value. During every single activity of this Methodology the need to deliver real, quantifiable value will be kept at the forefront. Show me the value!Reading is the dominant activity on the Web. If you understand how people read in a screen-based environment-scan-reading-you understand a lot about what to do to achieve success. That's why we call people "readers" when they are on the Web. There are usually no more than three reader groups that matter. The Methodology helps you identify them.
Readers have tasks they wish to complete when they visit your website. They are impatient and want to get in and out of your website as quickly as possible. They don't like too much clutter and won't spend more than 30 seconds scanning your homepage. There are no more than three key tasks that really matter to them. You must identify these tasks and place them on your homepage.
Every task has a small set of critical, key, or trigger words that the reader scans for and which become signposts along the road of task completion. We call these words "carewords" and we have developed highly effective techniques to quickly identify these words. Actually, this is the heart of the Methodology. Words are the building blocks of websites. If you get the words right, you have built a solid foundation for success.
This Methodology is also about prioritization. Trying to do everything with your website-trying to answer everybody's questions-is neither feasible nor practical. All you end up with is a monumental mess of content that drains resources and delivers precious little value to anybody.
You must publish the website you can professionally manage, and avoid overambitious and unrealistic expectations. The best websites are practical. What they do, they do well. What they promise, they deliver. We believe that a practical web strategy starts off by focusing on the readers who can benefit most immediately-and focusing first on their most important tasks. Until task completion rates reach a satisfactory level, other initiatives should be held back.
Publishing processes
A classic problem with website management is that it becomes a series of projects. There is tremendous energy put behind launching an application or website. Then the team moves on to the next project, and the particular application or website is paid very little further attention. This is not a good idea.Professional content management requires professional publishing processes if it is to succeed. Quality content needs to be created on an ongoing basis, and already published content needs careful review to ensure that it is still relevant. Various publishing approaches need to be explored. While the Web is an important publishing vehicle, email and RSS (Real Simple Syndication) should also be considered.
A professional publishing team needs to be put in place, with clear roles and responsibilities for each member. Proper metrics need to be established, and this Methodology stresses task completion as a key metric. Task completion is a relatively simple metric. It involves usability: you ask a group of people to attempt to complete a particular task and then measure how well they do.
Information architecture
"Imitate with your information architecture, differentiate with your content" is the motto of quality content management. Over the last ten years, a whole range of rules and standards have emerged in relation to information architecture design.The Methodology interlinks very strongly with the McGovern Scorecard in this section to ensure that best practice in information architecture design is being implemented. There are some 450 best practice rules and standards for the following areas:
- Metadata and classification: Metadata and classification help people to find things quickly. We have comprehensive guides in relation to how to design a simple yet robust classification.
- Navigation: Navigation is one of the primary activities that occurs on the Web. We outline eight key principles of navigation design that will help you design an intuitive system of navigation.
- Search: Search is not simply a technology; it is also a process. We give practical guidelines in relation to how to design and manage search so that it delivers the best quality results on an ongoing basis.
- Layout and graphic design: We provide a whole range of rules of layout are given including: font type, size and color, line length, use of images, use of animation, page weight, etc.
