Good Mobile Experience Changes In Real Time
Since user experience is vital to the success of a web or mobile system, it is critical to establish feedback loops within the system to inform potential changes. There are multiple methods for effective feedback loops, both manual and automated the end result for either is establishing how users felt regarding their experience.
Although user experience is somewhat subjective as a whole, metrics and analytics are one method that can provide objective feedback and insight into how effective the user experience trends may be. Analytics has traditionally been utilized for marketing purposes, informing strategy, implementations, and trends, however, more and more user-experience implementations are relying on this quantitative data source to aid in project research and design. Modern system analytics are key to tracking the user experience and should be reviewed daily when available. Utilizing the data effectively and efficiently through a well-designed system can successfully change a user’s experience (in some cases real-time) for the better.
This principle in practice:
In order to analyze metrics and data effectively, success objectives must first be established. How do you define success? To begin, here are some example goals for establishing a project’s user experience success:
Initially, one effective strategy to measure success of a project’s designed user experience is to select a few key metrics and focus on them over time. One of the most prominent issues with analytics is that without proper direction, they can become a distraction or just numbers without any context or actionable interpretation. Mobile analytics is data, which can provide valuable information when utilized in the way that furthers an agency's goals. The question then comes down to - what set(s) of analytics data is relevant in the context of the project? Why is the project gathering and tracking metrics to begin with? These are perfectly understandable questions and key to establishing an effective user experience feedback loop across any project.
These are high-level objectives that are established and agreed upon by the project’s organizational stakeholders as measures of success. With established success measures, here are some example categorizations of relevant user experience analytics implementations:
Notifiers provide continuously monitored information hourly, daily, or weekly. The analytics can be used to define specific issues or provide information supporting insight to further guide human behavior. Examples of potential notification analytics:
Identifiers are implemented analytics that are used in conjunction to better understand the overall human behavior and user experience. Identifiers fall under several categories themselves not limited to: traffic issues, technical issues, content related issues, navigation issues, and UI design issues. Some examples are below with their equivalent Google Analytics (GA) implementations as a starting point:
Once a targeted core set of analytics has been implemented and monitored, a basic feedback loop will have been established. The analytics and data can then be utilized by the project team to evaluate opportunities to improve user experience. Does the experience need to change? How should it change? Does the information available warrant additional user testing? Specifically, does it call for A/B testing?