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INCREASING WEBSITE PERFORMANCE: TOP TASK WEBSITE DESIGNeduWeb Conference 2012Boston, MAJuly 30, 2012

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Gerry McGovern partnership…http://www.customercarewords.com/

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Why a “top task” design approach?http://www.socitm.net/events/event/245/

• “…the design and information architecture of future council websites should focus heavily on 'top tasks'.

• “…we see a 'top tasks' approach as essential to developing websites that work easily and quickly for customers...”• Society for Information & Communication Technologists, 2011, in the U.K.

Overview of the research process…

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Poll the audienceAssemble a longlist

Refine to a shortlist

Analyse results

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TOP TASK DESIGNLessons from 3 research projectsNovember 2011 through April 2012

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The top task design goal…• Create websites that give priority to quick identification of

links to complete top tasks...• “Branding” images and messages & minor tasks should not slow

top task completion• For new students…

• Academic programs offered• How to pay, how much will I pay?

• For alumni• Request a transcript• Send and read class notes

• For faculty and staff• “Find a person” to get something done

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Information Architecture… 23 colleges and universities

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Search

Menus and Links

Layout

Visual appeal

Speed

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

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(1) Future students… 400+ responses…

4% 2% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12%

Up-to-date

Accurate

Complete

Language

Contact

Participation

Open

Recommendations

Search

Menus and Links

Layout

Visual appeal

Speed

Negative votes Positive votes

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Action priorities…0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18%

Menus and Links

Complete

Open

Layout

Search

Contact

Speed

Recommendations

Participation

Visual appeal

Up-to-date

Language

Accurate

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Top Tasks… 9 of 60 dominate

Top 25%

26-50%

51-75%

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Most important tasks…• Most were about costs, financial aid available and what investment return to expect after graduating.

• Also popular were the details of earning a degree• How long to earn a degree and flexible scheduling were high interest tasks

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Please choose and score the TOP FIVE tasks from the list below that best describe what is important to you when

choosing to go to university.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56

Vote

Tasks

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Topics among the bottom 20 tasks…• Social media connections• Info about alumni, presidents, and deans• School news• Profiles and connections to current students

(2) Faculty & staff… 303 responses

20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 5% 10%

Up-to-date

Accurate

Complete

Language

Contact

Participation

Open

Recommendations

Search

Menus and Links

Layout

Visual appeal

Speed

Negative votes Positive votes

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Faculty & staff action priorities…0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Menus and Links

Layout

Visual appeal

Search

Speed

Complete

Contact

Up-to-date

Open

Accurate

Language

Participation

Recommendations

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Top tasks… 9 of 50 most important

16

Top 25%

26-50%

51-75%

(3) Current students… 592 responses

15% 10% 5% 0% 5% 10% 15%

Up-to-date

Accurate

Complete

Language

Contact

Participation

Open

Recommendations

Search

Menus and Links

Layout

Visual appeal

Speed

Negative votes Positive votes

17

Current student action priorities…0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Menus and Links

Speed

Visual appeal

Layout

Contact

Search

Complete

Participation

Up-to-date

Open

Recommendations

Language

Accurate

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Current students… 6 of 45 at topMy course info

(schedule,…

Course materials (notes, …

Grades (check, availabili…

3

7

32Top 25%

26-50%

51-75%

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Key to successful website design…• Identify top tasks for each audience• Give priority placement to the top tasks for each audience• Make sure content exists for top tasks and tasks are

easy to complete• May require…

• Different entry pages for each audience• Not written on a stone tablet…

• Everyone must start on the same “Home Page”

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9 EXAMPLES OF A “TOP TASK” DESIGN APPROACHFrom Home Page to Lower Level Pages

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University of Glasgow… home pagehttp://www.gla.ac.uk/

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University of Leicester… home pagehttp://www2.le.ac.uk/

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BU… professional school home pagehttp://management.bu.edu/

University of Manitoba… home pagehttp://umanitoba.ca/

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Augustana College… admissionshttp://www.augustana.edu/x96.xml

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University of Oslo… student lifehttp://www.uio.no/english/student-life/

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Carleton College… annual reporthttp://apps.carleton.edu/giving/report/2011/

Stanford… “About” topics to taskshttp://www.stanford.edu/about/

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Harvard… Helping alumni fix thingshttp://www.alumni.hbs.edu/lefa/

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FOR MORE INFORMATIONU.S. Government guide to top task designGerry McGovern’s blog and booksNeoInsight newsletter reports

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Top task steps from U.S. Government…http://www.howto.gov/web-content/manage/focus-on-top-tasks

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Gerry McGovern’s blog and books…

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Practical tips from NeoInsight…http://www.neoinsight.com/newsletter/index_by_topic.html

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THANKS FOR BEING HERE AT EDUWEB!Bob Johnson, Ph.D.bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.comwww.bobjohnsonconsulting.com