[IxDA Discuss] How would you use this report?

[Tom Dell'Aringa]

On 7/3/07, White, Jeff <Jeff.White at jtv.com> wrote:
>
> It seems like the report, if it's the only research you have to go by,
> should really drive the features and functionality that the sites
> deliver. I would start by matching what the report says with the
> business goals of these sites and go from there. You could use the
> findings of the report, balanced with your business goals, to derive
> page hierarchy, messaging, etc.


And they do even make specific recommendations at the end, particularly
where there are 2 specific gaps. Our business goals are actually individual
school goals (per site) along with a few higher level corporate goals (make
the site worthwhile for alumni, for example), but that makes sense to match
up the two.

And, maybe the data could be used to develop personas. Does the report
> break down the expectations of prospective students based on what "type"
> of student they are?


No, that's the problem. There's no individual data, only the results of the
questions asked. They will say what group it was, but it doesn't get any
more granular than that. I wish that data was there. Maybe the overall
archetype idea is the way to go.

Are you supposed to totally redesign the sites or just "reface them"? If
> it's the latter, seems like you're being set up for failure in a way.


Yeah, that is my concern. It's not a total redesign in the sense that we
would think of it. The page colors and templates may change, and we may
rearrange sections, but the content will be 90% the same and we won't have
time to do much more than "improve things". It's going to be challenging,
and it's going to be hard to set goals beforehand to measure afterward to
see what kind of successes we have.

Re-branding poor content isn't really going to help much, and I hope
> your stakeholders realize this.


I guess it's my job to make sure they do. But thanks for the reminder!

At any rate, HTH and good luck.


Thanks for the feedback!

Tom