When content strategy evolved to content design, we gained in the design part, but lost in the strategy part. That’s why it’s important for content designers to not lose sight of the strategic thinking that goes into our work. Creating an actionable strategy is an important part of the design process and an easy way to put you in the driver’s seat of the project. Basing your strategy in these 3 questions will improve your content, align the team, and position you for success.
Question 1: Who is the user / need?
Before you write a word, shape a strategy, or map a flow, the first question to ask is, “Who are we trying to reach?” It’s tempting to dive into projects with existing information, but if you want to hit a bullseye, you need a clear view of the target. Asking the right questions about the user, their need, and the obstacles or “pain points” they face will strengthen your content.
- Who is the user and what do they need?
- What is their journey through our content?
- What is our goal / success look like?
Question 1: Who is the user / need?
Before you write a word, shape a strategy, or map a flow, the first question to ask is, “Who are we trying to reach?” It’s tempting to dive into projects with existing information, but if you want to hit a bullseye, you need a clear view of the target. Asking the right questions about the user, their need, and the obstacles or “pain points” they face will strengthen your content.
User research
(courtesy of PlaybookUX)
Paint a picture of the user that the broader cross-functional team can rally around by answering 3 key questions:
Who is the user?
Design thinking encourages us to leverage empathy to understand the user and their core needs. Empathy enables us to step into the user’s shoes to understand their behaviors and mental models.
- Who is the specific target?
- What are they trying to achieve and what is blocking them?
- How can content solve their problem?
Who is the user?
Design thinking encourages us to leverage empathy to understand the user and their core needs. Empathy enables us to step into the user’s shoes to understand their behaviors and mental models.
Courtesy Interaction Design Foundation
What is their need?
Leverage research and good questions to pinpoint what the user is trying to achieve and what is blocking them. Sometimes the need is hidden. For example, a user who comes to your app for a vacuum cleaner ultimately needs a clean kitchen and other products could help them more.
How can the content help them?
Focusing on how the content can improve their journey helps us create content that is relevant to the users need. For example, rather than featuring various vacuum cleaners on our web page, we could feature different cleaning needs focusing on the top needs for cleaning tools.
Once you have a grasp of the user through research and interviews, personify the user in a persona – a fictionalized representation of the users of your products. Personas are a foundational element for the entire project – key decisions, reviews, and especially in disagreements (e.g. does this decision help Larson, the photographer, meet her goals)?
Leverage research and good questions to pinpoint what the user is trying to achieve and what is blocking them. Sometimes the need is hidden. For example, a user who comes to your app for a vacuum cleaner ultimately needs a clean kitchen and other products could help them more.
How can the content help them?
Focusing on how the content can improve their journey helps us create content that is relevant to the users need. For example, rather than featuring various vacuum cleaners on our web page, we could feature different cleaning needs focusing on the top needs for cleaning tools.
Once you have a grasp of the user through research and interviews, personify the user in a persona – a fictionalized representation of the users of your products. Personas are a foundational element for the entire project – key decisions, reviews, and especially in disagreements (e.g. does this decision help Larson, the photographer, meet her goals)?
User persona
(courtesy UX Planet)
Question 2: What is the user goal / journey?
After we have a clear handle on the user and their needs, the next step is to understand how and where a user will interact with our content--the user journey. Users interact with our content in various points in their decision-making or information-gathering process. These are the customer journey touch points.
Touchpoints are typically places where a user is discovering our product (social media, etc.), gathering information about the product (website or app), or using the product (app, etc.) Once identified, touchpoints can be used to reach the user with content that supports and adds value to their journey.
After we have a clear handle on the user and their needs, the next step is to understand how and where a user will interact with our content--the user journey. Users interact with our content in various points in their decision-making or information-gathering process. These are the customer journey touch points.
Touchpoints are typically places where a user is discovering our product (social media, etc.), gathering information about the product (website or app), or using the product (app, etc.) Once identified, touchpoints can be used to reach the user with content that supports and adds value to their journey.
The only way to identify the right places to reach the user is understanding their journey."
Questions to ask:
Use a journey map to chart and visualize the touchpoints along a timeline. Nielsen Norman Group defines a journey map as “a visualization of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal.” Then flesh out the journey with user thoughts and emotions in order to create a narrative. Ultimately, this narrative is polished into a clear visualization.
- What are the main actions users are going to complete?
- What parts of the product or service are going to help them achieve their goal?
- What are the different scenarios for different user groups?
Use a journey map to chart and visualize the touchpoints along a timeline. Nielsen Norman Group defines a journey map as “a visualization of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal.” Then flesh out the journey with user thoughts and emotions in order to create a narrative. Ultimately, this narrative is polished into a clear visualization.
Journey map
A journey map can also help you determine how to best utilize and frame the content to deliver enjoyable and compelling experiences to users at the right place and time.
Pro tip: A journey map is not one-size-fits-all. In fact, your customer journey is probably not a straight line from point A to point B. There will be many entry points to your content, and how and when users get from point A to point B may be very different.
Steps to map a customer journey:
- Profile your personas
- Identify key touchpoints
- Sketch the journey
- Add the narrative
Inform your Customer Journey with a UX Survey and Heatmap
A user experience (UX) survey collects quantitative and qualitative data about a user’s interactions and experience with a website or digital product. UX survey data supports and complements website analytics and UX metrics collected through methods like A/B testing and usability testing. Another powerful tool to help content designers understand the user journey is a heatmap to reveal where users click, scroll or ignore content.
Question 3: What is our goal / success look like?
After we understand the user goal, it’s time see how that aligns with the company goal to seek alignment and understand the scope of the project. For example, if a company starts a project with the goal of launching a new product in 3 weeks, this short window will affect your strategy.
Product managers usually supply business requirements for the project and KPI’s (key performance indicators) to define success. Content design should share these with the cross-functional team to align the cross-functional team around the scope and expectaions of the project.
Questions to ask:
Great content doesn’t happen by chance. It requires a clear process and a defined strategy. Creating this strategy requires answer three core questions (among others). Commit the strategy to paper and share it with the cross-functional team for feedback helps align the team and position you as a thought leader for the project.
- What are we trying to achieve?
- What does success look like?
- Have any key performance indicators (KPIs) been set?
Great content doesn’t happen by chance. It requires a clear process and a defined strategy. Creating this strategy requires answer three core questions (among others). Commit the strategy to paper and share it with the cross-functional team for feedback helps align the team and position you as a thought leader for the project.
Resources:
- Nielsen Norman Group journey mapping 101
- Medium UX survey
- Hotjar UX metrics
- Hotjar uses and benefits of heatmaps
- BrightWork project requirements
- Career Foundry design thinking process
- Interaction Design Org. 5 stages of design thinking process
Geoffrey O’Brian
Geoffrey is a Content Designer and creative leader who uses content design to champion user needs and help businesses create user-driven content.