1. Personas Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM, Course Director Tufts University School of Medicine July 19, 2011 1

2. An effective strategy requires… Who is currently using your site? Who do you want to be using it? Use personas to design an engaging user experience What is your competition doing that you can – Learn from – Do better – Do differently Competitive analysis Personas SWOT Goals Technology Content Design Evaluation New web strategy Existing web strategy 2

3. How to learn about your users Surveys: your own, Pew, or others Focus groups Individual interviews Observation Social media listening User feedback: email or feedback forms Personas 3

4. Ways to learn about usersAdvantagesDisadvantages Your survey Using surveys Focus groups Interviews Observation Social media User feedback Personas 4

5. Do these work? “New Coke” The fabled secret formula for Coca-Cola was changed, adopting a formula preferred in taste tests of nearly 200,000 consumers What these tests didn't show, of course, was the bond consumers felt with their Coke, something they didn't want anyone, including The Coca-Cola Company, tampering with 5

6. Personas defined The value of personas Persona best practices Exercise Agenda 6

7. People who visit your website differ Coming to your site with different levels of: – Prior knowledge and experience – Skills and disabilities – Coming from different: – Physical, social, and technological environments Coming with different: Needs, attitudes, and goals

8. Definition: Personas are prototypical users who can be referred to during all stages of design and development A model of user goals, attitudes, and behaviors Distilled from observing real people Presented as a vivid, narrative description Of a single “person” who represents a customer segment Used to guide design 8

9. Personas defined The value of personas Persona best practices Exercise Agenda 9

10. Benefits of personas Entire team shares a consistent understanding of target users Provide a human "face" to focus empathy on the persons represented by the personas Evaluate proposed solutions by how well they meet the needs of the personas Prioritize features by how personas will be attracted to them

11. Personas can lead to improved user experiences that result in real benefits 11

12. What influences trust Influencers – Disposition to trust – Attitude towards the web – Experience with the web – Anxiety towards the web – Innovativeness towards information technology – Web skills and ability A strong disposition to trust and increased years of web experience positively influence trust 12

13. What emotions should your website engender? 13

14. Design for emotion to increase appeal and connection Chart emotions for your app. What emotions will resonate with the user in the context of use? Explain why emotional state is desirable. Why will these emotions make your user experience compelling to your personas? Design app for emotion. What visual and interaction features can you design to engender the emotions? 14

15. Only 26% of firms regularly use personas October 14, 2008 “How To Get The Most From Design Personas” Forrester report 15

16. Obstacles to persona use 16

17. Personas defined The value of personas Persona best practices Exercise Agenda 17

18. Six best practices in persona development (worksheet) Segment your users 1 Define characteristics 2 Create a few personas 3 Create scenarios 4 Evaluate your personas 5 Learn from them 6

19. Best practice No. 1: Segment your users List your target user populations – Refine if subgroups have specific needs or characteristics – Prioritize based on potential impact – Select the 3-4 most important ones

20. Best practice No. 2: Define characteristics List relevant demographics – Example: age, gender, ethnicity List the relevant environment – Example: device using and location List the relevant context – Example: seeking information or shopping for new product

21. 3. Create a few personas 21

22. Best practice No. 3: Create a few personas Base your personas on knowledge of real users Select a target user population from your prioritized list Develop characteristics representing demographics, environment, and context Give your persona a name and picture Create a quote Check that characteristics are distributed reasonably

23. 4. Create scenarios 23

24. . 5. Evaluate your personas Do these seem accurate? Do these seem realistic? Do these seem comprehensive? What else do you need to know? 24

25. Well-developed personas influence design Bring users to life Are memorable because of engaging narratives Call out information that added to the understanding of the persona Are easy to read and consume Use high-quality production as appropriate Incorporate key insights to support design decisions

26. Personas should play a role throughout the entire design process October 14, 2008 “How To Get The Most From Design Personas” Forrester report 26

27. Companies progress through five levels of maturity when using personas October 14, 2008 “How To Get The Most From Design Personas” Forrester report 27

28. Persona benefits justify the cost August 2010 “The ROI Of Personas” Forrester report 28

29. Persona for Dell Name, face, job, home Sounds like a real person Source: Critical Mass 29

30. Persona for MGH - Clare Berman

31. Was – General public/patients, providers of medical care and insurance, companies Desired – Patients with chronic disease and/or stress who seek information about complimentary and alternative medicine (CAM) on their own – People who are interested in CAM and seek information on their own – People referred by their medical providers – People referred by their insurance providers – People whose companies offer employees a way to relieve stress Target audience refined and prioritized

32. Meet Paul Paul is a 35 year-old Caucasian male living in Newton, MA, a suburb of Boston. He is married with no children. He works as a Financial Planner in Boston and commutes for an hour each day using public transportation. Paul feels that his health is pretty good overall, but he has had a few anxiety attacks recently due to the high level of stress in his job. He has a family history of heart attacks, so he is worried about these recent anxiety attacks and how his level of stress may be putting him at higher risk for having a heart attack himself. Paul has an iPhone, which he uses it often on his commute to work, and a laptop for work and home. He is online a lot! Recently, he has been looking for ways to relieve his stress, particularly because his wife is urging him to find ways to relax. He is a little dubious about CAM, but his wife is insistent so he is willing to give it a try.

33. Which are Paul’s characteristics? List relevant demographics – Example: age, gender, ethnicity List the relevant environment – Example: device using and location List the relevant context – Example: seeking information or shopping for new product

34. The Scenario: A Day in Paul’s Life… Paul wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and goes for a 30- minute run, then comes home and showers. He eats a quick breakfast with his wife (cereal and coffee), and they both leave for work. He starts to feel anxious as soon as he gets onto the bus and starts thinking about his job. On the way in to work, he checks the news on his iPhone, visiting a few websites and then streaming the morning news from NPR. The Morning

35. A Day in Paul’s Life… Paul spends 10 hours at work with barely any time to take a break even for lunch. On the way home from work, he is sitting on the bus and starts feeling overwhelmed with the stress of his day. His breathing becomes rapid and he feels like he can’t get enough air. It passes after about ten minutes, but it is not the first anxiety attack he’s had in the last few months. He decides he needs to do something about this – he doesn’t want to end up having a heart attack at a young age like his father and grandfather did. The Day and Commute Home

36. A Day in Paul’s Life… When Paul gets home at around 7 p.m., he finds his wife at the kitchen table, reading a letter from his insurance company, an advertisement encouraging insured patients to access the BHIMBM website and services to relieve stress. She urges him to check out the website to see if any of the information there might help him. He’s a bit reluctant to try out CAM, but is also feeling like it could possibly help reduce his stress, and thus, his risk for heart attack. At Home

37. A Day in Paul’s Life… Still slightly dubious, he goes to the site and immediately notices a link, Feeling anxious?, which takes him to information about how mind-body techniques can help reduce his stress. He downloads a few instructional videos onto his iPhone and plans to watch them the next day on his way into work. When he watches them the next morning, making sure no one else can see on the bus because he is a little uncomfortable, he decides it’s something he can try. Although he is not yet sure of the response efficacy, he figures it will make his wife happy and may just work. And right then he starts a few suggested exercises, again, making sure no one is watching. Finally at the Website

38. What did we learn about the needs of 1 persona?

39. Will this help Paul?

40. Will this?

41. Or this?

42. Personas defined The value of personas Persona best practices Exercise Agenda 42

43. Best practice No. 1: Segment your users Let’s do together, then teams for rest List your target user populations – Refine if subgroups have specific needs or characteristics – Prioritize based on potential impact – Select the 3-4 most important ones Persona development worksheet

44. Six best practices in persona development Segment your users 1 Define characteristics 2 Create a few personas 3 Create scenarios 4 Evaluate your personas 5 Learn from them 6