Understanding Users DR MAX HAMMOND 28 NOVEMBER 2013

Who am I? Dr Max Hammond Independent consultant Broad experience across education and research 2 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Audience research Planning and conducting a programme of work to better understand audiences and audience behaviour Increasingly used in the public sector… …but easy to do badly 3 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Audience research – why? Understand why and how people will use your service (=better service) Quantify demand (= better planning) 4 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Audience research – why? Be clear at the outset about your intentions: ◦Monitor performance/meet targets? ◦Market segmentation/Develop user personas? ◦Product development ◦Marketing ◦Product design ◦Develop business case? ◦Manage service portfolio? 5 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Methodology UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCES 6 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Research lifecycle 7 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Target audience Knowing who you would like your audience to be is vital ◦You may have more than one distinct audience with different needs (segments) Defining your target audience doesn’t need to be a difficult exercise ◦The first stage is to sketch out the potential segments 8 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Types of market Mass MarketNiche MarketSegmented Multi-sidedDiversified 9 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Planning research Why are you conducting research? What do you need to know? How will you find this out? What will you do with the information? How does this change your world? 10 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

What do you need to know? What do you need to know about each potential segment? Reach, uptake, quality, impact – what are your priorities? 11 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Think and feel? Say and do? Hear? See? Pain Gain What really counts Major preoccupations Worries & aspirations What friends say What boss says What influencers say Environment Friends What the market offers Attitude in public Appearance Behaviour toward others Fears Frustrations obstacles Wants/needs Measures of success Source: Business Model Generation (Osterwalder & Pigneur) 12 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Planning research Quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic research? Which methods are appropriate? Start with informal knowledge about your audiences and existing research 13 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Collect data In-house research or commission a research agency? Data collection methods ◦Desk research ◦Focus groups ◦One-to-one interviews ◦Quantitative surveys ◦Web statistics ◦Web analytics ◦User observation techniques (ethnography) 14 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Analyse data Approach depends on which data you collected Address the specific research questions you posed – and link answers to the data Do the answers change your understanding of your audience? Are your segments “right”? ◦Do not be afraid to rethink everything 15 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Apply your findings So Now What? ◦How does what you have discovered change your view of your product, or your market? Consider the conduct of the research ◦Were the specific objectives met, and questions answered? ◦What lessons can be learned for future work? Plan follow-up and future research! 16 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Key points At least consider what you should do, as well as what you can ◦Eg surveys of users are easy, but only tell you what current users think Research does not have to be perfect to be useful ◦It’s for your benefit, not for academic publication No single method will give you the full picture Beware unsupported web analytics ◦Without financial value of transactions, understanding success is hard 17 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

What’s next? 18 DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

What’s next? 28 Nov 2013DR. MAX HAMMOND 19

What’s next? Marketing research: DR. MAX HAMMOND28 Nov 2013

Contact details Dr Max Hammond Nov 2013DR. MAX HAMMOND 21