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The discovery process starts with gaining an overall
understanding of the company, client, and industry.
If you are an internal development team, you've probably
already developed a firm understanding of your company's
competitive landscape. For external development teams,
it's often tempting to skip over any initial investigation
and concentrate instead on developing the site's look
and feel, or on creating an application to fit a given
specification. Don't make this mistake. The more time
you can take to learn about the site's industry, the
better partner you'll be for the company and client,
whether you are an internal or external development
team.
As with any type of research or testing, hiring experts
in marketing or research allow for more comprehensive
reporting and analysis along with their recommendations.
When there is neither the budget nor the time to hire
experts for analysis, we suggest conducting an informal
features analysis.
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Using
Quantitative and Qualitative Information
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| The discovery process
can be based on quantitative data from research,
demographics, and statistics gathered by an experienced
marketing/research team. Qualitative research
can also be the basis of quantitative research.
Our approach suggests gathering qualitative information
based on observation and summaries of the company's
overall goals, background, and user preferences.
The more familiar the team is with the project,
audience, and goals, the more effective they'll
be as problem-solvers during the development process.
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The discovery process starts with information gathering.
Initial data is gathered quickly using the client
survey. This survey will solicit client
information regarding overall goals, audience, technology,
and more. In some situations the client survey is
your only means of gathering initial data. Once you
have secured the project, start gathering marketing
materials, background research, and any other information
the client may have about the industry and the competition.
Make sure you address each aspect of the company.
As time allows, set up meetings with the client decision-making
team. For internal development teams, this might be
the marketing department. The check-off list covers
the following areas:
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| 1. |
Company/Client |
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Industry |
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Strategy/Marketing/Branding |
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Current
Site |
| 5. |
Competition |
| 6. |
Audience |
| 7. |
Products/Services |
| 8. |
Other |
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While gathering existing client data, keep in mind
that some of the information may be outdated or not
specific enough for the web. Your client will likely
throw together a lot of information and let you sort
it out.
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| By looking
at the industry as a whole, you can begin to identify
the key attributes found on the type of site you're
building. By comparing content, features, graphics,
and overall user experience, you can quickly determine
what works—and what doesn't work—with your
competitive set. This analysis can take from a week
to a month to complete. If you can charge for this work,
do so. Many firms conduct this exact type of analysis
and charge a healthy fee. Build the cost of this analysis
into the discovery phase if you can.
An informal features analysis normally follows these
four steps: 1) define the process, 2) create a features
list, 3) conduct analysis and usability testing, and
4) create a report.
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| Step 1: Define the Process
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| Build
a Plan for Analysis |
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Outline basic goals,
process, and deliverables. Establish team, time
frame, methodology, allocated hours, and deliverables.
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| Define
the Competitive Set |
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Identify
a range of companies that fall into the competitive
set using client-provided information, search
engines, and research. |
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| Categorize
Your Competitive Set |
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Break the defined
competitive set into categories within the overall
industry. Note that each site should fall into
only one category. |
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| Step 2: Create a Features List
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| Create
a Features List |
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Create a list of
features after initial evaluation that apply to
most or all sites within the competitive set.
Include relevant offline features. Break these
features down into individual categories. |
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| Step 3: Conduct Analysis and Testing
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Perform
Individual
Evaluations |
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Conduct individual
studies of each site performed by analysis team
members, who have collected answers to basic questions
about overall user experience, perceived company
objectives, and types of services provided. They
should also add to the feature list as they go
deeper into each site. |
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| Conduct
Informal Usability Testing |
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Determine key tasks
that can be conducted on most or all sites. Perform
informal usability testing and record observations
and effectiveness from site to site. |
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| Step 4: Create a Final Report
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| Create
a Features Grid |
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Create a comprehensive
grid using the features list that shows all sites,
as well as the categories and listing features
that exist within each one. |
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| Make
Overall Evaluations |
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Create the final
report (in short, executive-summary format). Outline
the main findings and indicate how they apply
to the company's direction and business goals.
Follow with screenshots, evaluations, and summaries
about each site in the competitive set. Include
a features grid that lists main features within
each site. Overall evaluations rank each site
for overall use, usability, and likeability. |
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Resources and time determine the efforts allocated
to each of these stages. In terms of the information-gathering
process, it's possible for an individual to research
several competitive sites (both online and off) in-depth
and gather comprehensive data. However, when comparing
features, content, and usability, sometimes it's more
effective (and more objective) to use a team perspective.
Optimally, researchers, whether solo or as a team,
should fully interact with competitor sites—by
placing orders, conducting research, completing registration,
and completing other key tasks—to gather firsthand
comparative usability information.
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