Digital products often fail. Many times, it’s because they’re poorly funded, based on a bad idea or trying to fill a vague market need. But on the flip side, even products that are well-funded and have a solid idea and clear market can also go belly up. What gives?
Dean Schuster believes it comes down to goals. As a User Experience Design Strategist and Partner at truematter, Dean takes a user-first approach and focuses his work on well-planned goals that are connected to real-world use.
Dean has a simple view of the fundamental anatomy of digital product goals, and tips for defining and measuring them. Read on for insights to help you outline goals and evaluate results for improved product success.
The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals
What is a goal? Dean defines it as a concise statement of a desired result. Goals are high-level statements that point to desired outcomes.
But not all goals are created equal. In order to be meaningful and useful, a goal needs to include five essential components:
Have a clear context. Goals should connect to a broader strategy.
Be prioritized. There are internal goals and user-based goals. User-based goals should come first, always.
Connect to real users. Each goal should have specific objectives (roughly three key objectives per goal).
Predict a successful future state. “Wins” envision the realization of each objective.
Be concretely measurable. Determining what you’ll measure and how you’ll measure it ensures you capture data to prove results.
Defining & Measuring Goals
Let’s take a real-world example from Dean’s playbook, and see how this all works. Let’s say you have an existing web app that needs an overhaul. It’s complex, outdated and accessed infrequently by novice users. But it’s mandated. People have to use it to complete a certain task.
Looking to the five essential elements, we’ll need to walk through five steps:
Context
Prioritization
User-Connected Objectives
Predictions
Measurement
1. Context
When trumatter embarks on discovery, they put together a UX Road Map that includes user research, data analysis, high-level requirements and other critical UX elements. Two of the biggest things they focus on are Users and Strategy & Goals.
“Goals have to have a context. They have to live within discovery. They have to live within research. They have to be grounded in something.”
— Dean Dean Schuster, Partner at truematter
Conducting discovery for our example product, you may hear goals such as:
Modernize an outdated web app
Make it easier to use
This is a good starting point, but it’s important to dig deeper. The next step is separating goals into internal goals and user-based goals and prioritizing them.
2. Prioritization
Internal goals look inwards. User-based goals focus on the user, and how the product will actually be experienced.
Modernize an outdated web app = internal goal
Make it easier to use = user-based goal
A pro tip from Dean: ALWAYS put user-based goals first before internal goals, no matter how important you think they are.
In terms of prioritizing, then, our list would read user-based goal first:
Make it easier to use = user-based goal
Modernize an outdated web app = internal goal
Drilling down, you’ll want to go back to your research and unpack these goals and rephrase them to make them more specific.
Make the app itself the expert (user-based goal)
Align the app’s task flow with the real world (user-based goal)
Rebuild user trust in an app that people must use (internal goal)
3. User-Connected Objectives
Next, you’ll want to connect these refined goals to real-world use. You can do this by outlining objectives.
Dean points out that objectives are different from goals. Goals are very big things. Objectives are specific, actionable and measurable. They’re a means to attaining your goals.
For the first goal listed above, “Make the app itself the expert,” you will want to outline objectives.
Goal: Make the app itself the expert
Objectives:
Guide users with a simple step-by-step approach. Use a wizard approach to take novice users through distinct tasks (but still allow power users a way to see everything).
Lose the legalese. Your users are not lawyers. They have a hard time with technical lingo and will not read dense copy. Use words the average Joe or Jane can understand.
Automate wherever possible. Share data, automate calculations, pre-populate deadlines and warn of upcoming dates.
4. Predictions
How will you know if you’ve achieved your goals? Predictions help you to describe a future state, or outcome, and give you clear indicators that you can measure. They’re things you might expect to happen if your goal is realized.
Objective: Guide users with a simple step-by-step approach
Simplicity and control means fewer errors
People will save time if they don’t have to figure out how to get things done
The organization should see a reduced support burden
At truematter, they call these predictions “wins.” Google calls them “signals” in their HEART framework. Whatever you call them, predictions take you one step further in your goals as they illustrate the realization of objectives.
5. How to Measure
The final step in this process is measurement, showing evidence that your goals have been achieved. For our predictions above, here are some metrics you could measure, and methods you could measure them by:
Fewer User Errors: Error and failure rates (user testing)
Less Time: Time per task (user testing)
Reduced Support Burden: Call Center volume (support analytics data)
Putting It All Together
So you’ve done all the work. You have your goals. They have context, prioritization, user-connected objectives, predictions and measurement. Done deal right? Not just yet.
You’ll want to get agreement on the product goals early on, from your decision-makers, stakeholders, content area experts and the implementation team. Goals will guide the making of the product, so it’s important to make sure everyone is in agreement as to what those goals are.
Equally important is measuring immediately. Dean recommends beginning to measure as soon as you figure out what it is you’re measuring. That way you can capture a baseline or early measurements for new or existing products.
For example, if an objective is to reduce the support burden, you’ll want to measure what the time investment is both before and after launch.
Prelaunch: 5 people averaging 10 hrs/wk = 50 hrs /week
Launch: 2 people averaging 3 hrs/wk = 6 hrs/week
Stakeholders and decision makers speak the language of goals and measurement. If you’re following Dean’s process, then you’re speaking their same language. With a better understanding of defining and measuring goals, you’ll be able to make a stronger case for product decisions and the user experience and a more successful product. For more ideas and insights, check out blog.truematter.com.
Image via truematter