2. 30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
2
Danielle
Gobert
Cooley
danielle@dgcooley.com
@dgcooley
14
years
as
a
UX
Specialist
BE,
Biomedical
and
Electrical
Engineering
–
Vanderbilt
University
MS,
Human
Factors
in
InformaMon
Design
–
Bentley
University
Selected
Work
hOp://linkedin.com/in/dgcooley
5. (Less)
Content.
(More)
Strategy.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
5
Content
Stress
Expense
Value
to
End
User
Revenue
Expenses
and
stress
increase
with
content.
While
end
user
value
and
revenue
ulMmately
suffer.
6. SO
WHAT
IS
CONTENT
STRATEGY?
6
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
11. KrisMna
Halvorson’s
definiMon
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
11
“
“Content
Strategy
is
the
pracMce
of
planning
for
content
creaMon,
delivery,
and
governance.”
-‐
KrisMna
Halvorson
12. Rahel
Bailie’s
definiMon
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
12
“
“Content
Strategy
is
the
development
of
a
repeatable
process
that
manages
content
throughout
the
enMre
content
lifecycle.”
And
that
means,
from
planning
to
creaMon
to
management
within
the
CMS,
to
publishing,
to
post-‐publishing
acMviMes,
and
back
through
the
next
iteraMon
of
planning,
and
so
on.
13. What
content
are
we
talking
about?
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
13
Graphics
Audio
Video
Photos
PDFs
Blog
Entries
Copy
Tweets
hOp://www.site.com
Links
spacer.gif
14. Content
creaMon
• Who’s
going
to
create
it?
• How
omen?
• What
kind
of
content
will
it
be?
• Tone?
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
14
Don’t
forget
about
maintenance!
15. Content
delivery
• Is
this
going
on
the
website?
• TwiOer?
• Facebook?
• Email?
• Annual
Report?
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
15
Technical
consideraMons
can
be
huge!
16. Content
governance
• Who
reviews
&
approves
new
and
updated
content?
• Who
determines
and
enforces
removal
and
archival
rules?
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
16
Who
gets
to
(has
to?)
say
“No!”
to
the
boss?
24. The
psychology
of
cluOer
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
24
At
Your
House
On
Your
Website
Insecurity
“I
might
need
that
someday!”
“A
customer
might
need
that
someday!”
Keeping
up
with
the
Joneses
“The
neighbor
has
new
landscaping.
I
need
new
landscaping,
too!”
“My
compeMtor
uses
video.
I
need
to
use
video,
too!”
HecMc
pace
of
life
“I’ll
just
put
this
mail
here
for
now
and
deal
with
it
later.”
“I
don’t
have
Mme
to
meet
about
that.
Just
check
with
legal
before
you
put
it
up
there.”
25. DusMn
CurMs
gets
it
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
25
hOp://www.dusMncurMs.com/dear_american_airlines.html
26. AA
is
even
starMng
to
get
it
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
26
2011
28. This
person
got
it.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
28
Everything
Else
Enter
your
tracking
number
Track
My
Package
Reference
unknown.
29. GoDaddy
Didn’t
Get
it.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
29
hOp://www.heathbrothers.com/posts/2011/04/gone-‐godaddy-‐gone/
And
it
cost
them
a
(high
profile)
customer.
33. The
most
important
thing
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
33
Your
content
is
the
most
important
thing
about
your
website.
34. Let
me
repeat
that…
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
34
Your
content
is
the
most
important
thing
about
your
website.
35. Take
care
of
important
things
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
35
Treat
your
content
with
love.
Yell
at
anyone
who
doesn’t.
36. Lorem
Ipsum
must
die!
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
36
Lorem
ipsum
dolor
sit
amet,
consectetur
adipiscing
elit.
Donec
nunc
enim,
volutpat
ut
malesuada
sit
amet,
aliquam
eu
orci.
In
quis
mauris
at
enim
fermentum
vulputate
et
sed
enim.
Suspendisse
tempor
ligula
et
libero
iaculis
quis
tempor
erat
imperdiet.
Vivamus
adipiscing
nunc
vel
odio
dictum
tempor.
Nulla
mauris
nibh,
laoreet
nec
lacinia
id,
feugiat
eu
eros.
Curabitur
faucibus
gravida
lectus,
sed
faucibus
felis
mavs
nec.
Duis
interdum
placerat
urna
sit
amet
posuere.
Aenean
in
ligula
at
enim
convallis
sagivs.
Nam
ac
fermentum
augue.
Curabitur
sollicitudin,
lorem
vel
tempus
malesuada,
tellus
quam
loborMs
risus,
id
dapibus
odio
leo
eget
orci.
Morbi
eu
augue
mi,
eu
porta
arcu.
Donec
massa
leo,
blandit
quis
viverra
vitae,
fringilla
in
augue.
Cras
condimentum,
nibh
ut
varius
lacinia,
metus
quam
faucibus
tortor,
sed
posuere
lacus
risus
in
diam.
Donec
leo
orci,
fermentum
vel
suscipit
eget,
tempus
in
leo.
Vivamus
ante
justo,
posuere
at
sagivs
at,
consequat
vel
leo.
VesMbulum
rutrum
commodo
lorem,
non
varius
nisi
venenaMs
nec.
37. Bacon
Ipsum,
however,
is
awesome.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
37
hOp://www.baconipsum.com
(No!
Not
really!)
38. See
also:
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
38
hOp://www.rikeripsum.com
hOp://www.slipsum.com
(Stop
it!)
39. SEO
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
39
SEO
is
important
and
should
be
considered
as
part
of
your
strategy.
<Mtle>
tags
Link
text
&
placement
Copy
volume
40. Video
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
40
Video
is
expensive,
and
its
use
should
be
considered
very
carefully.
“I’d
rather
just
read.”
“Video
takes
too
long.”
81%
of
users
leave
video
if
it
buffers.
hOp://www.tubemogul.com/research/report/99-‐Online-‐Video-‐Delivery-‐SMll-‐Nowhere-‐Near-‐TV-‐Quality
41. InformaMon
architecture
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
41
Whatever
content
is
included
needs
to
be
organized
very
well.
42. More
content
might
be
OK.
Maybe.
Some?mes.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
42
43. Further
Reading
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
43
Erin
Kissane
TwiOer.com/kissane
KrisMna
Halvorson
TwiOer.com/halvorson
Karen
McGrane
TwiOer.com/karenmcgrane
“Content
Strategy
“Group
Content
Strategy
meetups
in
many
ciMes
44. More
from
me?
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
44
Code:
DCSPECIAL
12
December:
How
to
Design
IntuiMve
and
Usable
Products
Through
User
Research
06
March:
Don’t
Guess:
Test!
The
Why,
What,
and
How
of
User
TesMng
45. Recap
• You
are
(probably)
already
a
content
strategist.
• Content
is
expensive.
• Let
go
of
what
no
longer
serves
you.
• OpMmize
what
does.
30
September
2013
@dgcooley
#D2WC
45
Less Content. More Strategy.
lesscontentmorestrategy.com
Do NOT tell me what happened on Breaking Bad last night!
The Less Content.More Strategy. blog is at http://lesscontentmorestrategy.com.
The basic premise of the idea, is that, as content increases, so does the expense associated with planning, architecting, creating, delivering, maintaining, governing, and archiving that content. The stress of the work teams increases as well. Yet at the same time, value to the end user and revenue decline. If we’re going to choose to take on that increasing expense and stress, shouldn’t it be for something that *increases* value to the end user and conversion/revenue/profit?
Gerry McGovern, a UK-based consultant, talks about The Long Neck. This is a variation of the Pareto Principle, also known as “the 80/20 rule.” He talks about it in reference to user tasks. , but it applies to content as well, so we’d say that 20% of your content is used 80% of the time. Except it’s really more like the Pareto Principle on steroids. A friend shared some analytics information for two of his clients:An e-commerce site had 714,716 pages and 12,125,733 pageviews.The top .01% (71 pages) got 4.4 million (more than 30%) of the page views.677,848 pages (94.8%) were viewed fewer than 25 timesSo let’s think. How much money did it cost to create those 677,848 pages? How about maintaining it? How about creating an information architecture that smoothly incorporates all of that rarely-used content? Probably WAY more than they made (or saved) the few times they were accessed.And this isn’t an outlier. The same friend shared stats for a large B2B IT software company:211,318 pages9,025,793 pageviewsTop .01% (21 pages) had 6,141,264 (68%) of the page views.205,775 pages (97.4%) of the pages had fewer than 25 views.In a world of internal corporate tools, where they don’t actually generate revenue, they are still intended to save money by increasing employee productivity. In scenarios like those above, the time saved for the 25 employees visiting those pages is far outweighed by the time spent on the content in the first place. The ROI just isn’t there.I hear numbers like these over and over again. It just isn’t worthwhile for those groups to maintain that content. (Possibly with a few exceptions, like some legal or privacy notices to limit liability.)
But McGovern’s long neck applies to content as well. Applying the Pareto Principle, we’d say that 20% of your content is used 80% of the time, and 80% of the content is used 20% of the time. Except it’s really more like the Pareto Principle on steroids. A friend shared some analytics information for two of his clients:An e-commerce site had 714,716 pages and 12,125,733 pageviews.The top .01% (71 pages) got 4.4 million (more than 30%) of the page views.677,848 pages (94.8%) were viewed fewer than 25 timesSo let’s think. How much money did it cost to create those 677,848 pages? How about maintaining it? How about creating an information architecture that smoothly incorporates all of that rarely-used content? Probably WAY more than they made (or saved) the few times they were accessed.And this isn’t an outlier. The same friend shared stats for a large B2B IT software company:211,318 pages9,025,793 pageviewsTop .01% (21 pages) had 6,141,264 (68%) of the page views.205,775 pages (97.4%) of the pages had fewer than 25 views.In a world of internal corporate tools, where they don’t actually generate revenue, they are still intended to save money by increasing employee productivity. In scenarios like those above, the time saved for the 25 employees visiting those pages is far outweighed by the time spent on the content in the first place. The ROI just isn’t there.I hear numbers like these over and over again. It just isn’t worthwhile for those groups to maintain that content. (Possibly with a few exceptions, like some legal or privacy notices to limit liability.)
So how does one determine whether content has good ROI? We can use a quadrant map.Some things are inexpensive to produce/maintain/govern, and they provide a high return. (e.g., contact information for a restaurant)Some things are inexpensive to produce, but few people really care about them. Your CEO can write a nice “welcome to our web site,” but end users don’t care about that.Some things cost more to produce and are worth that cost. Corporate branding would be one example.But some things cost a lot and provide little value. Online video is one example of this. In the end, though, where certain content falls in this map is truly dependent on the individual product, and even timeliness. When Amazon introduces a new line of Kindles, the home page features a letter from Jeff Bezos (for a day or two, anyway). If a company is in the midst of a PR nightmare, a letter from the CEO can be good PR and provide reassurance to investors. So, while it still doesn’t have much value as actual end user content, it still serves a purpose and has some value. In short, every situation is different.
The salaries alone (not including benefits, department overhead, materials, and other associated expenses) help illustrate that content isn’t cheap. Remember that for a large site, you’ll be employing dozens of people with these job roles, buying them computers, hiring admins to support them, providing HR benefits, and allocating physical space to allow them to work. It’s often easy to just stop arguing. To say, “Fine. If that video is so important to you, put it out there. No one will watch it, and it won’t matter.” I’ve done it. I’m still tempted to do it when someone pushes for useless content for whatever personal pet reason they have. But let’s not confuse “I am tired of arguing with you” with “This makes good business sense.”
Finally, every piece of useless content creates noise that gets in the way of people finding and using the content that’s actually useful to them. There is a case study in Philadelphia of a consultancy that reduced a client’s page count by 40% and received effusive thanks from the help desk employees for adding MORE content to the site. They hadn’t added more content, of course – they’d just removed the noise and structured the remaining content carefully so people could actually find the content they needed without having to call the help desk.
Many of the same psychological constructs that contribute to physical hoarding also contribute to digital hoarding. In the same way that it’s a bad idea to buy a new car just because your (friend/neighbor/brother/colleague) bought a new car, it’s also a bad idea to adopt the ways of your competitors without a close look at whether it’s worthwhile for you.
This 2009 redesign exercise shows clearly how some digital decluttering makes the experience better for end users trying to achieve their primary goal.
AA’s 2011 redesign starts to adopt this approach.
The 2013 redesign declutters the reservations area even more but extends the length of the page dramatically. (And the actual form fields for booking are below the fold on many screens – one should be careful not to remove the signal along with the noise).
This is the FAQ page for LaneFurniture.com. They’re known for recliners, but they also sell every other kind of mainstream furniture as well. How likely is it that all of those questions are actually asked, frequently, by customers? Does telling people when mid-ottomans were added to recliners and motion units help them sell furniture? I contend it does not. And you and I both know that hundreds of person-hours were spent around conference tables, deciding which questions to include, how they should be answered, rephrasing the questions, rephrasing the answers, categorizing the questions, and ordering the questions. One hopes they are also maintained as service offerings change.
When drafting a site architecture and page layouts, it’s important NOT to use filler text like LoremIpsum. It’s important to know exactly what the content is so it can be labeled properly and the right amount of page real estate can be allocated to it and arranged in the right way.
I’d previously mentioned video as something that is expensive to produce and often provides little value. Note that we’re not talking about YouTube here, where the whole purpose of the site is to watch videos. The value provided by video is highly variable and depends on the specific situation. A demo video is probably pretty important if you are a company that other companies hire to make videos. If you’re trying to explain the beauty of no-load mutual funds, probably not so much. And, of course, there’s plenty in between. But do consider carefully whether a video is the right solution for you, because they can be very expensive to produce, present issues for SEO and accessibility, are often disliked by end users who can find information more efficiently in text or infographics, and are nearly impossible to maintain – you have to throw away the existing video and create a new one.
Once you’ve removed all of the superfluous content that isn’t serving you, make sure you organize what’s left as clearly and intuitively as possible. This process will be MUCH easier if you are able to cut the (probably) 80-90% of your content that’s going largely unused.