What UX Tools You Need For A Digital Analysis.

We’re digital experts. As experts, we felt it would be reasonable to predict the general user journey of our customers on the Lamb website. How wrong we were. We saw customers glazing past prime content and navigating in some bizarre forms. True, most visitors followed the best practice approach one would expect. Yet it was an eye-opening experience to see the variety of online behaviours exhibited digital platform can adopt a cookie-cutter approach, so we analyse each website, business and audience uniquely and adapt our design approach accordingly.

To deliver tangible value, we design with intention backed by a data-driven strategy.

So how do we know what your audience wants?

UX & Journey Mapping

We’re always watching.

CrazyEgg (yes you read that name right) offers a plethora of real-time data on your customers' digital interactions across desktop, tablet and mobile. We utilise CrazyEgg’s heat mapping, scroll maps, confetti and overlay data to analyse user pathways and identify valuable content.

Visitors may be accessing that piece of copy you quickly threw together expecting very few to read. Or they may be clicking on non-actionable content - indicating a hyperlink or CTA is required to guide your user. These maps bridge the gap between your intentions as a marketer and your consumer expectations and interests. Get ready to pull your hair out! The most fascinating and frustrating part of CrazyEgg is their recordings. You can view real users navigating your website and skimming past that copy you spent hours on or struggling to find your wishlist.

They also offer A/B testing to apply to your changes and analyse their effectiveness.

• CrazyEgg offers a 30-day free trial (we swear this isn’t a paid sponsorship, we just love UX data).

• Hotjar and Mouseflow also offer similar services.

Information Architecture

We know what you want.

There are three types of online users in this world (pretty much).

01. Main Menu - Help me find what I’m after

Duh! The obvious one is users who rely on the main menu. They have an idea of what they’re looking for but require guidance on the right product or service route. What do we use? Your best friend here is Google Analytics. While there’s an abundance of information to draw from, we start with Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages > Page Views.

This dictates the key content your audience is accessing and guides the pages available within your main menu for quick access. Depending on your product or service your site may be suited to a single menu, mega menu or split menu (top level and main). Not quite sure what menu is best for you? Chat to us. 

02. Search - Give me what I want and I want it now.

Users who know exactly what they want and don’t waste time. You better hope your search bar is easy to access and results are based on effective logic. Case study example: Our friends at OzHair & Beauty nail this! Their search bar is located above the navigation bar and pre-expanded. No time wasted struggling to find that small search icon - it’s straight down to business. Collections, products, suggestions and pages are presented as you type to streamline the journey to reach a product.

03. Page Scrollers - I’m open to more information and guidance

Finally, there are those users who want to cement their decision on your brand and offering. These visitors will scroll through your content and are guided by call-to-actions below the fold. Case study: This brings us back to CrazyEgg and understanding your customers' interests and expectations. Ensure your copy is littered with references and actionable links to your key services or products (despite the repetition from your main menu). Jones & Co repeat their key product collections halfway down the page for such users.

What do we use? Our designers have used plenty of tools (from Photoshop, Figma, Sketch, AdobeXD to Invision) as a wireframing platform to map out the key modules and page layout. Though these are a bit hands-on. Mockflow is perfect for a basic wireframe that pushes you to think about key modules and valuable content before diving head-first into designs. For those who are familiar with design tooling and software, Adobe XD is an excellent platform that isn't too complex to wrap your head around. Check out our guide to creating a landing page wireframe in Adobe XD here.

Site Speed

Fast is better. 

Site speed is the not-so-sexy side of digital, but is one of the most important. You have mere seconds to make an impression. As an experienced marketer, we’re sure you already know speed is pretty damn important. No need to go into SEO ranking and conversion statistics. So how do we measure speed at Lamb? Pingdom provides site speed analysis with location filtering to gauge user experience per geographical region. We also use it for uptime monitoring of the website. Pingdom will text and/or email you if your site goes down.

• Test out the free Pingdom Speed Test

• Google Speed Insights also offers free speed analysis