Integrating market research into the Web site development process

By Jeff Rosenblum | July 1, 1999

Reading time: 6 minutes

Abstract

With the explosion of the Internet, a Web site can help a company become or stay competitive. This article discusses integrating market research into Web site development and strategy.

Research Topics:: Online Research | Quantitative Research | Usability Testing | Web Site Analysis
Industry/Market Focus:: Internet/Web
Content Type: Research Methodology

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Editor’s note: Jeff Rosenblum is a partner in Questus New Media, a Sausalito, Calif.-based interactive marketing agency.

On the Internet, as in any other area of business, to compete successfully, you must exploit every available competitive advantage. One way to do this is by using the strategic guidance generated by researching your target audience.

In helping our clients develop their Web sites and strategies, our firm, Questus, typically uses a multi-phase approach to integrating market research. It starts with building a broad understanding of the target audience’s perceptions of the overall site concept. We then focus on more granular issues, such as feature development and interface design. The methodologies typically used are as follows (in chronological order):

Focus group exploration: used to generate responses to a site’s overall concept, features, content, brand identity and interface designs.
Quantitative measurement: used to obtain projectable data that assists in market sizing, audience segmenting, feature set development, interface design and site marketing.
Usability testing: used to identify ways to make the site easier to use by modifying the its graphics, icons, layout and terminology.
On-site surveys and proprietary panels: used to provide ongoing feedback after a site is up and running.

The development of a new Web site concept typically begins with a focus group exploration. Focus groups are a highly effective tool for assessing a target audience’s overall perceptions of a site and identifying ways to refine the concept to meet their needs.

Using storyboards and interactive demonstrations when demonstrating a new site concept gives focus group respondents a tangible understanding of the site’s overall content and objectives. For example, while recently developing a new e-commerce site, our firm surfed the Web with respondents and had them use competitive Web sites. Then, a prototype Web site was used to demonstrate the prospective new site. Using this stimulus, we were able to identify on-line shoppers’ unfulfilled needs and understand what features will meet those needs.

In this project, as with most focus group explorations, the primary areas that were explored included:

assessing the audience’s interest in using the site;
understanding needs that competitive sites are not currently fulfilling;
identifying barriers to using the site and understanding how to break down the barriers;
generating responses to interface designs;
obtaining input into site marketing and branding.

Overview of pre-launch quantitative surveys

After conducting the initial focus group exploration, it is necessary to measure issues that were exposed, but not quantified in the focus groups. For example, in the series of recently completed focus groups, respondents suggested eight good ideas for site features, but the site only had enough time to initially launch three major new features. Using on-line quantitative surveys, Questus generated detailed feedback from thousands of on-line shoppers from around the country. This input was used to measure which three features were most appropriate for the site’s launch.

To get respondents for the survey, we worked with OnlineSurveys.com, an on-line research panel comprised of respondents from virtually any target audience. By speaking with a statistically valid number of respondents, it was feasible to make strategic decisions with confidence that they were consistent with prospective users’ preferences.

The survey, as with most on-line surveys, comprised 20 questions. Respondents were compensated for their participation with a chance to win a prize. Because the interviews were conducted on-line, it only took a few days to collect the data and download it into a statistical package for analysis. Virtually no time was lost in the development of the site because the entire research phase was completed so rapidly.

In this quantitative survey, as with most pre-launch surveys, we researched several issues related to site development, including:

measuring likelihood of using the site and conducting a market sizing analysis;
measuring the likelihood of purchasing specific products on the site;
creating a demographic and psychographic profile of likely users;
identifying which features and functionality are viewed as the most appealing;
measuring preferences for names, logos, taglines and site interface designs.

Overview of usability testing

Difficult navigation is the most common barrier to frequent usage of a site. If end users can’t find what they are looking for, the appeal of content and products is irrelevant. Unfortunately, most sites are simply not sufficiently easy to use.

Usability tests are an ideal tool for helping make a site user-friendly. When developing the e-commerce site, as with most major sites, we conducted this phase of research in two stages. In each stage, 10 respondents participated in a one-hour interview.

In the first stage, respondents were shown a series of static screen shots and asked to provide feedback on the overall design and specific navigational elements. By using storyboards as stimulus, we generated extensive feedback into improving the designs before investing in any programming. Preferences for visual themes, color schemes, iconography, terminology and content were all assessed before the programming team invested any time in developing the site’s code.

The next stage of the research consisted of full usability tests conducted with respondents while they interacted with a fully functioning beta version of the site. The on-line shoppers worked with a Questus moderator as they explored the site and completed tasks. During the process, the moderator used a combination of passive observation and active probing to identify specific areas of the site’s design and content needing improvement.

Using this two-staged usability testing process, the following objectives were accomplished:

We measured users’ ability to understand the site’s overall design and the design of specific site features.
We assessed ease of navigation and identified ways to make the site easier to navigate.
We generated feedback into site terminology and iconography.

Conducting ongoing site research

After a site is launched, it is critical to regularly obtain a detailed understanding of site visitors’ usage and satisfaction, to ensure that the site is developed in a way that meets end-users’ needs and produces long-term loyalty.

Measuring usage and satisfaction is accomplished by conducting quantitative surveys with site visitors. The quantitative surveys are periodically available on the site and respondents are typically enticed to participate in the survey by offering donations to charity and/or chances to win prizes. The surveys typically take respondents five to 10 minutes to complete and cover detailed issues related to virtually any aspect of the site’s performance.

One of the powerful aspects of conducting surveys is that the information gathered can be used to create a panel of site users. For example, when the e-commerce site is completed, surveys will be available once each quarter on the site. When respondents participate in the surveys, all of their information will be downloaded into a proprietary panel. This panel will then become the backbone of a two-way communication system between the site and its end users. Whenever needed, panel members will be contacted to provide extremely rapid quantitative and qualitative input into the development of the site. This will be a particularly powerful tool given the rapid changes in the on-line marketplace, which make it imperative to quickly acquire accurate strategic input from site users.

Using periodic on-site surveys and ad hoc projects conducted with panel members, it is feasible to explore virtually any aspect of a site’s performance. Some of the areas that will likely be explored on the new e-commerce site will include:

measuring satisfaction with the site and identifying key drivers of satisfaction;
understanding usage and perceptions of competitive sites;
creating a segmentation of site users and understanding the needs and motivations of each segment;
measuring perceptions of specific site elements, such as appearance, speed, content and usability;
assisting in the development of marketing concepts or off-line services;
generating responses to new site features, tools and content.

Powerful advantage

Integrating market research into the development of a Web site provides the site strategists and developers with a powerful competitive advantage. Web users are increasingly sophisticated and demanding. More importantly, they are not loyal. By leveraging various market research techniques, site developers can assess end-users’ demands and continually improve the site’s ability to provide value and increase user loyalty. Given that millions of dollars are being made and lost on the Web every day, it is clear that the question is not "What sites should use market research?" The question is "What site can afford not to?"