The context of use module probes all aspects of the situations that lead customers to use a web site for the purpose being researched. The context of use module looks at all factors that influence online behavior, whether online or offline.
Objectives of the context of use module:
- Understand the activities that precede, coincide, and follow the use of the web site
- Understand role of information in key processes and activities related to subject matter
- Understand perceived value of different types of information
- Understand the role of information in decision making
- Understand what participant considers reasonable or expected in terms of online offering
- Determine typical online shopping processes, pain points
Tasks that people complete using a web site do not take place in a vacuum. There are a whole range of factors in the life situation of customers that surround the actual web site interaction. It’s important to understand the context in which a related set of activities occurs, because it gives many clues about the mental model that a user brings to the site, their expectations of how it will be organized and how they should be able to interact with it. Customers find web sites difficult to use when they come to the site with an expectation or mental model of how a it should be organized and it is quite different from their expectation.
Ignoring this real life context of a web site interaction leads to the “bucket of features” approach to web design, where design is simply a matter of taking list of features that someone else has decided are in scope for a particular release and arranging them on the page. Such web sites may be feature rich, but they are not intelligently structured to speak to customers’ needs in a way that engages them, reflecting the nuances of real life situations. They are, in effect, a one way conversation. This would be unacceptable behavior in any retail store on the planet, but happens all the time in web site design.
The context of use module helps researchers understand the context of the decisions that lead to transactions or other conversion events. As a result of this module, you will probably notice behavioral patterns that are directly related to the context. The needs and behaviors that are not supported by the current design represent gaps, or opportunities, for new content and features. Those behaviors need to be supported in the design system in order to provide a satisfying and successful user experience.
Copyright 2009, Paul Bryan, Usography Corporation (www.usography.com)
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/uxexperts
