It's been a week since we talked about [scoping out your content]({{ site.url }}/maintenance-content "Getting started with website maintenance.") for maintenance.
If you remember, I told you only to take notes on what you expected out of your website pages, not actually re-write any content.
That's because at the end of the day you might completely chang what your pages are.
What are user expectations?
There are many ways to approach figuring out user expectations. Let's go through some of the simplest.
Create 3 potential scenarios.
Let's say you run a pet supply store.
Say to yourself, "I have Bob, Jill and Joe". Here's an example of a realistic and potential scenario for Bob.
Bob has a golden retriever who just broke his leash.
The nearest PetCo is farther away than he cares to drive and he hopes to find a closer shop that can help him out.
Bob doesn't want to waste his time driving from store to store looking for the type of leash that he wants, either.
He opens up his laptop and goes to Google, where he enters in his city plus the phrase "pet supplies".
Since you've been [learning about how to optimize your website]({{ site.url }}/small-business-website-guide-seo-writing-for-the-web "6 Lessons To Powerful Content For The Web and Small Business SEO."), you show up on the first page. He clicks through to your website.
What is he looking for? Well, he wants to find a leash so first he's going to check to see if you have an inventory somewhere on your website.
If you don't have an inventory, he may look for a Contact page for a phone number to call and see if you have any leashes available.
Apply the same logic to Jill and Joe.
Come up with unique scenarios for all three of your potential customer scenarios.
Maybe Jill is an existing customer looking to see if you are back in stock with her favorite item.
Maybe Joe asked his friends on Facebook where a good [your type of store here] is.
Get creative! I think 3 is a good start, but if you're getting on a roll, just keep on going! You can draw stars next to the 3 customers you think are the most likely once you're finished.
When you're done, you will easily compile a list of things that real people might expect to find when they arrive at your website.
Design workflows for your top scenarios.
Okay, go through your scenarios.
For each customer, write down the steps you think they should have to take to reach their goal.
In Bob's case, you need to decide if you're going to list an inventory. An inventory is only useful when it is always updated and that takes time, so you may not want to.
If you don't have an inventory, is it really easy for him to find your phone number?
Do you think you should feature the phone number at the top or the bottom of your website, or should you list it on a designated Contact page?
Do you think you should do both?
Can Bob access the Contact page from any page of the website?
You need to think these things through. Because your customer doesn't want to think these things through. In fact, they won't. They'll find someone else that did the thinking for them.
It shouldn't take more than 2-3 pages of workflow for any given scenario, depending on how complex the task is. The most important ones should take 0 steps, and the more complex important ones (say, a page with a Map) would potentially be 1 click away at any given time.
Reviewing your existing workflows.
Go through your website as each of your hypothetical users.
Did your real workflow fit your ideal workflows as outlined in the step above?
Write down the real workflows as your website is now next to your ideal workflows. Note how they differ.
Homework: Evaluate your site's workflow.
Okay, if you weren't following along with a pen and a sheet of paper yet, it's time to go back and follow these steps.
Report back!
What did you find out? Is your website more complicated to navigate than you realized?