Supporting Yanny Better
User Research Findings & Recommendations
10 2019
User Research, Product Design
Given that the Hootsuite Mobile strategy is to retain paying dual users, we aim to explore what we think we know about one of our core personas, Yanny.
We have several hypotheses on Yanny’s mobile usage based on past user research studies and other customer inputs that point to opportunity areas for the mobile app. We hope to inform future strategic initiatives with the findings from this study.
We conducted 1-hour remote sessions, comprised of two parts: a semi-guided interview, followed by validation of concept designs.
Further details can be found in the User Research Plan.
Study Background
Yanny
RESULTS FOCUSED
�Yanny is the Director of Social at a large organization. As the head of social, Yanny uses social to help the marketing team meet their KPIs. While he owns strategy, Yanny’s still executing day-to-day social tasks.
(Some) Pain Points
Objectives
Understand Yanny’s workflows around his �top task, Respond to Direct Engagement, as it relates to mobile.
Understand whether Yanny has a need to �review social-media performance (“analytics”) on a mobile device.
Gather feedback on early concept designs that support Yanny in the above-mentioned tasks.
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2
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We talked to 7 Hootsuite customers...
4 Communicators
3 Quarterbacks*
�*all Yannys
Archetype
2 Coordinated Social Teams
1 Coordinated Sub-Branches
2 Self-Contained �Marketing Teams
1 Self-Contained Communicator
1 Distributed Jugglers
Orgsona
All Enterprise
Plan Type
1 Utility Service
1 Non-Profit
1 Pharma/Biotech
1 Police
2 Government
1 Education
Industries
Further details can be found in the Participant Details section.
Participant | Mobile for work | HS Mobile |
P1* | Frequent | Frequent |
P2 | On occasion | On occasion |
P3 | Frequent | Frequent |
P4 | Frequent | Rarely |
P5* | Frequent | On occasion |
P6* | Frequent | Rarely |
P7 | Frequent | On occasion |
Participants’ Mobile Usage
Frequent: ~4x/week
On occasion: ~1x/week
Rarely: ~1x/month
P* is Yanny
Our aim was to find Yannys to talk to but they’re hard to find. For recruitment details, please see “A Note on Recruitment.”
SECTIONS
IN THIS DECK
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2
3
4
5
Appendix�Dual Users, A Note on Recruitment
Highlights & Recommendations
Highlights
Key Findings
Mobile is for staying on top: �of engagements, of approvals, �of anything critical.
For Yanny, “staying on top” means getting an oversight into his team’s activities.
Outside of engagement activities, Ps use mobile for consumption tasks, preferring desktop for creative work.
Most participants (including Yanny) would like “top-performing content” on mobile.
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2
3
4
Across 6/7 participants, including all 3 Yannys, “monitoring” use cases were most often cited for mobile, in and out of Hootsuite, as opposed to publishing use cases. As such,
Yanny finds Hootsuite Mobile an uncomfortable experience.
Monitoring is one phase in the Hootsuite User Journey.
Monitoring activities involve regular oversight over a set of social channels and their data.
What is “Monitoring”?
For details on Monitoring workflows and tasks, please see the Hootsuite User Journey.
What happened since I last checked in?
What’s doing well?
What needs my attention?
1. Mobile is for Staying on Top
With exception of 1 person (P3), all Ps primarily use their phone for staying on top both off hours and during work hours. For Yanny, that might mean:
For details, please see “Mobile/Desktop Split”
“A campaign is live, there’ll be more messages coming in.”
“Hmm, a text from the CEO, what’s that about?”
“Right, that opinion piece �is out ... Is there anything �I need to moderate?”
“Oh, I got tagged … What is it?”
1. Mobile is for Staying on Top
MORNING
LUNCH
AFTERNOON
EVENING
Review/moderate �incoming messages
Find �Comment
In meeting, checks email
Content planning
Prepare weekly KPI report
Review team assignments
Lots of pushes, checks them
Review pressing engagements
Review �engagements + approvals
Mobile is for “staying on top” but all Ps prefer desktop/laptop at work. They describe moving across devices throughout their typical day. For Yanny, that looks like this:
Text from CEO
Mobile – it’s my godsend (when) … I am on the move, if there is something to approve, it’s easier. Desktop is my main usage but mobile is for when I don’t have my eyes fixed to the screen.”
“
P2: A “Yanny’s Report” at a local police service, talking about how mobile helps them stay on top of his work.
2. Yanny’s “Staying on Top” Means Oversight
For Yanny, “staying on top” also means getting oversight into team activities. Setting aside time to process incoming messages and approvals feature in Yanny’s typical day and Hootsuite is seen as an efficient way to do that.
For details, please see “Yanny’s Mobile Monitoring Leads to Desktop”
What’s the volume right now?
How many messages were �responded to?
Who responded?
For details, please see “Yanny’s Mobile Monitoring Leads to Desktop” as well as “Monitoring Engagements” for info on other P’s mobile engagement workflows.
Where’s that message the CEO mentioned?
Start of day I have clocked in my calendar, �I go through my messages, that’s a huge part … ”
“
P5: A “Yanny” at a Higher Education institution explains how they try to stay on top of engagements and team activity.
3. Hootsuite Mobile is “Uncomfortable”
Yanny relies on his phone yet he finds the Mobile app an “uncomfortable” experience. Examples:
For details, please see “Hootsuite Mobile Pain Points.”
Facebook Inbox
Hootsuite Inbox
Badging
Read/�Unread
status
😭
😍
How do I change what I see?
In Hootsuite (mobile), it isn’t easy to quickly go and see what I need to deal with.”
“
P5: A “Yanny” at a Higher Education institution refers to their challenges using Hootsuite Mobile.
4. Top-Performing Content
Most Ps (6/7 Ps including all Yannys) said that they’d value seeing top-performing content in a mobile context.
This may be because they’re already using mobile to “stay on top” of their work in social.
For details, please see “Analytics on Mobile.”
“... Having it (in the Mobile app) would allow me to show it in a meeting. ” – P6 (YANNY)
“Top performing content is really valuable to me – so that I can share what’s working really well … ” – P5 (YANNY)
4. Top-Performing Content
Related, content-level data is more valuable in a mobile context than aggregate data.
Yanny collects aggregate data but he sees this task is a “sit-down” activity, done on a regular cadence (weekly, monthly, etc).
It’d be handy to have this in the �app but it’d be a change in (my) behaviour ... It’s not something �I tend to do on my phone. – P5 (YANNY)
I want (aggregate metrics) but it’s not my day-to-day. I’ll sit down later and look at �some numbers.”
“
P1: A “Yanny” at a Public Utility Service describing how they prefer to review their analytics.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1
Consider prioritizing monitoring use cases �in the Mobile app.
Given that most Ps, including Yanny, tend to use their mobile phone to “stay on top”, consider prioritizing monitoring use cases on mobile so that the app more fully supports dual users’ existing patterns of use.
What this could look like:
1. Prioritize Monitoring Use Cases
Alerts Are Key
Pushes with HS value props: cross-channel insights �and team workflows
Feeds First
Foreground activity feeds,�planning and composing �are secondary.
Content Insights
Surface top-performing content contextually and synced with desktop.
👀
Recommendation 2
Consider aligning desktop and Mobile app �team “oversight” capabilities.
Given that Yanny turns to Hootsuite to get oversight into team activities and given that he relies on his phone for work, consider aligning the mobile app’s team capabilities with desktop so that he can more easily move between devices.
What this could look like:
2. Align Team “Oversight” Capabilities
Better Together
Sync’d assignments and approvals management
Findability
Clear view toggles, filtering, and new activity status in Mobile Inbox
Recommendation 3
Consider reviewing the product engagement metric “Messages Sent.”
Given that most Ps tend to use mobile for “staying on top”, consider reviewing �the product engagement metric, “Messages Sent”, to more accurately gauge what dual users’ value in the app: staying on top.
What this could look like:
3. Review Product Metric “Messages Sent”
2
Metrics?
One for Dual users and, maybe, one for Mobile-only users
A Dual User Metric
Measures “monitoring” on mobile, and possibly activity across devices.
%
Prioritize opportunities based �on findings:
Next Steps
What to do with Streams on Mobile?
What are the mobile use cases for people focused on paid social marketing?
What exactly are the planning and composing needs for dual users on mobile?
Future Questions
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Detailed Findings
Mobile / Desktop Split
Mobile is for “staying on top.”
Mobile is for Staying on Top
In and out of Hootsuite, all Ps describe “creative” tasks when using desktop/laptop while phone use – for work – tends to be for consuming information.
Factors that drive P’s device usage:
“IM is more normal on my mobile device than a computer.”�– P5 (YANNY)
“When you’re going to the kitchen or making some food, you can’t really be carrying your laptop around.”
– P4 (YANNY’S REPORT)
“… if it’s a news release, we get email copy and we’d just pull it open on our desktop (so we can cut-and-paste).”
– P1 (YANNY)
Mobile | Desktop/Laptop |
Immediacy | Focus |
Reading | Creating |
Portability | Comfort |
VS
Staying on Top of Social
Staying on top of social has a different meaning depending on the persona.
For Communicators, it tends to mean reviewing incoming messages so they don’t miss any important activity.
For Yanny, it means content reviews and team activities. He may also look for a message or topic that was escalated to him by a stakeholder external to his team.
“For lunch, (I use my phone) just to make sure — anything can happen at any time — something that could escalate to something further, I need to be the eyes of what’s happening online …” – P4 (YANNY’S REPORT)
“(I’ll) check (my) phone in the car, if something pops up that needs immediate attention … My phone is always with me.” �– P7 (KAI)
Staying on Top: “On” and “Off” Hours
All Ps, except P2, described using their mobile phone off hours because they:
All Ps described periodic mobile use during work hours because they want to “stay on top” of what’s happening: usually escalations in the form of critical emails or text messages.
“We use Hootsuite Mobile quite a bit, we’re not at our computer all the time, it’s very important that it works.” �– P1 (YANNY)
“What comes in (off hours) it’s important for me to assign or respond, if I don’t by the time I wake in the morning there’ll be another 20 messages I need to deal with.” �– P5 (YANNY)
Monitoring Engagements
Notifications are key.
Monitoring Starts in Native Apps
When monitoring engagements on mobile, 6/7 Ps tend to start in native apps. They’re usually triggered by a push notification for a DM or a Mention. (P1–P7, not P6)
If the message requires more attention, they may then open the Hootsuite app:
In most cases, if a response is required, Ps would follow-up on desktop unless a message was seen as high-priority.
“Native apps are set up for notifications, I’ll know where it’s coming from, and it will usually have some description …” �– P4 (YANNY’S REPORT)
(After scrubbing through iOS native-app notifications) “I generally go to my (Hootsuite) notifications ... if it’s something quick and easy I’ll go there first but if I need to look at the message in more detail I’ll go into Inbox.”
– P7 (KAI)
Hootsuite Mobile Value: All Channels Together
Two Ps (P4, P7) commented that a big value for them was to see all their channels in one place especially on mobile.
These Ps perceived an efficiency to scrubbing through feeds within Hootsuite Mobile over toggling between various native apps.
“I will go into Hootsuite off of the (native) notifications ’cause for me it’s a lot easier to go in and see all our channels at once instead of going into multiple ones one by one.” �– P7 (KAI)
“My main thing to use HS over native is you can see all these streams from different networks, I can’t do it as fast on a native app.”
– P4 (YANNY’S REPORT)
Yanny’s Mobile Monitoring Leads to Desktop
Yanny’s monitoring usually leads to desktop because he finds he can’t get the team activity information he wants in the Mobile app.
“In (the Mobile app) we couldn’t see who was responding – there was no way to pinpoint if someone was doing something (properly).” – P1 (YANNY)
“ … I would go to the desktop through Hootsuite and that’s my pattern, I know it’s challenging about finding assignments through the (Mobile) app. – P6 (YANNY)
Knowing When to Act on Mobile
Ps only act on messages on a mobile phone when �they’re seen as high priority. Ps described using a personal assessment when deciding what’s a priority. Here are some factors observed in this study:
I’ll act when content is: | Examples |
Sensitive | Weighing in on inflammatory content |
Beneficial to “us” | Liking, commenting on an influencer, �key account, or trending hashtag |
Urgent | Helping someone, or �stepping in during a crisis |
“A lot of the times it’s in relation to vulnerable missing persons, we don’t want people commenting on their looks which we get a lot of.”� – P2 (COMMUNICATOR)
“If it’s after hours and it’s not something I can respond to in the morning I’ll do it then (for example) if we closed a road because it flooded, I’ll hop on there to respond otherwise wait ‘til morning” – P7 (KAI)
Hootsuite Mobile Pain Points
Make it “comfortable.”
Top Pain Point: Discomfort
The biggest point for Yanny is that the app fails to support him when he needs it to:
“ … and then when I’m home it’s hard to see what’s been assigned and responded to in (Inbox in mobile), so in the morning I'll go back to my desktop, boot it up and check there.” �– P5 (YANNY)
“My normal use would be: receive an alert, I would go to the desktop ... and that’s my pattern. I know it’s challenging about finding assignments through the app.” – P6 (YANNY)
Mobile Inbox Difficulties
Of note, all Yanny’s cited difficulties with Inbox:
“I find it difficult to locate a specific response or message that needs my attention.”
Messages tend not to be assigned to Yanny. No search in Inbox, partial search in Steams?
“I want to see what’s been assigned and what’s been responded to.”
“I can’t organize accounts in a way that makes sense to me.”
Navigation not intuitive for Yanny’s needs?
“I want to know who has responded.”
Incomplete capabilities?
Filtering affordances not clear or complete?
… For Inbox, where I think there is a challenge … is that there is nothing personal assigned there �to me. ”
“
P6: A Yanny at a government organization, describing their experience trying to find a message that has been escalated to them for review.
Other Pain Points
Consistency with Desktop (all Yannys + P3):
Reliability and discoverability
“There are a lot of things that aren’t consistent in mobile versus the desktop.” – P1 (YANNY)
“I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the app: assignments aren’t working, accounts disconnecting.” – P5 (YANNY)
Analytics on Mobile
Top-Performing content is 👍
On seeing the concept designs, almost all Ps �(6/7 Ps including all Yannys) said they’d value seeing top-performing content in a mobile context.
These same Ps shared that they already gather this information, in Streams or in native tools, which has �been found in past research here and here.
“Top-Performing Content” in �the concept designs shown in �the interviews.
I like that there’s a drop down here … so that I can change by engagement or by impressions – I’d want to see it by tag too.
– P3 (SELF-CONTAINED COMMUNICATOR)
Top-Performing Content is 👍
To Aggregate or Not on Mobile?
There’s resistance to aggregate analytics on mobile (i.e., total engagements, total link clicks) because Ps say that:
For details on how Hootsuite users do “regular analytics reviews,” �go to “Measure Active Users 2018”
“Metrics I Track … ”
Participant | Response Time | Reach | Followers | Sentiment | Engagement | Leads/�Link Clicks | INDUSTRY |
P1* | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | ✔ | | Utility Service |
P2 | | ✔ | | | ✔ | | Police |
P3 | | | ✔ | | ✔ | ✔ | Pharma / Biotech |
P4 | ✔ | | | | ✔ | | Non-Profit |
P5* | | ✔ | | | ✔ | ✔ | Education |
P6* | | | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | | Government |
P7 | | | | | ✔ | | Government |
Yanny tracks a wider range of metrics. Everyone tracks engagement.
For further details on metrics Hootsuite users track, please go to “Measure Active Users 2018”
Engagement is Important
4/7 Ps say engagement is the most important metric they track because their main goal is to “build awareness.”
P6’s (YANNY) “Weekly Summary”
… We don’t sell product, we’re mostly just looking to grow awareness.
– P3 (COMMUNICATOR)
(I’m) not looking so much at conversions, we’re not selling anything, we’re a utility.
– P1 (YANNY)
… (we’re) not product or sales, our (metric) is purely engagement …
– P2 (COMMUNICATOR)
Concept Design Feedback
Show content feeds first, numbers second.
WIP
Concept Designs Process
The concept designs were shared with each P to see whether there’s value in showing analytics and summary engagement activity in Hootsuite mobile.
VIEW A
VIEW B
VIEW A, scrolled
VIEW A, scrolled
Show Content Feeds First
3/7 Ps expressed hesitation on seeing a “dashboard” in the designs. (P1, P5 – both Yanny – and P2)
While Ps liked the summaries they saw, they preferred easy access to their “content:”
I wanna know I’m working in DMs and comments first not all in one. I want this info but it’s not my day-to-day.
– P1 (YANNY)
I would say it’s nice for a bit of an overview ... (I) would need to quickly toggle back to streams ...
– P2 (COMMUNICATOR)
Is this is supposed to be an overview page of the HS account? I’m seeing lots of metrics and summaries but my biggest thing is how do I get to my content ...?
– P5 (YANNY)
Familiar Streams
Just like they want easy access to “content”, Yanny (P1, P5, P6) says he likes the engagement “snapshot” of Inbox Summary but he also wants access to what he knows in Streams:
I want to see how many DMs we did, how many mentions we got, how many we responded to, how many comments we got, how many comments we responded to ...
– P1 (YANNY)
How many assignments have handles, that’s what I want know — I’m the team lead, I’m the one doing the assigning.
– P5 (YANNY)
DMs, Mentions, and Approvals �At the Top
blah
“Objectives Are … Suggestions?”
blah
Hypotheses
Our Hypotheses
Finds mobile convenient to see his team’s pressing engagements when he’s away from his desk or “on-call” for support.
Values Hootsuite (HS) over native apps because he �can see all activities in one place … ��
Values seeing prioritized social feeds (i.e., seeing only relevant and/or grouped messages) because he doesn’t want to spend a lot of time there.
FINDINGS:
ON MOBILE, YANNY:
Yes, location and the task at hand determines Yanny’s mobile use. He also desires to use mobile to “stay on top” of team activity and escalations.�
�Yes but Yanny is unhappy with the inconsistencies between desktop to mobile.�
�Yanny wants options for organizing messages to get the oversight he wants.
Our Hypotheses, Continued
Wants access to meaningful insights on top-performing content because it helps him to stay on top of planning for the next �publishing cycle.
Unless it’s for paid content, he isn’t interested in aggregate metrics (i.e., team metrics or campaign metrics) because he tends to review these numbers less frequently than metrics for individual posts or ads.
FINDINGS:
Yes, Yanny would value insight into what content is doing well on mobile.
��Aggregate metrics on mobile have unclear value. Yanny looks at metrics but describes it as a “sit down” task.
ON MOBILE, YANNY:
?
Participant Details
Participants Overview
P## | Job Title | Archetype | Orgsona | Persona | Industry | Size | # of SNs | Plan Type |
P01 | Digital Manager/Director | Quarterback | Coordinated Sub Branches | Yanny | Utility Service | 100–�1,000 | 3 | Enterprise |
P02 | Social Media Manager | Communicator | Distributed Jugglers | — | Police | ? | ? | Enterprise |
P03 | Head of Social | Communicator | Self-Contained�Communicator | — | Pharma/�Biotech | 21–100 | 4 | Enterprise |
P04 | Community Manager | Communicator | Coordinated Social Team | Yanny’s Report | Non-profit | 501–�1,000 | 2 | Enterprise |
P05 | Social Media Manager | Quarterback | Coordinated Social Team | Yanny | Education | 501–�1,000 | 23 | Enterprise |
P06 | Digital Manager/Director | Quarterback | Self-Contained Marketing Team | Yanny | Government | 101–500 | 3 | Enterprise |
P07 | Web/Communications Technician | Communicator | Self-Contained Marketing Team | Kai | Government | 101–500 | 5 | Enterprise |
Team
Day-in-the-life
P01
Digital Manager/Director, Utility Service
Yanny
What is important to (me) is to supervise the managers so that I can sidestep and focus on the long term.
The day-to-day reviewing of content is too much, I don't want to step in to get stuff done.
Pain Point
Goal
Team
Day-in-the-life
P02
Social Media Manager, Police
Communicator in a Distributed Jugglers Org
It’s more to do with engagement … increase the public confidence in the ... police.
We are going to have to start to responding to a lot more people, to stop the team from responding to the same people would be nice.…
Pain Point
Goal
P refers to their team’s limited resources.
Team
Day-in-the-life
P03
Head of Social, �Pharma/Biotech
Self-Contained Communicator
Raise awareness of the company corporate brand (which) isn’t well known, give a voice online.
Now there’s two of us … but with growing volume that 30% of time I have (for social) isn’t enough anymore.
Pain Point
Goal
P refers to their team’s limited resources.
Team
Day-in-the-life
P04
Community Manager, �Non-Profit
Yanny’s Report
... making sure that we’re providing excellent service and developing our presence online.
Definitely tough to manage time effectively, you have to keep dipping in and out of platforms.
Pain Point
Goal
Team
Day-in-the-life
P05
Social Media Manager, �Education
Yanny
… we have a dedicated social strategy – we’re much larger than a lot of other higher ed institutions.
I’ll use (HS Mobile) sparingly because a lot of things don’t work.
Pain Point
Goal
P wants to create a clear strategy �for social:
Team
Day-in-the-life
P06
Digital Manager/Director,
Government
Yanny
When things are going well, there is nothing to take us by surprise.
… we don't have a social team, it is a pain point.
Pain Point
Goal
P describes their goal of helping their team to stay on course in a heavily regulated space:
Team
Day-in-the-life
P07
Web & Communications �Technician, Government
Kai
… I handle the majority of the social media ... (anything) we want to get out to our (audience.)
I’m not getting notifications (from HS) so now I depend on notifications from (native apps).
Pain Point
Goal
P describes their desire to efficiently manage their social tasks:
Appendix
Dual Users
For the purposes of this study, the term “dual user” refers to one of Hootsuite’s core personas, Yanny, and his practice of using a laptop and a mobile device in support of his work in social media.
A Note on Recruitment
In the interest of time, we decided to end the study at 7 participants, which includes 3 “Yannys” as we thought this would offer enough data to draw some relevant findings.
Here’s the recruitment funnel:
Other Resources
Thank you
User Research, Product Design