npr mobile design key factors

NPR Mobile Design Key FactorsA look at mobile user goals & how they can inform user

persona creation for NPR mobile products

December ‘09Matt Gallivan, Lori Kaplan

NPR Audience Insight & Research

Audience Insight & Research

Background & Objectives

This survey was designed with the intention of creating mobile design personas that can inform the functional design of future NPR mobile products. Ultimately, the survey revealed four factors that can be instructive in further establishing mobile design personas.

Survey was sent to NPR listeners of all mobile usage types via the NPR Listens listener panel; 891 responses were collected.

Respondents were asked to rank the importance of a series of potential mobile user goals based on how they would ideally like to interact with NPR on a mobile device (despite whether or not they already do).


Methodology – User Goals Audience Insight & Research

Visually scan recent news headlines Navigate simply among limited features

Follow developing news stories Control the volume easily

Browse stories by topic Pause, skip ahead and rewind in audio

Save stories for later listening Shuffle stories from across programs

Save stories for later reading Have uninterrupted listening to audio

Bookmark a story See visuals related to audio as you listen

Find something you heard on the radio Control sponsorship messages

Customize the interface Listen to full episodes of NPR programs

Share a story with friends via email or social network Save a story to sync across multiple devices

Set your favorite topics for easy viewing or listening See the latest “rundown” of stories or programs

Make a custom playlist of stories or programs Access streaming live audio quickly and easily

Browse through old episodes of NPR programs Have minimal load time when you launch an NPR app or player

Listen to stories that NPR thinks you’d like based on your ratings of other stories

Have a hands-free / voice-activated browsing experience

Set alerts so you are notified of news around certain topics

Find the latest stories from certain NPR hosts or reporters

Survey respondents were asked to rank the importance of the following in a mobile NPR experience, regardless of their current use of NPR mobile products:

MethodologyThere were three steps to the analysis of this project, and it is important to differentiate between what each step shows us.

First, a factor analysis was conducted to see how users conceptualized and mentally grouped the specific goals. These “factors” identify sets of related goals that should be accommodated by product design. They do not, however, represent segments of users.

Secondly, a cluster analysis was conducted in order to see how respondents grouped together based on their responses. These segments could, theoretically, form the basis for quantitatively based design archetypes.

Finally, responses to the user goal questions were filtered by respondents’ self-identification with one of three pre-existing NPR.org user personas. This shows how likely or unlikely certain types of NPR.org users are to consider each of the four mobile design factors important to their needs.


Mobile Design Personas – Hypotheses Audience Insight & Research

Heading into this project, the project team hypothesized the existence of four sets of interrelated user types with respect to interacting with NPR on a mobile device.

News ReadingVisually scan recent news headlines – Follow developing news stories – Browse stories by topic – Save stories for later listening – Save stories for later reading – Bookmark a story – Find something you heard on the radio —Set your favorite topics for easy viewing or listening – Set alerts so you are notified of news around certain topics– Customize the interface

Active ListeningListen to full episodes of NPR programs– See the latest “rundown” of stories from NPR programs – Make a custom playlist of stories and programs – Browse through old episodes of NPR programs –Find the latest stories from certain NPR hosts or reporters – Share stories or shows via email or social network – Pause, skip ahead, and rewind audio –Save a story to synch across multiple devices —Find something you heard on the radio

Passive ListeningHave uninterrupted listening to audio –Have minimal load time when you launch an NPR app or player –Access live streaming audio quickly and easily – Control the volume easily –Shuffle stories from across programs – Listen to stories that NPR thinks you’d be interested in based on your ratings of other stories – See visuals related to audio as you listen – Control sponsorship messages – Find something you heard on the radio –Set alerts so you are notified of news around certain topics

Distracted ListeningHave a hands-free/voice-activated browsing experience– Navigate simply among limited features

Mobile Design Factors – Actual Audience Insight & Research

Factor analysis also revealed four groupings of related goals. While some were similar to what was hypothesized, the resulting categories have been renamed to better describe their associated goals. We have selected to use the phrase ‘design factors’ as opposed to personas as the data has shown largely that all of these goals are universally important to NPR content consumers.

News CheckingVisually scan recent news headlines – Follow developing news stories – Browse stories by topic – See the latest “rundown” of stories from NPR programs – Set your favorite topics for easy viewing or listening – Set alerts so you are notified of news around certain topics – Find something you heard on the radio

Time-Shifting & SharingSave stories for later listening – Save stories for later reading – Bookmark a story – Make a custom playlist of stories and programs – Pause, skip ahead, and rewind audio – Listen to full episodes of NPR programs– Share stories or shows via email or social network – Find something you heard on the radio

Pocket Radio ListeningAccess live streaming audio quickly and easily – Control the volume easily – Have minimal load time when you launch an NPR app or player – Have uninterrupted listening to audio – Navigate simply among limited features – Control sponsorship messages – Find something you heard on the radio

Customized ListeningShuffle stories from across programs – Have a hands-free/voice-activated browsing experience – Listen to stories that NPR thinks you’d be interested in based on your ratings of other stories – See visuals related to audio as you listen– Find the latest stories from certain NPR hosts or reporters– Customize the interface – Save a story to synch across multiple devices

Mobile Design Factors – Shared Goals Audience Insight & Research

Note that the goal of “Find something you heard on the radio” is shared among more than one factor, and one goal (“Browse old episodes”) was not associated with any other goals:

News CheckingVisually scan recent news headlines – Follow developing news stories – Browse stories by topic – See the latest “rundown” of stories from NPR programs – Set your favorite topics for easy viewing or listening – Set alerts so you are notified of news around certain topics – Find something you heard on the radio

Time-Shifting & SharingSave stories for later listening – Save stories for later reading – Bookmark a story – Make a custom playlist of stories and programs – Pause, skip ahead, and rewind audio – Listen to full episodes of NPR programs– Share stories or shows via email or social network – Find something you heard on the radio

Pocket Radio ListeningAccess live streaming audio quickly and easily – Control the volume easily – Have minimal load time when you launch an NPR app or player – Have uninterrupted listening to audio – Navigate simply among limited features – Control sponsorship messages – Find something you heard on the radio

Customized ListeningShuffle stories from across programs – Have a hands-free/voice-activated browsing experience – Listen to stories that NPR thinks you’d be interested in based on your ratings of other stories – See visuals related to audio as you listen– Find the latest stories from certain NPR hosts or reporters– Customize the interface – Save a story to synch across multiple devices

Mobile Design Personas (Hypotheses) v. Factor Results (Actual)Goal Hypothesis Actual Goal Hypothesis Actual

Visually scan headlines News Reading News Checking Find the latest by

host or reporter Active Listening Customized Listening

Follow developing stories News Reading News Checking Share via email or

social network Active Listening Time-Shifting & Sharing

Browse by topic News Reading News Checking Pause, skip, rewind audio Active Listening Time-Shifting &

SharingSave stories for later

listening News Reading Time-Shifting & Sharing

Save, synch across devices Active Listening Customized Listening

Save stories for later reading News Reading Time-Shifting &

SharingUninterrupted

listening to audio Passive Listening Pocket Radio Listening

Bookmark a story News Reading Time-Shifting & Sharing Minimal load time Passive Listening Pocket Radio

Listening

Find something heard on radio News Reading

News Checking, Time-Shifting &

Sharing, Pocket Radio Listening

Access streaming audio quickly & easily Passive Listening Pocket Radio

Listening

Set favorite topics News Reading News Checking Control volume easily Passive Listening Pocket Radio Listening

Set news alerts News Reading News Checking Shuffle stories from across programs Passive Listening Customized Listening

Customize interface News Reading Customized ListeningListen to stories that NPR thinks you'd like based on your ratings

Passive Listening Customized Listening

Listen to full episodes Active Listening Time-Shifting & Sharing

See visuals related to audio Passive Listening Customized Listening

See the latest show "rundowns" Active Listening News Checking Control sponsorship

messages Passive Listening Pocket Radio Listening

Make custom playlist Active Listening Time-Shifting & Sharing

Hands-free/voice-activated listening Distracted Listening Pocket Radio

Listening

Browse old episodes Active Listening NoneNavigate simply among limited

featuresDistracted Listening Pocket Radio

Listening

Clustering Respondents

The four design factors illustrate which goals were related to one another, but do not reflect how the survey respondents cluster together. To that end, a cluster analysis was performed to see if specific factors are more important to particular groups of individuals.

Mean scores of answers to persona goals (0-10 scale)

Three clusters emerged, but two of them (numbers 2 and 3 above) were remarkably similar to one another. What this shows us is that there are primarily two types of NPR mobile users: those who consider all of the listed mobile goals important, and those who consider none of them important. Beyond that underwhelming finding, it appears that goals associated with the Customized Listening experience are the least important goals to all three segments.


Cluster Time Shifting & Sharing

Pocket Radio Listening

News Checking

Customized Listening

1 2.6 3.8 3.2 2.1

2 8.0 8.7 8.3 6.5

3 7.6 8.6 8.3 6.2

Linking Mobile Design Factors with Web User Personas

NPR has pre-existing web user personas that were developed in partnership with Schematic during the site redesign of 2008-2009

Questions were added to this survey asking respondents to self-identify with the one of these personas with which they most closely identified (numbers in red represent percentage of respondents who self-identified as each):

The Insatiable Newshound 55%I listen to NPR most days, and consider it one of several sources I rely on for news.The Consistent Listener 33%I listen to NPR quite a bit and consider its storytelling, humor and human sides as important–

if not more important– that the news I get from it.The Purist Listener 11%I am a fan of NPR’s that listens when I can, though that is not as often as I would like.The Lapsed Listener 1%I sometimes listen to NPR, but those times are few and far between. I sometimes find NPR to

be too dry and dull.


NPR.org Personas: Mobile ScorecardThe Insatiable Newshound 55%


Martin E. DavisI am an insatiable consumer of news and current events– I visit a number of news sources throughout the day, and NPR.org is one of those.

Goals: Marty wants to be (and remain) informed in intriguing and complete ways almost all day long.

Mobile ScorecardMarty is ___ % more likely than average to find these goals important :

-7

-10

-12

0News Checking


Time-ShiftingSharing

CustomizedListening

Average

NPR.org Personas: Mobile ScorecardThe Consistent Listener 33%


Judith T BellinoI see NPR as my most trusted source for news, knowledge, insight and storytelling. I listen to various NPR programs and visit NPR.org for more information and to catch up on anything I’ve missed.

Goals: Judy wants to rely on a trusted (and editorial) source to provide knowledge, insight and efficiency. She wants others to do the “heavy lifting” in information gathering, and stories delivered in a compelling way.

Mobile ScorecardJudy is ___ % more likely than average to find these goals to be important:

17

18

-9

5News Checking



CustomizedListening

Average

NPR.org Personas: Mobile ScorecardThe Purist Listener 11%


Sabrina BredaI often listen to NPR on the radio, but rarely visit NPR.org. For online news, I go to Yahoo! or Google News and use those sites to sort through all the news out there for me.

Goals: Sabrina lives in a completely information-saturated world and wants to make the most of her time. She uses tools such as email alerts, RSS, etc. to help her do that. To her, NPR is a “club.”

Mobile ScorecardSabrina is ___ % more likely than average to find these goals to be important:

-14

7

-18

-6News Checking



CustomizedListening

Average

NPR.org Personas: Mobile ScorecardThe Lapsed Listener 1%


James D. EmmanuelMy busy lifestyle makes it difficult for me to listen to radio programs or watch TV. I recall and appreciate that NPR has great content, but I often don’t have the time or ability to listen.

Goals: James wouldn’t mind rekindling his relationship with NPR, it just needs to be on his terms and on his schedule.

Mobile ScorecardJames is ___ % more likely than average to find these goals to be important:

-20

-71

-21

-35News Checking



CustomizedListening

Average

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