Question: How do you measure editorial/UX impact within a software product?

Mike

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May 3, 2016, 12:22:23 PM5/3/16

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Curious if anyone has had any luck measuring the impact of improved language/verbiage/information design within a software product (consumer or enterprise).

I've found some interesting information on measuring marketing content on websites, etc., but very little (if anything) on measuring incremental editorial improvements within actual software.

Example: An improved authentication/sign-in flow. Say the interaction designer introduces a new design pattern to sign in, the visual designer incorporates a new look and feel, and the UX writer/editor crafts a new narrative for the workflow.

In my experience, the words are part and parcel of the overall UX; just one of the many elements of the new design.

I'm just wondering if it's possible to single out and measure the content by itself, or it it's even relevant or appropriate to do so.

Questions:

1) Have you successfully measured the impact specifically of the UX content of a software product? If so, how?

2) Is it even relevant to single out the language/verbiage/content for such a measurement?

Thank you!

Mike

Melissa Eggleston

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May 3, 2016, 2:31:48 PM5/3/16

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Hi Mike,

A content strategist from Facebook, Emily Shields (@iheartejs) presented on this at Lavacon in New Orleans last Fall. For example, she would add a six character word to a popup box, and with the high traffic, they could measure differences very quickly (she worked in the Facebook payments area I think). Her presentation was the best one I saw - it had lots of "small change" examples with large impacts - you might want to contact her.

Also I think it's good (and not unusual in the UX field) to test language outside of the design when possible - you can test category options with TreeJack for example, or I've put page copy in front of people in a Word doc form and asked them to highlight what confused them and tell me what questions they had. Small word changes can make a difference in perception and/or in how users interact with anything - a website, a software product, etc.

Best,

Melissa

Melissa Eggleston

mel...@melissaegg.com

Helping people create user-friendly websites with memorable content

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