Tips on Redesigning Your Website
• Jessica Iverson, Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue [no presentation]
• Cathy Cleek, California Franchise Tax Board
• Amy Pitter, Commissioner, Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue
• Joel Davison, Virginia Dept. of Taxation 06.19.12
Tips on Redesigning Your Website
Cathy Cleek CIO, Franchise Tax Board Website Redesign Tips
Common approach to redesigning of your website:
2 Website Redesign Tips
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Another alternative for redesigning your website:
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Don’t!
5 Website Redesign Tips
Redesigns are wasteful, expensive, and ineffective.
If you haven’t defined the problem, how is a redesign going to fix it?
6 Website Redesign Tips
Don’t Redesign, Refine (user top tasks) • Identify and prioritize • Address regularly • Low hanging fruit
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Holistic Approach • Identify top tasks • Site Analytics • Customer Survey • Usability Testing • Key Performance Indicators
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Most of our visitors Website Visitors are individual 74.2% taxpayers.
15.6% 10.2%
Individual Business Tax Professional
10 Website Redesign Tips
Survey data and web Top Pages (Jan-May 2011) analytics reveal the 32.6% top tasks of our 29.3% users.
10.1%
0.9% 0.9% 0.9%
Refund Forms MyFTB Payment Online File Contact Us
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Usability tests Usability Test (April 2011) identify needed Success Fail improvements.
100% 90%
60% 55% 45% 40%
10% 0
Refund Forms Payment File Online
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Most of our users How easy or difficult was it? find the website difficult to use. 56.8%
19.6%
12.6% 11.1%
Difficult Somewhat Difficult Somewhat Easy Easy
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Moving Forward • Taxpayer Folder • Notices • Errors
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Website Roadmap A plan to manage the web as a business program. • Identify the website’s goals and business objectives • Define how success of the website will be measured and improved • Establish a governance and business management structure for the website
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Website Roadmap 1. Website Governance and Management 2. Performance Measurement 3. Website Usability 4. Content Management
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Resources • Lou Rosenfeld • Avinash Kaushik • Steve Krug • Gerry McGovern
22 MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
State-wide Web Portal Website Redesign Project Presented by: Amy Pitter Commissioner June 18, 2012 WILL DISCUSS…
Why a Redesign? The decentraliza on debate Ge ng started The New DOR Website Business Impacts Business Poten al Lessons Learned WHY A REDESIGN?
State-wide portal revision project . No flexibility for agencies . “Wall of Links” – no graphic relief . Content Management System very difficult Agency webmasters were the drivers THE DECENTRALIZATION DEBATE
Year long process with 6 different design iterations Desire for Team was State ITD plus state- agency webmasters wide Resolved through branding . Common style sheets . Common presentation templates . Decentralized Information Desire for Architecture Agency Flexibility Agencies were happy because their design goals were met . Allowed multi-media designs . Greater control over content
GETTING STARTED: RECONFIRM OUR AUDIENCE AND GOALS
Solicited feedback to understand agency and user requirements . Solicited feedback via website, Twi er and Facebook and personal appearances . Didn’t get lots of feedback . Consulted with senior managers to access their needs . Didn’t get lots of feedback . Analyzed our Google Analy cs account to determine most viewed content . Google Analy cs was a great tool . Learned that people all over the word came to our site! . Began to understand naviga on problems – developed “tabbing” strategy . Lessons learned . Might have been a case where “if we build it they will come” . Analy cs are your best friend . Useful to be part of a larger communica on strategy CREATING A NEW DESIGN
Using the Mass.gov flexible template, we designed a site to match our audience’s many tasks with our agency’s media-focused, branded outreaches. . Created a common landing page design for our 3 main divisions: Tax Administra on, Child Support Enforcement and Local Services . Created homepage design using graphics, slides and video . Created new top Tabs for All Taxes and E-Services . Created new 2nd and 3rd –level page designs . Tested design usability . Tested the design on various browsers: IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera
MULTIPLE LANDING PAGES – CONSISTENT LOOK AND FEEL BUILDING AND TESTING THE NEW SITE
Employing a work force of 8 employees, we began to build out the site. . Staff trained in new Percussion Content Management System . Three months of work . Built a video player/slideshow plug-in for homepage . Performed usability tes ng and refined site as needed . Developed maintenance plan to assure staff apprised of site responsibili es LESSONS LEARNED
Some useful things we learned along the way. . Make sure there’s someone in charge—skilled in project management, content and design . Communicate, communicate, communicate – give/get constant updates . Pare down content and use all available outreach tools . Test, and then test some more . Use SiteImprove QA tool for misspellings, broken links and accessibility issues . Use all available outreach tools for site launch . Solicit user feedback—and communicate any resultant changes Virginia Department of Taxation TAXweb Redesign: A Fresh Start with No Finish Line
Joel Davison, PR Manager The Problem Survey showed many users not happy with website: . Not intuitive . Poor navigation – too many clicks . Search engine unpredictable . Stale content in some cases . No Webmaster
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Problem
User Frustration
Phone Call$ for Help
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Directive
Tax Commissioner made website redesign an agency priority, and moved site responsibility to PR
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Need . New look and feel . Improve search capability . User-focused navigation . Refresh content . Menu driven to minimize clicks . Align site with stakeholders’ needs, not agency structure . Full-time Webmaster
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process . Research award-winning sites, other revenue agency sites . Review best practices . Hold focus groups w/stakeholders . ID most frequently visited pages . ID most frequently searched terms, keywords . Survey agency employees for ideas . Use project manager with technical expertise
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process
And 1 more critical step: Conduct a study in
to ensure you have a user-centered design
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process Usability: The ease of use and ‘learnability’ of a human- made object. The object can be a book, tool, machine, software application, website, process, or anything a human interacts with. (Wikipedia)
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process
Usability answers: . Can users find what they need on your site? . Is your functionality user-friendly?
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process For our project, Usability:
. Measured users’ success finding information related to various scenarios – current, future sites . Charted success, time needed, eye movement, key strokes, help needed, etc.
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process Search Remedies . Redesign and reorganize pages . Improve the menu structure . Enhance the site’s search features . Take full advantage of the benefits of
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process We now use a ‘custom search’ engine configured to recognize different categories of documents, and rank certain results above others, e.g., tax forms
This is free, and free of ads, for nonprofits and government agencies.
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Platform Technical Platform
Server Platform • Custom-coded in Cold Fusion on Windows/IIS • Homegrown Content Mgmt. System to be replaced in Redesign Phase 2
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Platform Technical Platform
Client Side • JQuery menus • JQuery slideshow • Google Translate • Google Search
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION Former Website
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION New Website
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION New Website
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Process Continues Redesign Phase 2 begins 12/12 • Replace homegrown content management system with more functionality so users can perform tasks without help from developers Redesign Policy Library underway
• Conduct Usability study • Reorganize, better describe content • Improve functionality, search
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The Proof Survey says:
Since go-live 11/11, 89% of respondents say new site:
• Looks much better • Is much more navigable • Gets them to the information they need much faster
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION The End
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION