1. Any test is better than no test – ideally you’ll have 4-6 carefully selected users (there are companies that find them for you) but in a pinch your neighbour, your mum or some guy off the street can give you an insight.

2. Test many times during the design process. If it’s a brand new site, start by testing paper prototypes.

3. Create tasks for your test subjects covering the main goals of the site – and write the tasks carefully.

• Don’t use words that are in your labelling or visible on the page (leading tasks like ‘how would you sign up for our newsletter’ when there’s a glaring link that says ‘Sign up for our newslettr’ is cheating!).
• Don’t make up complex scenarios – no “it’s your sister’s birthday next week and…”
• Never mention the steps in the process – just the end point.

4. Set everything in advance – what your tasks are, what counts as success, what you’ll measure, when you’re allowed to help the user, what state the computer will be in when the user starts… and so on.

5. Call your user and remind them before the test. You probably paid a lot to find them and they have nothing to lose by not turning up.

6. Help your user relax. It is stressful being the subject of user testing. Explain that you’re not testing them – they’re testing the site. Say how long it will take, who’s who, what will happen, and that they can stop or take a break any time. Offer water.

7. Give the reward as soon your user arrives. This shows them they have nothing to gain by giving the “right” answers during the test, and gives you more natural responses.

8. Ask the user to think aloud. They should tell you what they’re thinking at any point. Ask them to read aloud what they read on screen.

9. Never give information during the session. Don’t make suggestions or respond to comments. If the user asks whether they’re doing ok, reassure them that they’re thinking aloud very well. You can also prompt them with questions like:

• How are you feeling now?
• What are your first impressions?
• What are you thinking right now?
• What were you expecting when you did that?

10. When testing kids, test best friends together – it’s called co-discovery, and it helps them relax, focus and keep talking.

11. Be strict with observers. Have only 2 people in the room (others behind 2-way glass if they can be silent). No talking. No laughing. No helping. Just watch.

Interested? Book your place at a free breakfast meeting on 18 August or 9 September. If you can’t make it on either of those dates, just email us with a good time to call or meet.

Know your online copy needs improvement, but don’t know where to start? Give us your web content to audit over August so you’ve got a handy To Do list to kickstart your activities after the summer… and get 10% off to boot!

Why audit your content?
Sticky Content’s audit process, developed over 12 years of working with the digital content of global brands, tells you how well your current content is supporting your business objectives, communicating your brand, and serving your users. 

A content audit can provide a roadmap for your in-house editorial team, support a business case, or simply identify priorities for improvement at the beginning of a larger project.

Who have we audited?
Our audit clients include Amnesty International, Big Lottery Fund, caterer.com, Engage Mutual, Hamleys, John Lewis, London Business School, Post Office, Sony Europe and UEFA.

“Sticky Content’s audit of our content was very valuable in making sure that our sites are helping us meet our commercial objectives and that we’re really delivering the sort of experience our users require.”
Bryn Mitchell, Senior Digital Channels manager, Post Office

What do we audit?
The audit can cover any combination of the following: web content, content organisation, user journeys, email content, offline marketing materials, customer service scripts, populated wireframes.

What do you get?
At the end of the process you’ll get an intelligent, comprehensive assessment of your content against web-writing best practice, complete with a list of practical recommendations. Many of these will be quick wins you can sort at once, bringing about a rapid, economical improvement in your users’ experience. Along with the full report, we can also present our findings to your stakeholders in person.

Find out more
Call us on 0207 704 3232 or email us

Writing for the web (half day) – 24 Aug, 7 Sep, 29 Sep, 30 Sep, 27 Oct, 16 Nov, 15 Dec
Key principles and practical techniques that make for great digital copy

Writing for SEO: a practical introduction (half day) – 27 Oct
How to write search copy that helps search engines read and rank your site

Improve your marketing emails (half day) – 16 Nov
How copy can encourage your contacts and customers to open, read and act on your email

New for autumn 2010…

E-commerce and customer care copy (half day) – 29 Sep, 15 Dec
Learn different ways to make your customer care copy work for you online

Find your brand tone of voice online (half day) –  7 Sep, 30 Sep
Learn all about developing your brand organisation’s tone of voice online

Find out more about our courses

More information about the competition
Enter the competition

The amazing thing about this message is its power to confuse even when you’ve seen it hundreds of times before. Because the words appear on the same screen at the same time, there are always a few seconds (more, if you’re an Oyster newbie) when you hesitate: has your card has been updated or should you wait? Meanwhile an impatient queue is forming behind you. Maybe one day a bright spark from TfL will come up with a message that actually says what it means – that you’ve topped up your Oyster card and can now get out of the way and let everyone else have a turn.

The problem with the Oyster message is that it pulls the reader in two directions – much as websites do if they put links in the middle of sentences.  What is the user supposed to do if they come across a link that interrupts their reading? Read on, or follow the link? If they follow the link will they come back? And if they hesitate too long, will they give up altogether?

This isn’t a situation you want to put your readers in, so do them a favour – put your links at the end of sentences. Then they can finish what they’re reading and follow the link at their leisure.  Like us Oyster card users, they’ll be grateful to you for making their journey a little smoother.

1. If you have sections designed for a specific group of people, write ‘For’ in front of that section. Eg don’t write:

Flu information centre

• General public
• Journalists
• Healthcare professionals

Write instead:

Flu information centre

• For the general public
• For journalists
• For healthcare professionals

2. Sometimes, more – not less – is more. People don’t mind scrolling that are 2/3 full screens long if they are confident, from the information they’ve seen, what they want is there. Scrolling is easier for people than clicking

3. ‘Back to top’ links are overused – people know they just have to scroll to get back to the top.

4. People don’t change the zoom level when reading a PDF. They will just struggle to read the PDF at whatever level of magnification it opens at. A good reason to convert important information on PDFs into web pages

5. Always stick to convention when labelling as people are used to scanning for familiar terms. About us pages should always be About us or About <company name>. Not Our company or Team Acme Solutions or Meet the Guys!. And always write the official company name on the About us page – this is where journalists always look for (and often struggle to find) it.

6. Writing for younger audiences means writing for the web techniques are even more important.  Young people often have laptops not desktops, which often means no mouse or printer, poor internet connections, poor sound, a smaller screen and sitting less comfortably when accessing content.

Good writing helps your users understand what your site has to offer. It can increase donations, build your brand and ensure the people who need help know how to find it.

This summer, the Media Trust is working with Sticky Content to give charities the chance to win free web-writing consultancy. Runners up will receive a free place on one of the Media Trust’s training workshops.

If you think expert input could make a difference to your digital content – and, above all, the people you exist to help – enter now by making the case for your project

Any charity can apply – just explain what you need and how we at Sticky Content could help you make a difference.

What’s on offer
For your project, you could choose to ask for help with:

Writing and editing…

• content for your website
• marketing emails and newsletters
• words around your online forms

Advice…

• finding the key issues with your copy
• building a tone of voice for your charity
• planning your publishing schedule

Training…

• how to write for the web
• how to write emails

Are you eligible?
You can apply to win the free project if…

• you’re a registered charity
• you need help with your website content (not the design or the programming – just the words)
• you’ve got a way to measure the results (email opens, newsletter sign-ups, donations etc)

You also need to be happy for Media Trust and Sticky Content to:

• use you as a case study
• do the work at a convenient time

Apply now
Make the case for your project

Just give a few details to apply for free expert help with your web content – it takes around 10 minutes.

Here’s a useful summary of ways to make sure your email content is usable:

1. Subject lines should be treated like headlines – clear and upfront, not vague eg Sticky Content June news.

2. Always remember the people who have images turned off! Along with your subject line, people use the “Can’t read this email?” line to decide whether to open the email, so don’t fill yours with duff copy.

3. 20% of people don’t get through the subscription process, so the copy around this needs to be good. Avoid double negatives eg “If you don’t want to get emails from advertisers, don’t tick this box” and clunky phrases like  “Denotes mandatory field”. (Also, lots of people failed the subscription process when they had to click on a link in an email to confirm registration – they thought the email was just a “thank you for registering” email so didn’t bother to click the link. If you’re going to use this sort of email, the copy needs to be instructional from the subject line – no “thank you”, “welcome” or “congratulations” until the process is complete!)

4. Always use the phrase “unsubscribe” or similar, not “Manage your preferences” etc.

5. When people are looking for a particular message in their inbox, they look at Sender first. When they’re looking for an item of interest, they look at subject line.

6. Don’t use a real name for the Sender if it’s not anyone well-known (Jakob Nielsen is ok, Claire Bussey is not!). You can use a real name within the copy if it adds something eg animal charity PDSA send some emails from named vets

7. Don’t repeat the Sender name in the subject line: it’s a waste. We should ask clients what Sender name they’re using when we write their subject lines.

8. Don’t force people to click through to landing pages. Give them useful snippets of info in the email with the option to read more – don’t tease the

9. Why scannability matters in email:

• the average person spends less than 1.10 minutes reading an email newsletter
• only 19% of people read the whole newsletter
• most people skip around the content so make it clear where each item begins/ends
• users like recognisable patterns/formats

See also my blog about the use of names in generic emails – the gist is that it’s ok to use names if the email is personalised or customised and/or if you have a relationship with the subscriber (eg they’ve bought something).

Being the ‘content person’ in an organisation can be a lonely experience. Every day we speak to people who feel their digital copywriting skills are under-developed or undervalued and who come to us for training and advice.

So we’re launching a Mentoring Programme to bring these people together and deliver ongoing training and support in our specialised field. Joining the Sticky Content Mentoring Programme gives you:

• training from the industry’s leading digital copywriters
• the opportunity to share your experiences with peers in other industries
• ongoing support and the chance to have your work constructively critiqued by experts

Why Sticky Content as mentors?
We know that plenty of people offer copywriting training. What makes us special is that our trainers don’t just train in digital copywriting, they’ve been writing digital content every day since 1997. So we know exactly what you’re going through, the battles you have to fight and how to make a business case for investing more time and budget in copy.

What will the Sticky Content Mentoring Programme involve?
The Sticky Content Mentoring Programme runs twice yearly, in October and January, starting October 2010. As part of the programme you’ll come in for a morning each month and get:

• training on an aspect of digital copywriting and best practice
• the chance to discuss any current copy issues you have in a confidential environment
• feedback on your work from copywriting experts

In addition as a Sticky Content mentee you benefit from:

• auditing and performance benchmarking for 6 pieces of your own content to help you monitor your improvement
• networking opportunities with peers in similar roles in different organisations
• discounts on Sticky Content open courses for yourself and other people in your organisation
• access to a dedicated online forum for support and mentoring

Want to find out more?

Book your place now at one of our free, informal Mentorship Breakfast Briefings – July 21 or August 18.  

Can’t make it on either of those dates? Email us and we’ll arrange a time to suit you.