Name: Gillian Wood
Age: 53
Occupation: Supermarket manager
Relationship: Married, three children
Uses the internet for: Email, social networking
Gillian has no great need for the internet. But since her sister has recently emigrated to New Zealand, she opened an internet email account to stay in touch.
She is an inexperienced internet user – as are a lot of your visitors.
Plan your website for the Gillians
Chances are a lot of your visitors/customers are inexperienced. Your website/interface needs to be user-friendly, so someone like Gillian can use it.
One of the first steps toward this is wireframing.
Umlungu designs and wireframes solutions
Umlungu will establish your visitors’ needs and yours – through consultation with you, expert analysis, competitor analysis, user testing, etc. Then we will design and wireframe a solution.
What this means to you
- A wireframe shows you exactly what the finished product will look like – and you can make changes before forking out development costs.
- It’s cost-effective, because changes to it are quick, easy and inexpensive.
- From the wireframe, you can design/build something right the first time, rather than spending huge amounts on backtracking and fixing mistakes.
Wireframes are a small (but essential) cog in the bigger machinery of what we do. To find out more about how we can help you, please contact us.
Name: David Greene
Age: 41
Occupation: Lecturer in Natural Sciences
Relationship status: Married, two children
Uses the internet for: Scientific research, online gaming
David is a very sophisticated web user. His online research extends into his personal life, and he’ll often read up on a product or service before deciding which one he wants.
David knows he has choices.
Make sure David picks you
To get David – and people like him – to prefer your site above that of your competitors, you need to know what’s out there.
And you need to build/adjust your website so that it stands out from the rest.
Umlungu does competitor analysis
Your offer does not exist in isolation – search engines will show you that. We can critically and expertly evaluate your online offer in relation to that of your competitors. We take into account technical, copy, graphic and architectural aspects.
What this means to you
The results of competitor analysis means you can:
- Identify who you’re competing against, and find out how you can better serve your customers.
- Identify the order in which improvements to your interface should be made.
- Discover what sets your business’ online presence apart from that of your competitors. These qualities can then be highlighted in your marketing efforts.
- Identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position.
To find out more on how Umlungu’s competitor analysis can help solve your problem, or what other solutions we can provide, please contact us.
Name: Nazli Patel
Age: 33
Occupation: Call centre operator
Relationship: Divorced, one child
Uses the internet for: Banking, online dating
Nazli’s ex-husband is a lawyer. When they argued, he would often use big words and jargon to try and put her down. Nazli now hates it when people beat around the bush.
Which is why she left your website after only a few seconds.
Speak Nazli’s language
Your website visitors/interface users don’t have time to read pages and pages of copy. They want you to speak to them in a way they can understand: in plain language.
Umlungu knows good communication
Good communication is key. We can create effective, plain language copy. Because good communication can help you achieve your goals, but bad communication can drive visitors (and customers) away.
We can also do communication audits on your existing interface. We find out exactly where your verbal communication fails, and where it succeeds.
What this means to you
If your audience can understand what you’re saying, it will:
- significantly improve the usability – and ultimately the number of users – of your interface.
Talk to us about talking to your audience here.
Name: James Mbuli
Age: 27
Occupation: Chauffeur
Relationship: Single
Uses the internet for: His programming studies, blogging
When he doesn’t feel like studying, James often surfs the internet for hours. He now considers himself a bit of an expert, and has started a blog on general internet use.
When he got to your website, he described it as “hard to use”.
Make sure your website works – before James finds it
The problems James found could have been prevented with functional prototyping. These “sample sites” can be tested with users before it’s exposed to the criticism of general site visitors.
Umlungu does functional prototyping
A functional prototype is worth months of analysis and design time. We can provide functional, working interfaces to establish:
- usability,
- communication,
- effectiveness of design and
- technical decisions.
What this means to you
You save time and money by seeing how your finished product would function.
- Problems with usability are identified and eliminated before your website goes live.
- From here it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to getting the end product that really works – for you and your intended audience.
We fast-track success – our prototypes put into action what our competitors are still putting down on paper.
Prototyping is just one step in our process. Talk to us to help you decide the best course of action for your specific needs.
Name: Margaret Goldblatt
Age: 64
Occupation: Retired
Relationship status: Widow, one child, 2 grandchildren
Uses the internet for: Online shopping, checking Lotto results
Margaret has a lot of time on her hands and spends most of it surfing the internet.
Margaret feels she’s unique – as do all of your website’s visitors.
That’s why she was so upset that she couldn’t contact you through your website.
Let Margaret help build your website
The most important people to your website or interface are the people who use it. That’s why you need to find out who they are, and how they experience your site or interface.
Umlungu does user testing
Our user testing has proven to be extremely successful, because:
- We have developed tried and tested methods over the years.
- Our experience and knowledge of the digital world means we can match the right methods to the right problems.
- We use specialist software.
What this means to you
- You’ll find out exactly where your interface needs to be improved for better usability.
- You’ll know in no uncertain terms which development and design direction you should take – before you spend money on development.
User testing might not be the only solution for you. We prefer to offer you a unique solution. Contact us to talk about what you need.
