Comments on: Designing for Active Lurkers http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/ Interface Design & UX by Joshua Porter Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:28:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Christina Sponias http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-290008 Christina Sponias Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:11:37 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-290008 Yes, the point is always how to transform the lurkers into active visitors that will do something, instead of simply staying around, reading, watching and thinking…? Many of them simply remain lurkers forever, especially if they find new content and interesting opportunities everyday or so, what means that they don’t have any commercial intention. Perhaps some day they will… What could help them take this step earlier? Information in articles and ads are banal tactics used by everyone… Yes, the point is always how to transform the lurkers into active visitors that will do something, instead of simply staying around, reading, watching and thinking…? Many of them simply remain lurkers forever, especially if they find new content and interesting opportunities everyday or so, what means that they don’t have any commercial intention. Perhaps some day they will…

What could help them take this step earlier? Information in articles and ads are banal tactics used by everyone…

]]> By: Nate Klaiber http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289994 Nate Klaiber Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:22:47 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289994 @Chris I think it's simply because it hasn't been applied to the web yet. I don't think we can take a principle from one context, drop it in another, and still have the same effects or metrics. Measuring is different in both contexts. I like the thought process and model, but I think it's still young on how, where, and why you measure this on the web. Thoughts? @Chris
I think it’s simply because it hasn’t been applied to the web yet. I don’t think we can take a principle from one context, drop it in another, and still have the same effects or metrics. Measuring is different in both contexts.

I like the thought process and model, but I think it’s still young on how, where, and why you measure this on the web.

Thoughts?

]]> By: Chris http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289988 Chris Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:24:14 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289988 Sounds a lot like using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (one of many persuasion theories, so I guess there is a science to it after all). ELM has 2 broad routes to engagement. - Central Route for those already engaged/involved or interested - Peripheral for those that aren't engaged or immediately interested. You want people to be in the central group. Lurkers fall into the peripheral group, we need to be designing cues to engage them and steer them into the central group. Advertising has been doing this forever in getting people's attention, but it starts to get really interesting (and fun) when you're playing with this stuff in an interactive environment. Its a interesting that this is considered 'new' in the web industry when its been around for decades and researched to hell in the 'real world'. Maybe its that the research hasn't been applied in the web yet? Sounds a lot like using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (one of many persuasion theories, so I guess there is a science to it after all).

ELM has 2 broad routes to engagement.
- Central Route for those already engaged/involved or interested
- Peripheral for those that aren’t engaged or immediately interested.

You want people to be in the central group. Lurkers fall into the peripheral group, we need to be designing cues to engage them and steer them into the central group.

Advertising has been doing this forever in getting people’s attention, but it starts to get really interesting (and fun) when you’re playing with this stuff in an interactive environment.

Its a interesting that this is considered ‘new’ in the web industry when its been around for decades and researched to hell in the ‘real world’. Maybe its that the research hasn’t been applied in the web yet?

]]> By: Nate Klaiber http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289779 Nate Klaiber Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:59:23 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289779 @Ben Nevile You have hit one of the toughest things when designing for lurkers. How do we know anything about them, when they aren't doing anything? And...Can we truly change that? One way I would suggest (something I have done in the past), is to do some A/B (split) testing with some different design ideas. Do your best to split things up and see if Analytics shows anything different. You can't necessarily gauge the qualitative parts of the site, but you will be able to see the quantitative and see if there is more activity. This can include simple clicks, too. Setup goals (funnels), and see if people are actually getting to the areas you think they are. This could give hint at a bottleneck earlier up the chain in the design process. Again, these are just a few small ideas to a very tough problem to solve. There is no science to it, and each situation will vary in many ways. @Ben Nevile
You have hit one of the toughest things when designing for lurkers. How do we know anything about them, when they aren’t doing anything? And…Can we truly change that?

One way I would suggest (something I have done in the past), is to do some A/B (split) testing with some different design ideas. Do your best to split things up and see if Analytics shows anything different. You can’t necessarily gauge the qualitative parts of the site, but you will be able to see the quantitative and see if there is more activity. This can include simple clicks, too.

Setup goals (funnels), and see if people are actually getting to the areas you think they are. This could give hint at a bottleneck earlier up the chain in the design process.

Again, these are just a few small ideas to a very tough problem to solve. There is no science to it, and each situation will vary in many ways.

]]> By: Daily Links for Friday, July 17th, 2009 http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289768 Daily Links for Friday, July 17th, 2009 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:42:19 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289768 [...] Designing for Active Lurkers – Bokardo [...] [...] Designing for Active Lurkers – Bokardo [...]

]]> By: oggy http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289750 oggy Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:55:54 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289750 The beauty of the web, is that it's the first time that we can measure these passive users and their "lurker" behavior. Landing pages, searcher intent through keywords, or even referral sites can give us valuable information about people who leave a site after just viewing one page (Bounce). Imagine then, the valuable information we can gather from lurkers which implies some sort of navigation. What are they interested in? is there a trend? or several? How could they add to the value of the site without necessarily participating in a transaction? Potential for Brand awareness, word of mouth recommendations and even product evangelism come to mind. The beauty of the web, is that it’s the first time that we can measure these passive users and their “lurker” behavior.

Landing pages, searcher intent through keywords, or even referral sites can give us valuable information about people who leave a site after just viewing one page (Bounce). Imagine then, the valuable information we can gather from lurkers which implies some sort of navigation. What are they interested in? is there a trend? or several? How could they add to the value of the site without necessarily participating in a transaction?

Potential for Brand awareness, word of mouth recommendations and even product evangelism come to mind.

]]> By: Christina Sponias http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289749 Christina Sponias Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:15:09 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289749 I agree with you, Joshua, because a relationship with our website visitors is important, and I believe that each website owner has to care about providing fresh content for them, or give them the possibility to participate in various activities that won’t be necessarily subscribing to an email list of buying anything. Everyone usually buys something when they feel that they can trust the seller; this confidence has to be built with time. Nobody arrives to a store and immediately buys whatever in a rush. Most people think a lot, analyzing many things before deciding to purchase something, and this happens online and offline, since it is a characteristic of the human behavior. I agree with you, Joshua, because a relationship with our website visitors is important, and I believe that each website owner has to care about providing fresh content for them, or give them the possibility to participate in various activities that won’t be necessarily subscribing to an email list of buying anything.

Everyone usually buys something when they feel that they can trust the seller; this confidence has to be built with time. Nobody arrives to a store and immediately buys whatever in a rush. Most people think a lot, analyzing many things before deciding to purchase something, and this happens online and offline, since it is a characteristic of the human behavior.

]]> By: Ben Nevile http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289748 Ben Nevile Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:01:06 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289748 It's hard to design for lurkers because, other than visit numbers, you don't get any active feedback about what they do and don't like. Giving them the opportunity to declare their interest is great of course, but any other ideas for how to measure if you're on the right track? It’s hard to design for lurkers because, other than visit numbers, you don’t get any active feedback about what they do and don’t like. Giving them the opportunity to declare their interest is great of course, but any other ideas for how to measure if you’re on the right track?

]]> By: Brent Billock http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-active-lurkers/#comment-289746 Brent Billock Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:50:32 +0000 http://bokardo.com/?p=1275#comment-289746 You've just described our entire business model at Zacks.com. We provide a daily abundance of free content, both on the web and through a free email newsletter. By giving away little pieces of insight and advice, we demonstrate the value of our analysis and stock ratings. It may take months or years before the consumers of those small morsels are ready to step up and buy a premium product. But the larger we can grow that list of people receiving free content, the greater the value of a 1% response rate when we do ask for the sale. You’ve just described our entire business model at Zacks.com.

We provide a daily abundance of free content, both on the web and through a free email newsletter. By giving away little pieces of insight and advice, we demonstrate the value of our analysis and stock ratings.

It may take months or years before the consumers of those small morsels are ready to step up and buy a premium product. But the larger we can grow that list of people receiving free content, the greater the value of a 1% response rate when we do ask for the sale.

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