Enhancing the User Experience with Analytics

• Apr 22, 2019
• By Todd Akin

The key to building an experience for the member is that while the UI look and feel is very important, it is ultimately what it does that will keep a member coming back – especially if it does what it does very well. Analytics can help fine-tune the interface to reduce clicks, add clarity and remove or add functionality. And while analytics can provide valuable quantitative data, the qualitative side plays an equally important role. It can be easy to fall into the “data analysis” trap and forget that it is actual humans that ultimately have the final word on what we like and what we don’t. Involving members in the process of design or enhancement can be very powerful. From creating user journeys to user acceptance testing, leveraging actual users can produce some of the greatest insights.   Once you decide to leverage analytics in your projects, you might then ask yourself, “Where do I get this information?” There are a few options to explore. The first is utilizing an in-house analytics engine. Your credit union’s analytics team would be a perfect place to start asking questions about what type of data is available and for what timeline. Determine if the data encompasses both the broad picture of member interaction with the credit union, as well as details around the specific channels with which you are working. If the current data set is incomplete, it may be possible to have missing information added to the analytics warehouse if it can be captured in the first place. In some cases, existing tools or products can be enhanced to capture the needed details. If this option is not feasible, it may be time to consider a second option outside of an in-house analytics team: external vendors. Once you have identified the data sets you need, reach out to current vendors and see if there is a way to work with them to obtain the information. While piecing different data components together may require additional work, the result could very well be worth the effort. Aside from obtaining data from internal systems and vendors, there are also tools that allow you to gather information on websites such as Google Analytics or Appsee for mobile applications. Even reading member reviews for your apps, feedback on blogs and other similar channels can provide a treasure trove of data that can feed into your design and enhancements. By understanding member behavior in a certain channel and for specific functions, you can begin to fine-tune the experience. That may mean moving features to a different page or within a different menu. It may even mean making some simple changes to the UI that could have a drastic impact on member engagement. Forward-thinking design options can be a reality by analyzing factors such as usage patterns, app crashes, frequency of use, end user workflows, popular transactions and unused services. Understanding the underlying motivations will go a long way toward helping refine the experience to meet member expectations. Todd Akin manages the Integration Services team created in 2016 and is....--> Building out the perfect user experience for a member has never been an easy task – it can seem like a never-ending series of changes, fixes and enhancements. Those are often proceeded by user research, usability testing, internal testing and even live limited release testing with members. The ultimate goal of this entire process is to achieve the best solution for the member. There is another tool that has been around for some time that is often overlooked when it comes to the user experience, yet it can provide profound learnings and insights into the actual...

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