An Event Apart: Content Performance Quotient

by April 2, 2018

In his Beyond Engagement: the Content Performance Quotient presentation at An Event Apart in Seattle, Jeffrey Zeldman introduced a new metric for tracking how well Web sites are performing. Here's my notes from his talk:

  • The number one stakeholder request for Web sites is engagement: we need people using our services more. But is it the right metric for all these situations?
  • For some apps, engagement is clearly the right thing to measure. For others, more time spent might be a sign of frustration.
  • Most of the Web sites we work on are like customer service desks where we want to give people what they need and get them on their way.
  • Content Performance Quotient (Design CPQ) is a metric of how quickly we can get the right content to solve the customer's problem. The shortest distance between problem & solution. This tracks your value to the customer by measuring the speed of usefulness.
  • Pretty garbage: when a Web site looks good but doesn't help anyone. Garbage in a delightfully responsive grid is still garbage.
  • Slash your architecture and shrink your content. Ask: "why do we need this?" Compare all your content to the goals you've established. Design should be intentional. Have purpose-driven design and purpose-driven content.
  • We can't always have meetings where everybody wins. We need to argue for the customer and that means not everyone in our meetings will get what they want. Purpose needs to drive our collaborations not individual agendas, which usually leak into our Web site designs.
  • It’s easy to give every stakeholder what they want. Don't take the easy way out. It’s harder to do the right thing. Harder for us, but better for the customer & bottom line.
  • Understanding the customer journey allows us to put the right content in the right place. Start with the most important interaction and build out from there. Focus on key interactions and build out form there.
  • Customers come to our sites with a purpose. Anything that gets in the way of that is a distraction. Constantly iterate on content to remove the cruft and surface what's needed.
  • When you want people to go deeper and engage, to slow down... scannability, which is good for transactions, can be bad for thoughtful content. Instead slow people down with bigger type, better typographic hierarchy, more whitespace.
  • Which sites should be slow? If the site is delivering content for the good of the general public, the presentation should enable slow, careful reading. If it’s designed to promote our business or help a customer get an answer to her question, it must be designed for speed of relevancy.