I am a believer in designing with data. I’m also a firm believer that, if you research something to no end, the design becomes reactionary rather than visionary. Data and creativity need to work hand-in-hand.
And that brings me to metrics that drive designers crazy when presented in a vacuum. Time on Page is one. Bounce rate is another. These two metrics—although easy to track—don’t actually tell us anything.
Is the bounce rate high because our content isn’t good enough? Or is it high because we gave the user exactly what they wanted and they went on their way? Time spent on the site is up… Great! They love the content and they’re hanging out. Pump the brakes. Or are we not delivering what they want fast enough, which in turn, is making them search longer?
Ethnographic research is a must
When we design for the web or for an app, qualitative research helps us analyze the quantitative data. Actual user and potential user experience testing done with something as close as possible to the real thing is key. The product you’re testing and whom you’re testing it on is crucial to getting accurate data. People behave differently when they have to pretend, so the most accurate data will come from someone carrying out real tasks they would normally do.
As easy as analytics tools are, they do not tell you why someone clicked on something or what features are the most useful. But with qualitative research, you can figure out what analytics like Time on Page actually mean.