
For this week, I wanted to talk about questions I’ve been asking myself & researching. This new world I’m now in — highly regulated, enterprise-level, corporate, maybe more inflexible than I’d dreamed — requires me to frame things in a new light. And as a UX designer, doing the research is necessary to doing a good job.
Question: How Do UX Designers Use Big Data?
“The world is much more interesting than any one discipline.” — Edward Tufte
David Brooks of The New York Times points out that the main problem of big data is that it’s “pretty bad at narrative and emergent thinking, and it cannot match the explanatory suppleness of even a mediocre novel.”
“Data can help compensate for our overconfidence in our own intuitions and can help reduce the extent to which our desires distort our perceptions.”
(Source: What Data Can’t Do)
5 Things to Learn By Capturing User Behavior Data
The challenge with big data is finding a useful, efficient way to harness it and learn from it. Here are five things we can do by collecting big behavioral data from user sessions:
- Better understand how people are really using a website
- Identify common behavioral patterns and extrapolate UX and usability issues
- Eliminate causes of user frustration quickly
- Prevent conversion-killing issues from persisting unnoticed
- Drive the agenda for deeper, targeted research studies that reflect actual usability needs
Each of these furthers the goal of the UX professional in building and maintaining a website that is easy to use, tolerant, and serves the needs of users.
(Source: Big Behavioral Data)
Make the future your priority. There are many data sources that allow us to predict what a user’s next move may be. Data should be treated as a living, breathing element within any user interface with the goal of optimizing the user interface and streamlining user experience.
(Source: HugeInc.)
UX Designers Bring Data to Life
UX designers bring the power of data to life by creating customized data visualizations and reporting solutions that make it far easier for companies to reach important business conclusions. These solutions, coupled with an easy-to-use data collection system, can revolutionize the way you work.
(Source: The American Genius)
Big or small, no data is perfect. There are limitations and bias present in every type of data. Good data describes its biases, and always provides context.
- “Data from multiple sources creates a more nuanced picture and, in the end, an actionable outcome. Broader, not bigger, is better.”
- “Data is not just about proving who is right or wrong, it is about making improvements and discovering new possibilities.”
- “Make sure data is sensitive to the complexity of the human experience. Use averages sparingly, infer with caution, corroborate liberally.”
(Source: UX Mag)
Question: Is Adobe Analytics or Google Analytics the better tool?
My basic understanding after reading way too many articles is the answer to all questions in the universe: It depends.
Most of the “negatives” against Adobe Analytics is the cost & requirement of experts — i.e. a high barrier to entry. My company is big enough & has enough resources. So taking away to barrier to entry argument, what remains are two very similar resources. Neither are perfect. Both require some set up (to track advanced metrics). And we have access to both.
So then instead of comparing them to see what is better overall, here’s a summative rundown of which tool is better in specific situations.
Google Analytics
- Multiple Segments + Retaining Segments — Apply up to 5 in the web interface & they are applied until you remove them
- Automatic AdWords Integration — Reduces need to implement campaign tracking variables
- Captures URL & hostname by default — Easy for multi domain/subdomain sites
Adobe Analytics
- Ad Hoc Analysis / Discover — Good for deep dives into comparing segments, quickly trending specific items ,etc. (Better for deep dives than the Reports & Analytics)
- Hit Containers — Unique to Adobe Analytics (need to research its impact)
- Segment Stacking — Ability to apply multiple segments at once
- Page Names decoupled from URLs — A page is a page; allows you to build a meaningful taxonomy for your pages
“It doesn’t matter what tool you’re using if you’re only using 20–30% of its capabilities. Make sure you have the people and the commitment to not only learn and apply the full power of the tool now, but to stay current on new capabilities as competing platforms chase each other.”
— Adam Greco
In summary: user the tool appropriate for the job. After all, it’s about answering questions — or finding the right questions to ask — anyway.
(Source: Demystified)

