RNZ Homepage Analysis
RNZ is New Zealand's public broadcaster, providing comprehensive world news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries, all accessible from their website RNZ.co.nz.
Their analytics data showed users were dropping off the homepage too quickly and failing to consume valuable, carefully crafted content presented lower down on the page. In turn this meant cross-linked articles were also receiving low hits, as users weren’t being retained on the site.
All good UX design begins with research, so I monitored traffic on the homepage over a 15 day period using ChartBeat, a subscription only dashboard product specifically for media organisations.
I learned that traffic volumes to the site had a similar pattern for each weekday - peaking at around 8:30 AM, then slowly decreasing through to 8:00 PM when there was a marked drop off.
By taking “snapshots” of site traffic at three set intervals over three consecutive weekdays, I was able to see common user behaviour. These snapshots were taken at peak times: 8:30 AM, 3:00 PM (where there is a slight increase in traffic) and 8:00 PM.
From there two key indicators were measured….
How far down the homepage users were scrolling on desktop and mobile devices separately. ChartBeat provides useful feedback by “pinging” users every few seconds so I could see where they are on a page, and by measuring scroll depth I was able to see where the majority of users viewed content on the homepage.
How articles at certain positions on the homepage performed.
ChartBeat displays performance ranking by measuring clicks on an article or link.
What I Did
Measured scroll depth at nine intervals down the homepage, initially several times a day on mobile and desktop.
Took screenshots of the top two-thirds of the page in mobile and desktop view with ChartBeat activated.
Took averages of the scroll depth and article performance.
Made some changes to layout and content of the homepage (see below).
Compared the averages before and after the changes to the homepage.
Collating scroll depths and article performance from print-outs
Initial design response to data
The data was showing clear break points at which visitors were dropping off the page. In response a block with duplicate content was removed and a full-width banner was dropped lower, below an important block containing national news. These changes meant that other important content blocks were all elevated on the page.
Findings
Visitor stats revealed that once these changes were made, a markedly higher percentage of visitors viewed down to “The Latest News Bulletin” and “The Briefing”, two very important blocks of content which are refreshed several times each day.
Performance ranking of articles contained in “The Briefing” also increased notably.
The Result?
A lower bounce rate, deeper scroll depth, higher visitor retention and a greater consumption of related content across the site.
Also, feedback from RNZ’s CEO that my design report back to the organisation was one of the most clear and easily understood he had seen to date!
