Marketing to End-Users Subgroup – October 11, 2017

Subgroup Goals

Marketing WordPress to End-Users: this subgroup focuses on marketing to end-users of WordPress: Site Owners, Small Business owners, and Content creators / bloggers / contributors. Information is more focused on the usability of the software, Features and integrations which will help them self-manage their websites, and information comparing WordPress to other website solution. (Read about the other marketing subgroups in The Four Horsemen of WordPress.org Marketing)

Today’s Meeting

Slack Timestamp

We decided to created End-user Personas document and Trello card here.

@miker asked whether we are doing personas similar to what we are doing on other segments (Marketing to Developers). @bridgetwillard guided to the TrelloTrello Project management system using the concepts of boards and cards to organize tasks in a sane way. This is what the make.wordpress.com/marketing team uses for example: https://trello.com/b/8UGHVBu8/wp-marketing. board we have for Marketing to End Users, where we are still building up our activity. @mcdwayne invited contribution to the ongoing effort for personas on the Marketing for Developers Trello Board. @miker offered to work on a doc for end users for the next meeting and get feedback from the group.

We discussed that we may not need personas at this stage for end users. As @skarjune mentioned, they are needed when we have specific marketing or targeting goals.

@harryjackson1221 asked whether users can be categorized as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. @skarjune added that with GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ around, there would be renewed interest from advanced end users.

It was interesting to note a variety of views on how Gutenberg would change things for end users. @vishalmukadam noted it would make things easy for end users. @maedahbatool made a point that we shouldn’t proceed until things are finalized in Gutenberg, the project being a work in progress as of now.

@nagpai (self) suggested using our own stories about what brought us to WordPress to tell end users what they could benefit from. @miker added that adding “security” aspect would help, too. @meher added that mentioning personal experience will help beginners connect better when they relate their own, and gain confidence.

@vishalmukadam suggested that we add a Trello card for End User personas.
@miker suggested we start with 5 personas.

There were interesting ideas around segmentation.

Quoting @newyorkerlaura
“1) small business owner of a local service business like a restaurant, dog groomers or such and
2) New person to blogging: maybe pick a popular social cause like environment or healthy eating.”

Quoting @miker
“
1) DIY Webmasters (complete newbies who are interested in learning to build their own site
2) Power Users, who don’t understand the technical underpinnings of WordPress, but know how to configure it
3) Designers / Artists – people that understand and are interested in design, especial the look of their site, but are not interested in the technical operation of WordPress
4) Coders / Developers, who may not have any CMS experience, but want something that will handle the user authentication, UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. etc
5) Project Oriented – users who don’t know or care what platform they use, but are focused on the specific solutions it can provide”

@harryjackson1221 added interesting points about lower setup costs and the ability to begin free and move to self hosted sites. WordPress dominance in eCommerce which is a gaining segment in small business and even some end users was also noted as a cue.

Attendees : @harryjackson1221 @skarjune @bridgetwillard @mcdwayne
@Afshanadiya @miker @vishalmukadam @meher @dhruvpandya @newyorkerlaura @prathameshp @maedahbatool @sagarprajapati @parth @nagpai @arvindhbaraskar @eliassecchi

Notes taken by: @nagpai

Pingback: Marketing Team Update – October 11, 2017 – Team Updates — WordPress
David Skarjune 1:10 am on October 18, 2017

Getting our arms around personas is not just a formality or nicety—we’re seriously looking at how to segment users across and up and down sectors of the ecosystem. While we have subgroups that focus on Developers, Community, and Agencies; the catch-all End-Users subgroup is not so clearly focused, and it’s important to have an ongoing discussion of personas in this Marketing subgroup.

I spoke at some WordCamps a couple years back on Author Experience in WordPress about gaps to solve in the default writing and editing workflow. Ease of Use has a slippery slope in the WordPress Dashboard, and the maxim that UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it.≠AX applies, where WordPress offers an incredible UX with Responsive layouts and AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) right out of the box, but like any other complex CMS, there’s a steep learning curve to getting everything working with a theme, plugins, taxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies., SEO, and so much more.

Author experience looks to remove the inconsistencies and cognitive hurdles that make it harder than necessary to work with content management systems.
—Rick Yagodich, Author Experience

The GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ project to replace the existing WYSIWYGWhat You See Is What You Get What You See Is What You Get. Most commonly used in relation to editors, where changes made in edit mode reflect exactly as they will translate to the published page. editor in WordPress with a cutting-edge blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. builder highlights the issue of End-User personas. Matt Mullenweg says that “Gutenberg meets our challenges and opportunities head on while simultaneously benefitting everyone who makes a living working in the WP ecosystem” in his post “We Called it Gutenberg for a Reason.” And he hopes and claims that “Users will finally be able to build the sites they see in their imaginations…. They’ll learn blocks once, and then be able to instantly use and understand 90%+ of plugins. ”

We’re talking about millions of users on planet Earth, at a time when technology industries are being challenged to confront misogynist attitudes and lack of inclusion. This is our challenge, to envision users of various shapes, sizes, colors, languages, cultures, and more. No easy task, but the WordPress Marketing Team is getting on it.
- Bridget Willard 1:14 am on October 18, 2017
  
  Thank you so much for clarifying, David. You’re the best.

Join us!

Subgroup Goals

Today’s Meeting

Share this: