Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Financial Times readers will notice a redesigned FT.com on Tuesday, with many more customizable bells and whistles. Or else they may have already tried out the redesigned site, because the FT has been testing and tweaking it in the open, gradually rolling out the new version to readers over the past year (who could still toggle back to the old site).
The site overhaul was aimed at improving several key areas, all of which the FT hopes ultimately will lead to more paying subscribers: cutting down page load time, increasing engagement on the site, and adding more options for personalizing the reading experience. The new site loads in around 1.5 seconds on desktop and 2.1 seconds on mobile, “making it one of the fastest news sites amongst competitors,” according to chief product and information officer Cait O’Riordan. Page load speed and engagement are critically linked.
“We’ve run tests. If you can make the site a second faster, you can drive engagement by 5 percent,” O’Riordan said. “And we know that engagement is the key thing that drives everything else. It drives whether someone will take out a trial subscription, it determines how many adverts they see. So much of our revenue is driven by how engaged people are.”
The streamlining process was driven by user experience. As O’Riordan explained to me:
First of all we had a dedicated team, whose job was solely to make the site faster and to get that crucial page load working as quickly as possible. We gave them goals, based on user experience, not technical wins. The two things they looked at, when readers can start reading the page, and to make sure the reading wasn’t interrupted by the page jumping around. That helped focus and prioritize their work.
We were tough on the number of tags put on a page. It’s easy to get a lot of tags on the page that were designed really for measurement but end up really slowing things down, so we started with a blank slate. Instead of migrating all the tags from the old FT to the new one and then trying to reduce the number, we didn’t migrate any. And then any department that wanted to make a pitch for a tag to be added had to make a really strong pitch. We ended up with far fewer tags.
The key is there’s not one thing that will get your site faster.
Readers who used the new version of the site were “20 to 30 percent more engaged” (coming back more often, reading more stories), O’Riordan said. Because the FT was running the new and old sites in parallel, it was able to collect and compare engagement metrics between the two versions.
“We’ve been looking at different cohorts: our highly engaged users, but also users who come back less frequently, and looking at what use of the new website does to their engagement level,” O’Riordan said. “And we have really, really good data that use of the new site makes customers more engaged, including, crucially, people who were less engaged in the first place.”
The FT also ran surveys and user testing to collect qualitative data, from both subscribers and non-subscribers.
“The point of a public beta is you get really hard data on what people are actually doing, not just what they say they are doing,” O’Riordan said. “Then you roll in the personal feedback customers are giving on the site, and then you add in the face-to-face user testing, and it builds up a really strong picture of what’s working for us and what’s not working.”
“The feature now allows a subscriber to send an email to a colleague or friend or member of their family to allow them to read that article for free on the FT website. That was one we got really strongly from customer feedback,” O’Riordan said. “That wasn’t initially in the new version of the site. But people were telling us that was one of the features they really, really value.”
42 comments:
Hello I am so happy I found your site, I really found
you by mistake, while I was researching on Bing for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say kudos for
a remarkable post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time
to look over it all at the moment but I have saved it and also added in your RSS
feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more,
Please do keep up the superb job.
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate?
Since the admin of this site is working, no doubt very shortly it will be
well-known, due to its feature contents.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in reality was once a leisure account it.
Look advanced to more introduced agreeable from you!
However, how could we keep in touch?
Wow, this article is fastidious, my younger sister is analyzing such things, therefore I am going to inform her.
For hottest news you have to visit the web and on world-wide-web I found this site as a best
website for latest updates.
If you would like to obtain much from this article then you have to apply these techniques to your won website.
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted at this web page is genuinely pleasant.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that,
this is magnificent blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.
My brother suggested I may like this blog. He used to be totally right.
This submit truly made my day. You can not believe just how much time I had spent for this info!
Thank you!
Spot on with this write-up, I seriously feel this website needs a lot more attention. I’ll probably
be returning to see more, thanks for the information!
Great post.
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just
your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and
everything. But think of if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with images and videos,
this website could definitely be one of the very best
in its niche. Wonderful blog!
This post is actually a pleasant one it helps new
internet people, who are wishing in favor of blogging.
I blog quite often and I genuinely appreciate your information. The article has
truly peaked my interest. I’m going to take
a note of your blog and keep checking for new information about once a week.
I subscribed to your Feed as well.
This is a topic which is near to my heart… Thank you! Where are your contact details though?
Pretty part of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I acquire
in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing for your augment or even I success you access constantly fast.
Thanks designed for sharing such a pleasant thought, post is pleasant,
thats why i have read it fully
Thanks , I have just been looking for information approximately this topic for ages and yours is the greatest
I’ve came upon till now. But, what in regards to the bottom line?
Are you certain concerning the supply?
hello!,I like your writing very so much! percentage we keep in touch more about
your article on AOL? I require a specialist on this space to unravel my problem.
Maybe that’s you! Taking a look forward to see you.
Hello, its nice piece of writing regarding media print, we all be
familiar with media is a wonderful source of
facts.
Hello There. I discovered your blog using msn.
That is an extremely neatly written article.
I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra of your helpful info.
Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.
I am sure this piece of writing has touched all the internet visitors, its really really pleasant piece of writing on building up new web site.
Hi, I read your blogs daily. Your humoristic style is awesome,
keep it up!
Thanks for your personal marvelous posting!
I truly enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and
may come back later in life. I want to encourage continue your great work,
have a nice morning!
You could definitely see your skills within the article you write.
The sector hopes for even more passionate writers such
as you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe.
At all times follow your heart.
Very quickly this web page will be famous among all blogging visitors,
due to it’s nice posts
What’s up, this weekend is nice designed for me, for the reason that this
time i am reading this enormous informative paragraph here at my home.
Why visitors still make use of to read news papers when in this technological world
the whole thing is accessible on web?
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time
a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment.
Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Bless you!
It is perfect time to make some plans for the
future and it’s time to be happy. I have read this post
and if I could I desire to suggest you few interesting things or advice.
Maybe you could write next articles referring to this
article. I desire to read more things about it!
Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find It
really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give
something back and aid others like you helped me.
Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative.
I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you
continue this in future. Many people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
If you desire to obtain a great deal from this paragraph
then you have to apply such methods to your won web site.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally,
it seems as though you relied on the video to make
your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence
on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving
us something enlightening to read?
An interesting discussion is definitely worth comment.
I believe that you ought to publish more about this subject, it may not
be a taboo subject but typically people do not talk about these issues.
To the next! Best wishes!!
What’s Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It positively useful and it
has helped me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & help other
users like its aided me. Good job.
A motivating discussion is definitely worth comment.
I believe that you need to publish more about this topic, it may not be a taboo
matter but usually people don’t discuss these topics.
To the next! Kind regards!!
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our
community. Your web site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our whole community
will be thankful to you.
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of
your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so
people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Awesome post.
My brother recommended I might like this blog. He was entirely right.
This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
Trackbacks:
Leave a comment