Creating a great user experience is not just for websites targeting consumers. It’s also critical for employee intranets. When clients complain that nobody uses their intranets, the problem is often that the site is just too cumbersome and difficult for employees to want to spend time on it.
If you’re building a new intranet, or updating your current site, here are three tips you might consider:
Explore a range of personas and scenarios.
Personas are made-up characters based on the people that will hypothetically be using your platform. Think of someone who goes to the intranet with a specific goal in mind. What does that process look like? How many steps do they have to take to find what they need? Is the navigation grouping helpful to start the process? Now try another scenario for that same persona. What’s something else they’d be trying to find or do on the site?
If it’s too complicated and they need to use the search bar on the corner, the site is probably not too intuitive — and not delivering a good intranet UX. Mapping different scenarios to accomplish a range of goals can help you find opportunities to make processes easier for the users. For more information on creating personas visit this link.
Ask your people what they want from an intranet
You might have been working at the company for five years and know where to find everything on the intranet, but is it easy for someone who just joined the company? Making a list of questions and possible scenarios and discussing these with employees from all levels and departments can help you find flaws and recognize difficulties.
You also might ask them about the intranet UX at other companies where they’ve worked. What did they like and what did they not like? Did they use the intranet often? If not, why not?
Look outside your organization to find inspiration
A simple Google search for “best intranets” will pull plenty of award-winning intranets with great UX. Once you’ve analyzed your users, understand their goals and have a clear vision of what you want from the intranet UX, looking at other successful intranets can help you problem solve.
It’s not about being a copy-cat, it’s about finding ways to make your intranet better. Maybe they’re using a tool that you could also integrate, maybe their strong branding helps with visual structure, maybe the icons help the page make it look less like a newspaper.
Investing in the time and effort to think through your desired intranet UX is just the first step to creating a successful intranet. (Read more about creating your own intranet wish list in this Best Practices one-pager.) If you’re interested in discussing your company’s intranet, Tribe can help.
