Research top tasks: 60% of visitors come to your website for the same 4 top tasks

Top task research: the majority of visitors comes for a very limited number of tasks

What will you read in this article?

How to identify top tasks + cases

In this presentation I clarify which method you can use to identify top tasks. I also provide some practical examples.

These examples show that on many websites, more than 60% of visitors come for only a very limited amount of top tasks.

Identifying top tasks will help you to optimize the information architecture of your website. And it’s incredibly important to everyone who takes the user-friendliness of their website seriously. In my workshop usability and conversion optimization I will teach you all about it.

Why are top tasks so important?

1. Let visitors reach their goal

Those who are on the right track on the first click, reach their goal twice as often.

I hope that this is the starting point for everyone involved in websites: allowing visitors to reach their goal as quickly as possible.

Research shows that visitors who get the first click wrong fail to reach their goal twice as often as visitors who are on the right track immediately.

2. Mobile first

Smartphone screens fit slightly less information than a 24″ desktop screen. And the number of people that visits your website on their smartphone, is less marginal than many people think.

For those visitors, you’ll have to make choices. And you should base those choices on top tasks.

When you’ve put in that effort, why would you make life harder for people with big screens by stuffing their screen with less relevant content?

3. Fewer choices = easier to choose

When people have fewer choices, it’s easier to choose than when there’s a large number of options.

And the odds of them making the wrong choice are smaller too.

So how do you identify top tasks?

Do you just dive into Google Analytics?

Google Analytics tells you what people do. Not what they want to do.

No. Or at least, not just through Google Analytics.

Did your visitors really want to view that page? Maybe they got there by accident.

And Google Analytics cannot tell you anything about the things that people are visiting your website for, but which isn’t on there at all.

Ask the call center what the most frequently asked questions are?

No. Or at least, don’t put all your faith in the call center.

The call center knows why people call.

But there can be a difference between why people call and why they visit your website.

Just ask your visitors?

Yes.

When you do it right, a survey is an excellent method to find out why people are visiting your website.

A lot of surveys put words in their visitors’ mouths, or they’re set up in a way that generates a low response rate.

We developed a specific top task survey with a high response rate and neutrally phrased questions.

Some real-life numbers

These examples are based on recent studies we’ve done on websites with tens of thousands of visitors per month. Most of these websites have over 500 pages.

1. Government website

  • 27% of visitors land on the website for things that aren’t on the website.
    You can’t get this data out of Google Analytics, because if you don’t have a page for a specific type of information, people can’t visit it.
  • 61% of visitors are there for the same 4 tasks.
  • The 8th most common task is only mentioned in 2% of answers.

2. Aid organisation

  • 82% of visitors are there for the same 2 tasks.
  • Task #9 accounts for only 0.75% of answers.

3. City and municipal websites

  • We’ve tested this on more than 20 websites. Big and small municipalities and cities. Old-fashioned, seriously limited websites and completely new websites. And everywhere we find the same top tasks.
  • In the top five are usually very practical things like making an appointment, opening times, the library, the swimming pool, the recycling park or things to do in the area.

4. Support website in the financial sector

  • 68% of users come for the same 4 top tasks.
  • In the top 7 are two tasks that can’t be done on the current website. Google Analytics could never tell you this.

 All well and good, but I have a hundred things to say

What you want to say, is not that important. It’s about wat the visitor wants to know.

On your website, your visitors come first.

Stop dumping content on your website “just because you can”. Think about every piece of content from the visitor’s perspective.

Top tasks help you to write precisely those words that will help your visitor. So that they’ll come back. Become your customer. Subscribe to your newsletter.

Would you like to find out what your visitors’ top tasks are?
We can help you, with our top task survey.

Related posts

Read more articles about:

Don’t miss a single tip

  • Be the first to know about new trainings
  • Receive tips and advice about your sector and professional interests
  • No spam

Or follow us on LinkedIn