You Are Not Your User

January 30th, 2009 | by Conrad Walton |

It’s really easy to believe that everyone else is like you. They aren’t.

Everyone tends to do it. It takes a conscious effort to not do it. I mean, you are a rational person. You believe everything you believe and think everything that you think. Why wouldn’t everyone else think and believe the same way? What are they? Morons?

It's really easy to believe that everyone else is like you. They aren't.

It's really easy to believe that everyone else is like you. They aren't.

As you grow up, you begin to realize that not everyone else is like you. There are other people in the room and they might think, believe, and feel differently than you do. Bigots never grow up.

When you are designing your site and writing your content, do it from the users point of view, not your own. They are the ones that you have created this magnificent new web site for, so honor them by talking in their language and answering their questions and meeting their needs.

The first step to do this is to define just who they are. Once you have them defined, forget everyone else. If you want to sell video games, your site will look much different then if you want to sell medical equipment.

It might be helpful to write down your definition of your users and tape it to your monitor, where you can remember them while you’re writing.

Their words, their needs, their solutions. That’s what you need to focus on.

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