Here are a few examples of experience attributes that audience research can effectively explore in the context of an e-commerce website or app. Each attribute in the example is tied to a sample question in the scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the most negative response, 10 is the most positive. Note that in practice, designers and researchers use a variety of scales, such as Agree/Disagree, Low/Medium/High, Like/Dislike/Neutral, Totally Disagree/Disagree/Somewhat Disagree/Neutral/Somewhat Agree/Agree/Totally Agree, and so on.

• Attribute: Sense of security
  • Question: How does the site make you feel about the security of your personal information, including credit card details?
    (Scale of 1 to 10. 1 = Extremely concerned, 10= I fully trust the site)
  • Explanation: When the current site lacks the latest security features such as a two-factor authentication, the customer may interpret the experience as an evidence of lack of competency on the company's side and abandon the transaction. The opposite is true if the experience aligns with the user's expectations for security.
• Attribute: Overall look and feel
  • Question: Thinking about your experience on the site, what is your overall impression of the company?
    (Scale of 1 to 10. 1 = Underwhelmed, 10=Highly Impressed)
  • Explanation: Polished and well-executed experience is evidence of a technology-savvy company, a proof of the product's value and quality. Experiences that trend to the opposite project negatively on the company's image.
• Attribute: Experience consistency
  • Question: Thinking about your experience on the site, what is your overall impression of the company?
    (Scale of 1 to 10. 1 = Underwhelmed, 10=Highly Impressed)
  • Explanation: When a site or app are patched together to incorporate old and new sections, the user might be confused by inconsistent navigation, layouts and content placement. Consistency helps the user orient quickly, and makes the site easy to use. On mobile devices, inconsistent experience often means that some pages are not responsive, while other pages are. The first situation may generate negative impressions of the company and its products, while the second leads to positive feelings.
• Attribute: Clarity of content
  • Question: Do you agree with the statement "Finding the model I needed was easy"?
    (Scale of 1 to 10. 1 = Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)
  • Explanation: When content on the site is well organized, well written, and is available in context, it increases the user's feeling of comfort, and helps in making purchase decisions with confidence, adding to their trust in the company and product. This is especially important for companies with multiple types of products, which require comparison in order to find the best fit. The opposite leads to user hesitation, frustration, and abandonment of the site.
• Attribute: Mobile experience
  • Question: Do you agree with the statement "Using the site on my phone is easy"?
    (Scale of 1 to 10. 1 = Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)
  • Explanation: Increasingly, commerce is conducted and content is accessed primarily online. Websites and apps that are hard to navigate, have incompatible or confusing content, are slow and unattractive - will reflect negatively on the company and its product(s), reducing the company's ability to generate revenue through its online channels.

For this example, let's suppose that the survey results show the following:

• 20% of all survey respondents felt that the site is not secure; there were no 10s or 9s responses at all
• Of all survey respondents, 45% felt underwhelmed by their overall experience on the site; only 20% of users rated 9s and 10s
• Of all survey respondents, 52% felt underwhelmed by the company, due to significant inconsistencies in their experience; only 5% of users rated 9s and 10s
• Of all survey respondents, 60% didn't find the product they needed on the site easy; only 8% of users rated 9s and 10s
• Of all survey respondents, 70% didn't feel that the mobile experience was easy; there were no 10s or 9s responses at all

• These are pretty awful but not unusual results. Surveys often confirm what the company leaders already know, and support the case for a redesign effort. Typically, however, few companies let their important online assets reach this point. In fact, many invest in continuous and frequent refreshes and updates, in order to maintain their competitive edge.