Driving traffic to a website is challenging — and keeping people there can be even trickier. A site that asks new visitors to share their email addresses right away can turn people off in seconds, for example.
Cognitive psychologist Megan Sauter, PhD, spends her days helping companies avoid such mistakes. As a researcher at the user experience research firm AnswerLab, Sauter observes and asks questions as people interact with websites, mobile apps, online games, smartphones and ATMs.
Businesses such as Samsung, Target, FedEx and Facebook hire Sauter and her colleagues to study how consumers use their company's digital products and devices and use the research to make these tools more intuitive and appealing. Sauter is one of three psychologists working for AnswerLab, a 43-member consumer research firm based in San Francisco and New York. She teams with experts in communications, marketing, econometrics and information science to give clients the answers they're seeking.
The work requires Sauter to get inside users' heads: In research sessions she monitors which steps trip people up as they book reservations or play a game and must figure out why they stumble — whether they're thrown by something as simple as confusing terminology or a thornier issue, such as poor design.
"I'm always listening for that hint of hesitation in their voices or a moment that there's a lack of confidence, because those vulnerable moments are very telling," says Sauter.
Such moments provide opportunities for AnswerLab clients to improve their products and keep their clientele happy in today's competitive digital marketplace. "If the user doesn't have confidence in the product, they are going to abandon it," she says.
Her research
Sauter conducts research and assessments at several phases of the tech-development process. Some clients bring her in to survey people on what type of app or device could revolutionize their lives. Others have her test prototypes of tablets, interactive kiosks and apps to see how well they work. Her favorite assignments are those that span many months and require multiple trials because she sees the product change according to her research. In one such project, the company used one round of findings to add a bar-code scanner to their mobile app to save people time typing out product information and another round to rephrase the language in the navigational menus to be clearer. "It was really cool to see that evolution and know I was a part of it," she says.
Giving good design away
One of Sauter's biggest clients has been Google. She and her AnswerLab team were tasked with identifying the best features of mobile apps. To find out, they spent 119 hours observing and interviewing people using 100 popular mobile apps, including Progressive, J. Crew and 1-800-Flowers, to craft Google's official "Principles of Mobile Site Designopens in new window." Among their tips: Keep drop-down menus short and always include a search tool.
How she got there
Sauter went to work for AnswerLab right after earning her doctorate in cognitive psychology at Northwestern University. She had gained experience in consulting and applied research contributing to a teaching module from her dissertation work on learning technology. Around the same time, she was also inspired to pursue a career in design after reading the best-selling book "The Design of Everyday Things," which calls on designers to be more human-centered in their approach.
A remote connection
Recently, Sauter left the company's home office in San Francisco to work remotely from Chicago, attending weekly staff meetings from her home via video-conferencing and project management technology. Her career provides her with a balance of quiet and community, she says. "As a researcher, you need a lot of time head down thinking through the findings and looking through your work, but this job also keeps me really connected with people."