# Why you need to start with user needs Website projects often start because of an internal need of frustration - your website may be outdated, or you may have grown and need a better web presence. You could end up designing a website to suit that internal need, but your best chance of success is to put user needs first - this will make your website more functional, useful and helpful. ### How to understand your user's needs Users come to your website to do something specific - to find something out, to connect with someone, to sign up to an event or service. So rather than thinking in a general way about ‘user engagement’, you can use specific user needs and stories to help plan your content and ensure that your website is successful. These are sometimes called user stories and take the following format: ![User stories. As a ... I want to ... so I can ...](https://files.scvo.scot/2024/05/user-story.png) For example: As a local group convenor, I want access to guidance for local groups so I can ensure that our group follows the right guidance and procedures. There are a number of ways that you can find out more about user needs: * You could run a survey to find out how they access information, and which topics are most relevant to them  * You could run a focus group or hold interviews to gain a more in-depth insights into what users need to be able to do on your website and which issues are most important to them   * You could run a popup survey on your website, for example looking at a specific area, like whether an event booking process worked smoothly or whether some online guidance solved someone’s query. #### Questions you could ask your audience: * How do you find information or resources online – eg through Search or Social media?  * What does your ‘digital life’ look like? Eg ‘I can only access the web through a phone’ or ‘I am quite new to being online and I use an old computer’  * What types of information or support would be valuable to you?  * What does a good online experience look like for you – can you give an example of an online process that felt smooth and helpful?  #### User tasks Another way to understand user needs is to think about what kind of tasks people will be trying to complete on your website. People don’t tend to visit a website unless they have a specific reason to, so understanding these key tasks will help you give people the information they need.   Examples include:  * Find out more about your organisation: your mission, your people, your current work  * Contact you, and understand how quickly you will respond  * Support you with money or by volunteering  * Apply for a job with your organisation  * Access important updates as things change (eg premises opening/closing  * Connect with a campaign and get rolling updates on a new issue  * Sign up for updates or a mailing list  * Access the latest insights, news or in-depth information on key topics  * Browse and book onto events  * Sign up for activities and share information with you  * Find supportive information or guidance  * Access or apply for your services.  ### Information you already have about your users If you have tools like Google Analytics (GA4) set up, you will be able to access some metrics that can give you some insights about user behaviour. For example:  * **Top content** – highlighting the most-frequently accessed pages on your website.  * **Traffic sources** – helping you understand where users come from, for example Search vs Social media vs direct links.  * **Search terms** – insights into what search terms users are entering on your site. These can help you spot topics or tasks that are hard to complete on your current site.  * **Time on page** – in general, the longer users spend on a page the better. This shows that your content is engaging.  * **Bounce rate** – a high bounce rate is where users view a single page briefly, and then leave your site. A high bounce rate implies that your site content is not very engaging or not meeting user needs.  [Previous: Where to start](/support/digital/guides/website/start) [Next: Technical needs](/support/digital/guides/website/technical) --- ## About SCVO SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector. Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact. SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector. Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners. Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities. SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience. Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org). For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)