Department of Industry, Science and Resources

Understanding the research habits and needs of Australian business owners

We partnered with the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) to improve business owners' experiences of business.gov.au by understanding their information search behaviours, perceptions and attitudes.

Sophisticated information search journeys, including deep dives into the user experience for identified business.gov.au priority areas
An understanding of business.gov.au users reflected in business owner personas and comprehensive insights around their information-seeking behaviour
Clear and actionable recommendations tailored to user needs, behaviours, motivations and aims, together with opportunities to improve experiences and outcomes for business owners

Services

Service design
Current state research
Systems mapping
Product strategy
Market research

Sectors

Project team

Supporting diverse business owners

DISR’s business.gov.au website points Australian business owners to a wealth of useful information and resources. But, like the businesses they run, the users of the website are diverse. For business.gov.au to respond effectively to those diverse needs, DISR sought a more holistic understanding of the complexity that individual users of the website face.

Dear diary

We conducted qualitative interviews and a two-week diary study with 18 Australian business owners. Following government priorities, we recruited these participants in two cohorts: business owners who wanted to upskill digitally or improve their online presence and business owners who wanted to improve the environmental sustainability of their operations.

Through our research, we uncovered key behaviours, perceptions, and attitudes among people seeking information and support for a business they own or operate. We looked closely for patterns and pain points in their search journeys and investigated how their pre-existing skills, attitudes and experiences affected their search and decision-making processes.

In their search behaviour journey, the business owners moved through several clear phases, sometimes in a straight line, and sometimes looping back on themselves.

Transforming qualitative data into stories

To summarise the findings, we developed experience maps that visually illustrated information search journeys, including skills and tools that helped users and barriers that slowed them down. The maps also highlighted priority areas for improvement at each stage of the journey. These maps made it possible for the client to comprehensively understand business owners' search behaviours and where business.gov.au could adapt to meet their needs.

To deepen our understanding of the diverse mix of business.gov.au users, we also developed four personas that characterise business owner search behaviours and perceptions through stories we heard from real people. Each persona is accompanied by a journey map that provides a visual summary of that persona’s search processes and tailored opportunities for improving the business.gov.au search experience.

We combined these experience maps and personas with robust, easy-to-digest insights and tangible opportunities DISR can implement to improve the business.gov.au platform.

We provided insights into information-seeking behaviour, and opportunities for business.gov.au to improve experiences and outcomes for business owners.

Insights and opportunities

Our final report included recommendations for how business.gov.au could achieve an uplift, including ideas that address the needs of cohorts with specific needs; respond to different business contexts; and support specific search behaviours. Our insights featured new concepts for business.gov.au navigation, search functions, content, and social strategy. We proposed new tools and services alongside identified opportunities to work with other government departments to create a more holistic business information-seeker experience.