At its core, the user needs model helps find different angles for a story by considering the various needs a reader has. We get a lot of questions about this, so it’s a good opportunity to showcase how it works.
We attended a Samsa event in Paris last week, and this came up, so we’re using a French-language article in this blog. We’ll explain everything in English, so you should be able to follow along easily.
The article comes from Le Figaro, one of France’s oldest and largest newspapers. Their website features an entire dossier dedicated to Valentine’s Day. That makes this exercise particularly interesting because using the User Needs Model 2.0 we can compare our ideas with what their editorial team actually published. Do their articles successfully address different user needs? And do the writers maintain enough focus to meet audience expectations?
The article we’ll analyse:
Saint-Valentin: avec quelle fleur déclarer sa flamme? (link)
Translated:
Saint Valentine: which flower should you declare your love with?
First impressions? This seems like a Help me article, aiming to guide readers through different flower choices at the florist. But to be honest, the execution is rather brief. The key paragraph reads:
“A budding flame will go well with all roses, except yellow ones, a sign of infidelity. The carnation will also rhyme with the first emotions, conversely, provided it is white, total fidelity. It will agree on constancy and duration with all the camellias in the world and will follow shortly after tulips, ideal for declarations of love.”
Nice, descriptive tips. But let’s see what our User Needs Playground thinks. This free tool (just enter an email address) analyses the dominant user need within a piece of text and can process nearly all major languages.
“The article is most probably an Educate me article. It provides readers with information about the meanings of different flowers, particularly in the context of Valentine's Day, which is useful for someone who may not have prior knowledge of the language of flowers. The intention of the author seems to be to educate the audience on how to choose the right flower for their loved ones based on the message they want to convey. While there is an emotional aspect to the subject matter, as it deals with expressions of love and affection, the primary focus is on imparting knowledge rather than eliciting strong emotions or inspiring action. There is a minor action component, as the article might indirectly guide readers on what flowers to purchase, but this is not the main focus.”
