Click able Summaries Research
Role
UX Research
Team
UX design
Product owners
Dev team
Editorial
Creative director
Company
BBC
Project time
3 months
The Challenge
BBC Live event pages relied on static bullet-point summaries that users valued for quick updates but they were non-clickable, lacked timestamps, and offered no direct way to access more detail. This meant excessive scrolling, unclear recency, and missed opportunities to keep users engaged.
We set out to test whether making summaries interactive could improve navigation, increase time on page, and enhance the user experience without overcomplicating the design.
Building Empathy and understanding
The aim was to evaluate whether making BBC Live page summaries interactive by adding clickable links to key bullet points would improve user navigation, increase engagement, and encourage longer time spent on live event pages.
The project also sought to determine the optimal summary length, test different link design formats for clarity and usability, and gather feedback on alternative summary presentation styles (e.g., carousels, filters) to guide future editorial and UX decisions.
Building Empathy through research
Method: 1-hour remote interviews via Zoom.
Participants: 8 regular BBC Live users (mix of gender, 50% under 35)
Stimulus:
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Current vs interactive summaries (short, medium, long).
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Link styles (bold + underline, bold only, keyword vs whole bullet, single vs multiple links).
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Alternative designs (sport/news carousels, filter summaries).
We explored: usage patterns, ideal length, link clarity, navigation behaviour, and perceptions of alternative formats.
What we put on in front of users
What we learned
To understand user frustrations and needs, we explored:
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Current behaviour: Users often scanned summaries first to decide if they wanted to read more. But once they did, finding related details further down the page was slow and frustrating.
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User goals: Get up to speed quickly, access more detail easily, and avoid unnecessary scrolling.
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Pain points: No link between summaries and feed, unclear bullet order, missing timestamps, and hidden navigation CTAs.
This helped frame the design problem not as “adding links,” but as improving the entire navigation and scanning experience
Outcomes
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Interactive summaries were seen as a clear upgrade, making it easier to jump between summaries and feed posts.
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Medium length was optimal for most scenarios - short lacked context, long risked disengagement.
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Bold + underlined keyword links offered the best clarity, especially on mobile.
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Whole-bullet and multiple links per bullet were distracting and messy.
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Carousels were appealing for sport but slower to scan filters had potential with a working prototype.
What went Live
Once we had these insights, the interactive summary was rolled out on the BBC News site see it live in action here:
Early analytics post-launch show:
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A noticeable uptack in user engagement with live pages
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Reduced bounce rates on those pages
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Positive anecdotal feedback from stakeholders and editorial teams
These metrics strongly suggest the interactive summary improved usability, navigation, and overall time spent on live coverage pages—confirming the design hypotheses from our research.