You got them to your site, but it’s still not bringing in the business. Live Case Studies on improving the User Experience on your website.
To sign-up go to http://techbizconnection.org/
Usability and user experience tests are an excellent way of discovering why your site is not performing like you thought it would. It is surprising to find out about what both web designers and marketers often miss, which are key ingredients of what your audience can see and not see on the website. How do usability best practices impact the success of your website? What are the key components to usability? In this session, you’ll learn the importance of having a website built with usability in mind from a sales and lead generation standpoint. With our panel of experts, we will cover the basics of usability and the role this concept plays in making these efforts successful with LIVE CASE STUDIES. Some of the topics we’ll cover include:
What are the most important usability considerations?
How are visitors getting lost or confused on your website?
What are some of the best ways to find and understand your offer?
How do you apply design-based thinking into your website?
PANELISTS
Dr. Joely Gardner | President | Human Factors Research
Asa licensed psychologist,Dr. Gardner captures the emotional essence of what customers consider a great experience. She then helps her clients tooperationalize that experience, measure and manage it.Dr. Gardner’s consulting clients range from startups in mobile technology and social networking to Fortune 100 companies. Clients include Intuit, Hewlett Packard, Quest Diagnostics Clinical Trials Division, Invitrogen, and Cricket Communications to name a few. Previously, she was the Director of Customer Experience Research for France Telecom R&D in San Francisco, and is the co-author of nearly 40 books with publishers such as Harper & Row, IDG, and QUE.
Jeof Bean | Principal | Del Mar Research & Consulting
Jeof specializes in increasing client growth, while decreasing the uncertainty and costs of product development and marketing. Jeof’s 20+ years of experience spans from small innovative technology companies to larger successful organizations like ComplianceMAX, ProMedia Wireless, LPL, AT&T / Bell Labs, and Quest Diagnostics. He has an M.S. in Business Management, a B.S. in Psychology / Marketing and has served as Adjunct Professor of Business Management and Marketing. Jeof is on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Software Industry Council’s (SDSIC) User Experience Group and User Experience expert review panel; author of several marketing, business and product development articles; and a frequent guest speaker.
Frank Mead | former eCommerce Manager | Apple &Targus
Frank is a creative leader who has turned around business units in Fortune 250 companies, consulted to many start-ups and has created dominant, sustainable sales strategies across a variety of industries. Helping entrepreneurs in diverse industries such as dental care, restaurant, online music sales, musical artist management, and high-tech network security, provide Frank with visibility into which business practices work and which do not. Frank served as the eCommerce Sales and Marketing Manager at Targus, as the eCommerce Manager at Apple Computer and as a Marketing Manager at Gateway.
To sign-up go to http://techbizconnection.org/node/48
February 1st, 2010
I am pleased to be a guest on the Professional Panel at the UCSD CSSA’s Cognitive Science Conference January 16th, 2010.
Since I was introduced to the idea of cognitive mapping as an undergrad student in psychology and marketing many years ago, where an individual’s specific way of taking in information was measured and mapped, I have been interested in the differences in how people take in information and how that information needs to be presented for maximum effectiveness. The outcome of this understanding can be used in many areas, beyond the lab or universities, such as product and service development and go to market decisions.
In order to prepare for the conference panel session, that focuses on the applications of cognitive science and jobsin the field, the folks at the University of California San Diego asked me what my primary interests are in cognitive science. It was interesting to write this out since I do not think about how I apply cognitive science to what I do on a day-to-day basis in business. My top four interests from my experiences and practical standpoints are:
1. Customer experience and user experience and the development and effectiveness of products, services and brands
2. Buyer behavior (business and consumer) and how it helps companies to connect with valued customers
3. Cognitions of markets and how they affect a business’s go-to-market methods and performance including communications, pricing, distribution and timing. In many markets understanding how people take in and process information is not an option for significant revenue, market share and advantage.
4. How understanding prospects and customers cognitive profiles can reduce the uncertainty of business decisions and increase product success and profitability.
These certainly take much of what one CEO told me was “the guesswork and mystery” out of many product, service development and go to market decisions including: product customer experience creation, communication content development, media choices and distribution options. Why not get it as right as you can from the start? It cost much less than making multiple iterative changes and adjustments after the product or service is introduced into the market.
Additionally, some markets are not forgiving. They will not let you try and try again; they are not waiting for you or me to get it. Other opportunities may still be there after multiple iterations and adjustments, but the profit margins may be untenable. It is when you get the offer, how and when you engage prospective customers dialed-in early in the process that is to your advantage. It is applying the “cognition of people within the markets you serve” that is at the heart and success of that advantage.
UCSD CSSA’s Cognitive Science Conference 2010 Date: January 16th, 2010
Time: 10am-5:00pm, then Happy Hour!
Place: UCSD Cognitive Science Buildings
Cost: The event (and lunch) are on us!
Contact us: cssa.ucsd@gmail.com; http://www.z8z.com/cogscicon2010/Home.html
What is this conference (“CogSci Con 2010”)?
CogSci Con is an abbreviation of “Cognitive Science Conference”. The goal of this conference is to create connections between all levels of the Cognitive Science community. This year is the 5th anniversary of the first Cognitive Science Conference put on by the dedicated Executive Board of UCSD’s Cognitive Science Student Association. Whether you are new to Cognitive Science and here to learn what Cognitive Science is about in general or a seasoned CogSci grad, join us as we put our minds together with this year’s theme: “Let’s Brainstorm”. CogSci Con ‘10 will be held on UCSD campus in San Diego, CA, USA. UCSD is one of the top universities to study Cognitive Science. The first Cognitive Science Department in the world was established here in 1986.
Our full day of events will include giving exclusive tours of many of the Cognitive Science labs, speaking with Professors and students about aspects of Cognitive Science research, presentations, a research poster session and a lunch hour social.
I look forward to seeing you there!
January 9th, 2010
The Flip Ultra's customer experience advantage is market defining
The economy is difficult, but there are some companies that are cutting through the noise of the broadcast and media press and bewildering their competitors by being better, different and profitable, now.
Certainly the handy example is the iPhone and Apple Macintosh (don’t worry, other examples are on the way). I’ve heard people say is – that’s Macintosh and that’s proprietary… What is most striking is how unique and proprietary the customer experience is. I think early on, they discovered that the user experience was incredibly important and they took into consideration needs and wants of potential customers very early in the development process.
There is a very dangerous spiral that customer experience can help many companies avoid or delay. You can keep putting more technology or features in your product or service and lowering your price, but that really is a very slippery slope.
Now, what’s happening is, certainly the iPhone is an example of, a highly rated product by their users, even though some of the functions that it does actually take longer than a wireless device that has a less great user experience. More importantly though, is the willingness to pay for and engage with the iPhone is much higher than its smart phone rivals.
Netflix is another one where I really admire how they’ve provided a great customer experience with a product- service hybrid. They understood the wants, and they understood the needs of customers through the whole process in the context of the market environment. They’ve got a special agreement with the post office, right? They’ve got the DVDs they deliver quickly and soon they’ll be uploading and downloading video streams.
Their web site is part of the pre and post purchase process. Netflix provide that unique customer experience. They altered the game board, redefined value and forced competitors to change or down the spiral and away. It’s easy to drop the price, it’s easy to throw in more features, it is not easy to create, execute or compete with a well honed customer experience.
One of my favorite examples, because I personally like it is the Flip Ultra video camera, by Pure Digital Technologies. It is a small hand held device. Easy to learn and use, all the software the user needs is inside it, nothing to install. A simple USB arm flips out the side and plugs into your PC. It becomes another drive. I think it’s really wonderful. They have created a new market segment and new revenues, in Sony’s market (for 25 or 30 years?), catching the legacy player off guard.
A company called Pure Digital Technologies went and sorted out the wants and needs of the customers (prospects actually). They mastered the voice of the prospect and intelligence about the market environment. The main value drivers were record, connect and share, quickly and easily. Not a lot of tools. Not extra software. Customers want to upload to YouTube and share family.
“The ease of use is incredibly seductive,” says Amazon.com vice-president of electronics – Money/CNN January 27, 2009
Pure Digital Technologies, the makers of the Flip Ultra, probably do have a toolbox of technology they could put against Sony. But, they didn’t. What they did was they came in at industry price, well below $200, it fits in the palm of your hand.
Let’s look at some of the results that support the user experience and how wonderful and important it is right now. Between May 2007 and December 2008, and Pure Digital Technologies generated $300 million in revenues from the sale of 2 million units garnering 17% market share and on the rise. This is market share and revenue that didn’t exist before and it caused Sony’s existing market share, 21%, was flat and declined in value.
What about the value creation with customer experience? Last March, Cisco announced that it would pay approximately $590 million in stock and $15 million in retention-based equity incentives for continuing employees, in exchange for all the shares of Pure Digital.
In April, Sony launched a press campaign explaining why they missed the market and announcing their fix for it as the Webbie HD. A key point was made that the introduction of the Webbie “Symbolizes an important shift in Sony’s culture.” But that shift was not reflected in the rest of Sony’s story about the Webbie. While price-conscious Americans are mentioned as the target market, no mention of the customer experience was included in how the Webbie came to be. Now Cisco and Sony are competitors. This is too interesting to ignore!
Do you or will you define and create customer experiences that will make your offers better, different and more profitable, even in a tough economy?
September 13th, 2009
There has likely never been a better time to get serious and be practical about reducing the uncertainty and increasing the return on investment of the business communications and promotional decisions you make for your business.
Since the world economies turned, I have been asked several excellent questions by CEOs, Marekting Directors, Investors, Product Managers and owners of small to medium sized businesses wanting to quickly navigate from survive to thrive.
Amongst the uncertain back-drop of bail outs, TARP programs, lay-offs, Twitter and hybrid-cars, are some very good examples of pragmatic management, exciting innovation and real opportunity. Below, I will answer one of the questions, and a bit on the pragmatic side-
What do you measure to determine communication effectiveness and value?
The universe of metrics for this can include:
-Market share / reach
-Unit volume
-Reach into the market
-Sales volume
-Site conversion
-Revenue
-Media expense to revenue
-Time-to-market
-Time-to-revenue
-Adoption rate / velocity
-Market awareness (of product, company, brand, application)
-Return on investment
There are many more metric options, some specific to the media and market. They have to be carefully selected against the objectives of the communication strategy and business.
The first step is benchmarking the current communications model with like metrics.
Then, make sure there is a very communication-specific understanding of the market, the demand side.
Knowing how prospects learn (read, listen, see. . .), their attention spans and which media are most effective in attracting and engaging them (their preferred media set) is extremely important.
Professional communicators know that developing / discovering exactly what the product or service ‘does for’ the prospect is critical in getting the metrics to lift in the proper direction. I call these the “Do-Fors”. They are more important and highly valued than what a product or service does. They are beyond features and benefits.
Even if you have the “Do-Fors”, the next step is to find out what the most highly valued sub-set of these is. This is what I call “the high willingness to pay set of Do-Fors.” Or, the “money set.”
The goal of developing these is to take out as much of the uncertainly and expense risk of communication decisions as possible. In-turn, there is increased effectiveness [moving those metrics in a positive direction!] and better return on investment.
The next step is to look at the results, and begin developing the communications platform. This is the body of text, or content, that that will be combined with specially selected media options, to do the communicating and move the measurable.
There are many media options and expert communicators understand these, their strengths and weaknesses. This understanding is combined with the characteristics of the market for maximum effectiveness. Another area of concern is media overloading and solving the problem of “cutting through the noise” of other messages, other media or events competing for the prospects attention.
The best selection of media options will attract and engage the prospect well and long enough so that they have a positive reaction to the “Do-Fors” that you have discovered and included within the communication. This should result in a change in behavior – the purchase. The revenue.
Now it is time to visit the metrics again and see how they differ from when they were benchmarked in the first place. What was different this time? What are the implications and recommendations the market and metrics are telling us? What are the next steps?
Are some or all of these steps included in how you reduce the uncertainty and increase the return-on-investment of your communications and promotions decisions? If yes, you know and can measure the benefits. If not now, when? -Jeof
May 16th, 2009
How are you? Well I hope!
I want to let you know about a special networking and presentation event at the San Diego Software Industry Council. It is about the return on investment of User Experience development, design and market performance AND how you can do it in house, with the team you have now.
This strategy enables businesses to produce more innovative products that meet or exceed market needs with resources they already have.
I am presenting this along with colleagues Sean Van Tyne, User Experience Director of Global Architecture, Fair Isaac; Tina Sing, Sr. Product Manager at Oracle and Mark Hall, Senior User Experience Analyst, at I DRIVE SAFELY, LLC.
We will be concentrating on the in-sourcing model since several companies have told us this would be most valuable in a slowing economy.
More details are below. I hope you can join us!
Jeof
————————————————–
UX with What You Got: In-sourcing Your User Experience
San Diego Software Industry Council User Experience Business Information Group
INTUIT, Bennett Conference Room, Bldg. 37545 Torrey Santa Fe Road
Thursday, March 05, 2009
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm: Registration, Networking and Refreshments
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Program
REGISTER: www.sdsic.org/events.aspx
In the context of a slowing economy, you can gain the ROI of User Experience with the resources that you have. We will show you how to use existing resources to design user experiences that increase customer satisfaction, adoption, retention and revenue. This strategy enables business to produce more innovative products that meet or exceed market needs – with resources that you already have!
Moderator:
Sean Van Tyne, User Experience Director of Global Architecture, Fair Isaac, www.fairisaac.com
Panelists:
Teena Singh, Sr. Product Manager, Oracle, www.oracle.com
Mark Hall, Senior User Experience Analyst, I DRIVE SAFELY, www.idrivesafely.com
Jeofrey Bean, Principal, Del Mar Research & Consulting, LLC, www.delmarresearch.com
February 26th, 2009
Good businesses are always interested in reducing the guesswork, cycle times, and costs associated with product development and going to market. At the same time, the challenge is to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and profitability. Since the economic conditions have deteriorated in the last 18 months or so, aligning the markets and customers you serve with technology solutions is now a must have instead of nice option in a more forgiving business climate.
Part of how to reduce the guesswork, cycle times, and costs associated with product development and marketing for many companies is aligning what they know about the markets they serve, or could serve, and their distinctive technology capabilities. The next step is to translate this into customer and user relevant products and services that are positively engaging and highly valued.
There are a few high visibility examples that do this well for specific customers. One is the iPhone. So well are the user experiences and business results that the combination of T-Mobile, Google, their G1 smart phone and the Android operating system; are challenged to be fast followers of the iPhone. The same with Sony Eriksson, Nokia and the X1 Smart Phone; playing catch-up with touchscreens, high performance networks, and hopefully, positive user experiences to compete with the iPhone’s market aligned technology success (that has bled into non-Apple markets) for critical market share and revenue.
Companies do not have to be large titans to align their markets and technologies for success. How to do this is a discipline and a process that even firms with excellent marketing and technology resources frequently find difficult.
Sean Van Tyne, the AVP of User Experience for Technology Strategy at LPL Financial www.beanvantyne.com and I have developed a specific process to align markets and technologies. We did this to meet the needs of several clients, many of which we worked on together with great results prior to Sean joining LPL Financial. We have CEOs, CIOs, Marketing Directors, Product Managers and Designers asking us for advice on how to improve the relationship between their markets and technologies to not only lower costs, but also to help with customer loyalty, margin retention and top line growth.
In response to this, we decided to put together a half day seminar. We started preparing over 14 months ago, targeting October 2008. When we started, we thought the economy would take a downturn. We could not have imaged what would take place in the coming months. These changes make business process improvement frameworks like Market Aligned User Experience more urgent than ever.
I hope you can join us at the seminar. Here is the information-
Market Aligned User Experience Seminar
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Time: 7:30am – 8:00 am: Continental breakfast, registration and Networking
800am – 12:00pm: The Market Aligned User Experience Seminar
Place: Doubletree Hotel San Diego, Del Mar, 11915 El Camino Real, San Diego, California 92130-2539.
To register or for more information- www.beanvantyne.com
September 26th, 2008
The connection between user experience and customer experience always creates a great and valuable discussion. This has been particularly true at business development seminars, marketing workshops or one of the recent San Diego Software Industry Council panel presentations. The reason is that user experience and customer experience are inextricably related. The experience a prospect or customer has in using a company’s technology (including web sites, intranet, enterprise software, kiosks, PDA, cell phone or other wireless mobile devices) is absolutely part of the customer experience.
Customer experience encompasses the experience customers have with a company’s people and processes. Since processes include technology, the intersection between user and customer experience is made there. These experiences happen whether they are purposefully created or not.
I am frequently asked by CEOs and company owners: Does the user or customer experience have to be considered if the discussion is not about product or service? The answer is absolutely yes. The answer is routed in the importance of the pre sale experience by the prospect and the post sale experience as a customer. For pre sales, it could be how the prospect experiences advertising in analog or digital form such as a web site, sample software, how an affiliate is linked in, published product or service reviews and much more. These are important influencers of purchasing decisions impacting prospect to customer conversion rates.
The user experience continues after the sale and becomes a critical element of the overall customer experience as it combines how a customer experiences the support, usefulness and value of the product or services used. It also can include the status of ownership or usage, and packaging.
Most companies that have gone beyond usable products and services to design specific positive user experiences as part of a well thought out and executed customer experience program have one or more of the following positive attributes:
o Accelerated customer acquisition, engagement, loyalty and top line revenue
o Sustainable growth with slower margin declines
o Competitive advantage because the user and customer experience is positively
different; and
o Increased return on investment, brand and company equity
Regardless of their development stage, companies that are committed to continuously providing superior user and customer experiences show almost all of the attributes above. They are leaders in the fast company business of understanding and providing purposeful and profitable customer experiences. Examples include Four Seasons Hotels, brokerage firm Edward Jones, Lexus Automotive, Apple Computer and UPS shipping.
Where is your company along the continuum of user experience to customer experience? Are the user, prospect and customer experiences with your company being purposefully transformed into value for the business?
March 27th, 2008
The San Diego Software Industry Council presents:
Beyond Usability
User Experience / Interface Design
March 5, 2008
Register at http://www.sdsic.org/eventregistration.php
Hosted by
Intuit
Do your customers have a good experience with your solution?
Are you leveraging “the experience advantage” for customer satisfaction and increased revenue?
Focusing on how “usable” products are has been a recent trend in software development but being usable is just not good enough.
Come hear how leading companies are going beyond usability and creating engaging user experiences, for . . .
• Competitive advantage
• Sustainable growth
• Increased profit margins and revenue
Our panel of experts share their case studies, experience and examples and discuss how some of these best practices can be easily adopted at your company.
Moderator:
Sean Van Tyne, User Experience Architect, Van Tyne Consulting, www.vantyneconsulting.com
Panelists:
- Maria Melendrez, Usability Strategist, SAIC, www.saic.com
- Beau Sullivan, Director of User Experience, Mitchell International, www.mitchell.com
- Erikheath Thomas, Senior UI Designer, Intuit, www.intuit.com
- Jeofrey Bean, Principal, Del Mar Research, www.delmarresearch.com
Date: March 5, 2008
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – Registration and Networking
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Program
Fee: Pre registration Only – SDSIC Members $35.00
Pre registration Only – Non Members $45.00
Location: Intuit – New Campus
7545 Torrey Santa Fe Road
San Diego, CA 92129
Register at http://www.sdsic.org/eventregistration.php
The San Diego Software Industry Council SDSIC.ORG
February 20th, 2008
Between a slowing economy, increased competition and advancing profit margin compression, several companies, who rely on technology to market, sell and deliver products and services (technical or not) are looking for ways of competitive and economic advantage more than ever. Look to your people and processes for an uncommon advantage: The one of giving a great experience to prospects and customers as they contact your people and user your technology to find out about your company and make purchases.
The user experience includes all the touch-points and exposure people have to your company. I will focus on the users of your technology, whether it is your web site, software, kiosk, a mobile device such as an iPhone, cell phone or PDA. These devices have software on them and it needs to be more than usable, they need to offer an excellent user experience. That is, an experience that is engaging, useful and one that will cause them to want to return, buy and be an advocate for your company.
Companies that come to mind who have made the leap from usability to being destination points for great (and profitable) user experiences include UPS, Apple Computer, Lexus, NetFlix, Amazon..com and USAA Insurance. They understand how to bridge the distance between usable products, services and technologies and offering a positive and engaging user experience overall.
Why do companies make the investment in user experience?
Companies make the investment because of the hallmarks of firms that have developed a user experience strategy and executed well:
- Accelerated customer acquisition, engagement and retention, and the higher willingness to pay by the customers.
- Sustainable growth with slower profit margin erosion.
- Competitive advantage through positive “market aligned” differentiation.
- Return on investment is vastly improved over the solution life cycle. This translates well into increased company equity, regardless of maturity stage.
Where is your company along the usability-to-user experience continuum?
If you are just at the beginning, then learn more about the default user experiences people are having with your company now. Are the experiences prospects and customers having (yes, pre and post sales) turning into positive value for your company? Are they converting visitors to customers? Are the experiences turning customers into advocates for real competitive advantage, long term growth and return on investment? Find out about what the best in class user experiences can do for your company in answering these same questions to obtain the user experience advantage.
February 15th, 2008
How do you like our web site?
Businesses frequently want an evaluation of their web site. They want and need to know how it compares to the competition. Equally important, is that most of them will be getting this assessment from the business development viewpoint for this first time. This is usually very complimentary to existing outlook of the web site developer and any search engine optimization (SEO) that has taken place.
The aggregated view of small to medium sized businesses shows that more than 60% of them are disappointed with their web sites.
Many people say they aren’t really sure what their web site does for them. Moreover, they showed striking similarities in “how” they got their web sites going.
Most web sites were bought from the outside by web developers or creative professionals or developed internally, frequently with little or no prospect or demand side information. Many used the web-site-in-a-box approach. The needs of the business were only occasionally included. In one instance, a seller of web site development gave away “quick content” to acquire the business.
Three Uncommon Steps for Accelerated Web Site Performance
More importantly, companies disappointed with their webs site’s business contribution excluded consistently three important steps creating the site:
Establish communication relationships with the market:
- Customer needs:
- Understand the market first
- Do not put-up content and push it out
- Communicate the “Do-Fors” that you provide
- Develop the web site’s business missions, specific purposes:
- What problems will the site help you overcome?
- What parts of the business should it accelerate
- Testing and Tuning
- Test with people who fit the your target customers
- Take the results from this testing and fine tune the site
Real Examples of Web site Business Missions
- Reduce time-to-market and time-to-revenue
- Qualified lead generator
- Expand product and service reach while reducing our costs
- Target a previously unreachable customer
- Allow partners to more easily do business with us
- Establish or increase credibility
Uncommon Steps in Action
A five year old high growth financial services firm was getting little or no value from their web site. Site support costs were up, contribution down. The company developed a better understanding of the markets they served. Prospects did not want to read about specifications but how the financial services being offered could solve their problems (within 30 seconds to three minutes).
The owners established their web site missions to be:
- Solving problems for prospects (what I call the Do-Fors)
- Company credibility
- Provide employees with an access anywhere sales presentation.
The results showed a 25% increase in clients reached in the following six months. The cost to reach these new clients has decreased by 10%. The site now serves the company as a two-way qualification tool and a distribution channel.
How can you use the three uncommon steps?
Think about the specific missions of your web site for solving problems and accelerating the business. How will the relationship between your prospects needs and web site be established? Use the three uncommon steps and measure the results and let me know how it worked out!
November 8th, 2007
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