All posts in UX

Big Data

The New Frontier of Big Data

Whenever people used to talk about ‘data,’ the image that came to mind was of numbers, mindless information that wouldn’t make much sense to the average person. Data entry jobs were considered a last resort, entry level work just to get your foot in the door of a major company. Yet the tides are changing and data has become an integral part of success for individuals, governments, and organisations around the world.

This new tidal wave is known as Big Data.

Data has expanded at an exponential rate in recent years, so much so that it is like the glaciers that rolled down over the northern hemisphere during the Ice Age. We’re watching this intense mass cutting through our lives, inching slowly over the bulk of our existence.

Even though the term ‘Big Data’ is becoming more and more commonplace these days, organisations and companies are struggling to decide what to do with it all and how to handle it. Business expert IBM states that, “Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data –so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years.” To put that in perspective, 90% of all of the data in the world has been created in the last 0.0002% of civilization’s existence.

Reasons for the Massive Amount of Data

One of the key reasons for the sudden explosion in data is that it is easier than ever to collect it. As technology continues its forward march, more and more people are willing to hand over data (for making purchases, signing up on email lists, getting information, etc). On top of that, storing data is now cheaper than ever.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: UX, Web

Design Experience – The Facts & Figures

For retailers, shopping is the art of persuasion. Though there are many factors that influence how and what consumers buy. However, a great deal is decided by visual cues, the strongest and most persuasive being colour. When marketing new products it is crucial to consider that consumers place visual appearance and colour above other factors such as sound, smell and texture.

Facts and Stats to Tweet

85% of shoppers point to colour as a primary reason they buy a particular product.

Colour increases brand recognition by 80%. Brand recognition links directly to consumer confidence.

42% of shoppers base their opinion of a website on the overall design alone.

52% of shoppers didn’t return to a website because of the overall aesthetic.

64% of online shoppers didn’t purchase an item(s) because the website was too slow.

Amazon.com found that for every 100 milliseconds of load time, there was a 1% decrease in sales.

52% of consumers are more likely to enter a store if there is a sale sign in the window.

60% of consumers feel at ease and are more likely to buy a product that has the word “guaranteed” associated with it.

October 10, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Psychology, Retail, UX

Key Benefits to A/B, Split Testing Landing Pages

Landing pages are some of the most important components in generating sales, or leads and delivering a targeted customer experience. A sales page must convert readers, moving them from the content through to the ‘call to action,’ whether that action is purchasing a product, signing up on an email list, or some other desired behaviour. A/B, also commonly known as ‘split’ testing is one of the easiest ways to determine how well a particular landing page performs.

The Basic Concept behind A/B, Split Testing

In order to utilize A/B (or split) testing, you need to have two different, distinct landing pages for the same product. The content will likely be different, as will the design or layout of each landing page.

The primary landing page, or the original one, will be labelled ‘A’ and is your starting point, or ‘control’ version. The secondary landing page, sometimes referred to as the ‘challenger’ is labelled ‘B.’

October 2, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design, UX, Web

Sales Personas Provide a Better Picture of Your Target Audience

Who is your ideal customer? Do you understand his or her needs? Do you know their personal history, what motivates them, or the concerns they may have about the products or services you have to offer?

A buyer persona, also known as a sales persona, is basically a made up representation of the typical customer whom you would target. In order to effectively create a buyer or sales persona, you need to understand what motivates them, the demographic or your target market, and purchasing behavior. In today’s business climate, that also means you need to understand their online behavior.

Why Would You Need a Buyer Persona?

When sales and marketing teams within an organization don’t have a clear picture, a unified understanding of the target audience, the people whom they will be targeting, then how can the organization develop a message that will create the deepest impact?

Buyer personas allow sales and marketing professionals to understand their key demographic. They help to highlight the particular personalities, ambitions, and motivations of these potential customers.

The more insightful, more detailed, and more realistic that a buyer persona is, sales and marketing will be in a much better position to craft the ideal message that will reach the target audience and make an important impact.

September 14, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design, Design Thinking, UX

Customer Effort Score

Customer Effort Score works by asking clients one single question, ‘How much effort did you personally have to put forth to handle your request?’ Customers are to answer on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the least effort and 5, the most effort.

According to the Harvard Business Review research, this metric system works in two aspects. One way is by gauging the reaction of customers on the very initial stage of the process. This way, the company would not have to wait till the end of the year or month to determine their client’s reviews. The other factor that makes CES beneficial is the ability to judge both negative and positive experiences. This too is great, as by knowing both kinds of customer experiences the company would be able to eliminate the bad ones and enhance the good ones.

You can read more on Customer Experience Score in these articles “All You Need to Know About Customer Effort Score”and “Customer Effort Score: Worthy of Application in Your Business?”. These articles from the team at Storm Insight explain the concept of CES and consider how effective it could be in your business.

You can also read the article “Stop Trying to delight you customers” published in the Harvard Business Review together with other articles.

August 21, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design Thinking, UX

Voice of Customer

The key to Voice of Customer (VOC) is the simplicity to implement it and more importantly for the customer using the website to provide feedback. The ‘Voice of the Customer’ (VOC) is a powerful force. It can benefit businesses in numerous ways. Today, there are many channels from which to garner feedback, to learn about what customers are thinking, how they act and react, what they want, what they don’t want, and so much more. There is a mass of dynamic information available that has never before been available so readily.

VOC can increase engagement with customers. This offers the potential for increased service from the business end while simultaneously creating an atmosphere in which the customers feel as though they’ve been listened to, as though their opinions actually matter. It can also help companies decrease their costs of reaching their target market because they will understand what their customers prefer.

Voice of the Customer can provide so much information to companies that it can boost research and development as the company refines its products and approach. It can maximize marketing potential when the company leadership understands how their key customers think, act, and find content. The primary focal point, then, is to be able to tap into the Voice of the Customer and be able to listen.

July 4, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design, Design Thinking, UX

Design in a Day – Train Service

No Seats

Commuting on the trains to work is stressful. Delays followed by further delays, increasing prices and over-crowded trains. A consistent problem I have is finding a seat on the train as a lot of them are always reserved. Even though I buy a weekly pass every week, travel five times a week twice a day I am left without a seat because someone travelling booked a few weeks in advance for a one-off trip.

There is no logical solution currently in place for me to reserve a seat. Booking in advance wouldn’t make sense, as I’d be paying more then buying a weekly pass. Arriving earlier wouldn’t matter as it depends on where on the platform the train doors open.

April 26, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design, Design Thinking, UX

Design in a Day – Admiral.com

The Problem

My 20 year old daughter purchased a new car in August. We have a multi car policy with Admiral.com one of the UK’s leading car insurers. They have a pretty impressive online self service solution which allows policy holders to manage certain details and download policy documentation. Unfortunately they don’t allow you to update the details of a vehicle change but do provide a contact centre which can complete the process pretty easily although repetitive in certain areas (this may be down to Financial Regulation in the UK).

After a pretty painless change process (albeit via telephone rather than my preferred option of online) my daughter was insured for her new car from the time she was scheduled to deliver her old car for part exchange and collect her new car from the dealer.

At the end of the call the customer service agent asked if I would be prepared to complete a quick customer experience survey containing just three simple questions?

February 1, 2015 / 0 Comments / Category: Design, Design Thinking, UX

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