Ideas

The Business Model Canvas is a Simple and Powerful Tool

The type of business model that your company relies on can make a significant difference between success and failure. Being immobile or not understanding the underlying currents that affect revenue can often lead to collapse of even the strongest businesses.

Alexander Osterwalder created the Business Model Canvas that encourages business leaders to look beyond the normal capacity for sales and focus on nine essential characteristics that can affect the direction of the company and the overall focus of sales and marketing teams.

One of the best examples of a company that altered its business model to fit the needs, as well as the limitations, of its target audience, was Xerox. In the late 1950s, Xerox created the first plain paper, dry-process copier in the world. It was so innovative that it would ultimately transform the entire copier industry, but there was one major shortcoming: the price tag.

October 13, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: Business, Design

Apple’s Bold Business Experimentation

Apple’s products are often innovative, unique, and successful. Why? Because the company has never been afraid to take risks and experiment. But Apple has experimented with more than just their product line. Their marketing strategies and business decisions have often been criticized, but no one can say they weren’t bold or daring. Many different Apple ideas have certainly seemed radical at the time, and some were classified as ridiculous or business-ending at the time. In retrospect, Apple has been often ahead of the times, especially when the company was led by Steve Jobs.

Apple’s experimentation and bold direction were obvious from the start. While the PC market became full of competitors of clones, Apple kept its operating system to themselves and, with the exception of a short period of time, has never licensed it to others. This would, at first, seem to put them at a disadvantage since it meant Apple was the first and last source for Macintosh computers. This put a limit on their supply, and many thought it would also lead to stagnation or a lack of innovation. The iPod Mini was one bold experiment that paid off. On paper, it seems like a failure: yes, it’s smaller, but it also holds less music. Why would customers purchase a device that holds less data and was only slightly cheaper? But the fact that the iPod Mini was available in different colors and was smaller made it popular, and Apple saw another one of its innovative ideas flourish.

October 13, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: Business

What Makes A Killer App Description?

The crowded mobile app marketplace makes it difficult for developers to make their apps visible to potential users. Even if hordes of people check out the app, it does not always convert into downloads. This is where a killer app description comes into play.

Assuming that you already have a fantastic app with an icon that pops, the next crucial step is to write that description that compels people to actually buy the app.

Here are 4 key elements that make for a killer app description.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: Mobile App

What is App Store Optimization?

Your app’s success hinges on several factors, one of which is its visibility in search results. With over 2.5 million mobile apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play, combined, getting your app discovered is a huge challenge. App developers and publishers continue to grapple with this problem and finding very little results. But with the emergence of App Store Optimization (ASO), there is a concrete solution.

ASO is the process of improving the ranking of mobile apps in app store search results. It makes use of methods like optimizing icons and app descriptions, keyword tracking, and incentivizing users to rate and review, just to name a few.

Here are the key reasons for using APO methods.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: Mobile App

Using App Push Notifications to Engage Your Customers

Mobile apps have become an integral part of many consumers’ lives, to the point where they would rather give up some basic necessities in life than any of their apps. And while that provides an incredible opportunity for app developers and marketing, there is a balance that needs to be achieved when it comes to push notifications.

The stream of alerts that pop up for particular apps are an effective tool that can increase usage of the app by as much as 540%, according to research by Urban Airship. That’s quite the incentive for mobile app developers to engage in push notifications. But here’s the catch: app users certainly appreciate push notifications, when they are useful. However, the moment they aren’t useful or might be considered spam, they will turn notifications off, which effectively stunts the prospective power of those push notifications.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: UX

Ryanair aims to improve customer experience

Apparently, Ryanair is changing. The ‘brand’ we love to hate has recognised that cheap fares are not enough and in the face of enduring its toughest year in history, it has gone on a charm offensive to woo disgruntled customers that have switched to other airlines. For a company that has continually grown for the last 20 years, suddenly the realisation of profit warnings and stationary passenger numbers, they know things have to change.

Ryanair has always had a bad reputation with a certain section of its passengers and a terrible relationship with the media, however these have been exacerbated over recent years thanks to the rise of social media. No one will forget the story of Ryanair charging a grieving father charged £160 to change his flight at Dublin airport to get home quicker. This story spread on social media and by the time Ryanair resolved the matter, it had already being reported by every major news channel, damaging the company further.

If you were to look at a look at customer journey map of the Ryanair experience it doesn’t make for good viewing

Online

The experience of buying online on the old website was appalling; flights from Manchester to Barcelona would be advertised £9.99 each way, but once taxes, luggage fees and tax has been added on you would end up spending over £100.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: UX

Apple’s Design Philosophy: Simple Design, Simple to Operate

When Steve Jobs and the other original founders of Apple first began working on what would become the Macintosh line of personal computers, the idea of “personal” computers hadn’t really even been created. Computers were used mainly by large businesses and the government, and they were so large it took one room to house a machine that wasn’t nearly as powerful as the first iPhone. No one ever imagined that computers would become a household item, much less that they would become so small that they could be carried in a standard backpack or briefcase. But from the very beginning, Apple’s philosophy has been to design their products with the individual user in mind. Their computers and other devices were intended to make people’s lives better, but at the same time, they were also aimed at the standard user. Jobs and his team wanted devices that were simple in both design and in use.

Apple’s “battle” against complexity led to some design decisions that some might call counterintuitive or just plain wrong. One example of this is the iPod Mini, which actually has less hard drive space than the larger iPod. The iPod itself was already very simple and did nothing more than allow users to organize and play their music. Most people would immediately assume that because it held less music, fewer people would want a Mini. However, the smaller size was a hit, as was the smaller price tag. There’s also the fact that the Mini’s case was made out of aluminum instead of stainless steel. This allowed Apple to make the Mini in different colors, which was a huge hit.

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

Basics of empathetic design

The Empathic Design Process

How customers feel about a particular product can have a direct impact on marketing, sales, and even development of new products. The empathic design process is a user centred approach that places the reactions and needs of the customer at the focal point of new product development.

It is important to note that the empathic design approach is often confused with and referred to as the empathetic design approach. While the two words are actually interchangeable and have essentially the same meaning, empathic design is the proper term in business environments.

Aspects of Empathic Design

In order to utilise empathic design in product development, observation is one of the most important aspects involved. The ultimate goal is to determine what the basic needs of customers happen to be so that the company can address them in an appropriate manner during product development.

October 12, 2015 / Comments Off / Category: Design Thinking, Psychology, 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

Creative Insights