Fresh ID » User Experience

Are You Checking Out When Designing Checkout Online?

Kristi — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:09:57 +0000

This is an awesome video, shared by our friend Mr. Blanchard via Facebook the other day. If you own an ecommerce site or business, you need to watch this and realize that pure and utter disgust happens even faster on your own sites if the buying experience is not efficient, non-painful or the best case scenario: surprisingly delightful in comparison to other online purchasing experiences.

Want to do something fun and informative with your staff? Stage your own “checkout in real-life” and follow the process your buyers go through – this works for retail checkouts also, or phone purchases… no one should know before you do the problems, glitches and workarounds it takes to buy something from your company. Tape it to share and remember later, and once you make improvements, you can do this again and see if there really is a significant change for the better – or just a minor one that’s not going to really impact sales.

If you’re a company that needs help with this, give us a shout! We do user experience assessment and virtual visual merchandising as well as ecommerce site design. Go sell!

As I say Goodbye….Reflections of Fresh ID

freshid — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:09:41 +0000

The day I started Fresh ID was the day I saw my transvestite neighbor slip and fall on the icy sidewalk, on a cold January day. That morning I woke up early, fresh, focused and ready to start my new challenge, but instead all I could picture in my mind all day was my transvestite neighbor, with her long flowing pink hair and purple-puffy jacket sailing through the frigid air landing with a “thud” on the snow packed sidewalk. I quickly learned at Fresh ID that nothing is “normal”. There wasn’t any “set in stone” processes to follow. Instead its place that encouraged creating your own process that worked for you personally and would be successful at getting the job done right. That was one of the first hard challenges for me. For years of being in school, having people tell you what to study, when to turn something in and then grade you on how well or terrible you did it, being able to explore and create my own professional system was a struggle. I constantly looked to Lisa and Kristi to say “That’s Great” or “You’re wrong”, because I was seeking that feedback, but instead I was given the challenge to invent something that worked for me and the company. Now don’t get me wrong, I did get feedback (A LOT OF FEEDBACK), but it was also teaching me to reach out and learn through trial and error, which has now contributed to my growth because I got to learn by experience. My favorite lesson came, when one day, through my tears of frustration and uncertainty, Lisa looked at me and said “Kid, you need to learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable”. This slap in the face was a reality check and made me stop and change how I perceive myself and the real-world. At work, you need challenge and change, but at the end of the day you have to love it or you wouldn’t do it the way it deserves to be done. I know for me, when I’m comfortable I stop trying because I like where I’m at. In order to grow, pushing outside your comfort level is a must. I’ve learned at Fresh ID that the only way I was going to be successful was to push to the next test, even if it was uncomfortable. In order to meet personal expectations of greatness, it’s all about being comfortable with putting yourself out there. Once you reach that comfortable successful peak, it’s time to push harder. Only then can you evolve. There have been some amazing times here at Fresh ID these past 10 months. I have laughed until I cried, or peed my pants, cried and huddled in a corner, and created some really cool things that I’m so proud to be part of. The bond that grew between us all has given me the strength and confidence to move on.There have been many moments of education, but here are a few that I will take with me (and are appropriate to share to the world). 10 things in 10 months

When you are arguing or having an in-depth conversation with someone, take time to stop what you are saying and truly listen to their words. You might be arguing the same point, just in a different way.
Things don’t always go right, even when the best laid plan is in place. Airplanes could run late, minds can be changed and ideas may be altered. But at the end of the day, if you have cheese, a sweet treat and enjoyable colleagues around you at work, your job is successful and fulfilling.
Take time to be around someone you admire and listen to how they do business. But don’t let it make you quiet, your ideas are still valuable and just because you may feel they are always “right”, you may put a new spin on something that could change the course to bigger and better things.
Surround yourself with co-workers who have different values, ideas and ways to do things. It will be frustrating at times, but in the long run the “ying and yang” effect is truly remarkable and works in a small business.
Be proud of the work you do. Shake hands with confidence and share with anyone and everyone what your job is, you never know where a business deal or future negotiation will be hiding and you don’t want to miss out.
A beer and a good idea can go a long way. The best thoughts don’t always happen in the office, take time to step out and let your mind go (and yes, wine can help you there too, we don’t discriminate at Fresh ID!)
Express yourself. No matter what you are feeling, excitement, anger or confusion.
Having an office that’s an “open door” to friends and other colleagues makes the day better. Filling up the office with these people adds excitement, new ideas, and laughter. It truly helps build a dynamic work place that all enjoy.
Take time for yourself. At Fresh ID our minds go 24/7 and that’s what makes us unique and special. But it’s okay to stop and take time out before you burn out. You deserve that time.
Be a family. Dysfunctional, determined and deeply committed to each other and the work. Success will come, but at the end of the day you have each other.

I also feel it’s my duty to share how it is I work with my Fresh ID family, just in case you feel the need to suck up or work with any of them. Sherry: Between drinking Coca-Cola and packing her purse with every random item you may ever need (seriously, ask her for something I bet she has it), she’s a detailed genius at what she does. Give her the specifics, make sure she has all the information and then let her work. Oh yeah, and to show how much she rocks, find something with “Hello Kitty” on it….she has a lot so get creative. Tom: He likes meat, and being the only male in the office, he’s had to suffer through some pretty girly conversations and food. His sense of humor comes out sporadically so listen for it, because when he says something you want to hear it. He’s the level-headed partner who is always up for a challenge and a Star Trek TV show. Kristi: Yes she loves her ruffles, Eiffel Tower, French Wine and Lil’ Rookie, but deep beneath her sassy blonde exterior, there is no one else who can create and imagine like she can. The way Kristi’s mind works amazes me, but she showed me that no matter where you are in your life, if you truly love something, if it truly moves and inspires you, it deserves your full attention and faith. She may mix things up now and then, but if she never spoke up (which trust me, she’s never held back), creative genius wouldn’t happen and we’d all be stuck un-challenged and like everyone else. Lisa: I hope I can be half as intelligent, funny and giving as she is one day. This time spent with her made me realize that a working woman can have it all, you just have to put the time into it and know that sacrifices will be made. Her words, actions and the way she does business is inspiring. Her dedication to something is beyond compare, as she puts 110% into whatever she is doing. Whether it’s cheering for a KC sports team, being a mother, a CEO, a toe-touch, or being the life of the party, Lisa gives it all she has with a smile on her face.

Breakdown of Facebook’s big Announcements 2011

freshid — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:33:51 +0000

SEPTEMBER 2011 UPDATE!! And the updates keep coming! Thank you to Mashable for being quick and responsive to all the changes going on at F8 and with daily changes coming out of Facebook. This article breaks down whats been going on this week (Sept 22) Prepare Yourselves: Facebook To Be Profoundly Changed by Ben Parr There is another update! Today (September 14th 2012), Facebook Launches their “Subscribe” button. So what does that mean!? On the site, you’re going to start to notice that some users have the button at the top of their profile that says “Subscribe”. If you click it you’ll start seeing that persons/brands updates in your News Feed, just as if you were their Facebook friend. SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? Unlike normal Facebook friends, when you subscribe to someone, they do not approve your request so their is no limit on how many people can subscribe to anyone. It’s a “Twitter-esk” and Google + like update. Read this article for more great information! “Facebook Launches Twitter-Like ‘Subscriptions’, Let’s You Share with Unlimited Users” via TechCrunch Today (Aug 22nd, 2011), Mashable announces that Facebook will be making massive Privacy and photo tagging changes. It’s one of the largest privacy overhauls in the companies history! It’s going to help users make it much clearer about who you are sharing pictures, status updates and locations with. Check out the article for more information “Facebook Makes Massive Privacy and Tagging Changes” via Mashable Facebook made a big announcement yesterday (July 6, 2011), and lots of people are still wondering what it’s all about. So Fresh ID is going to break it down for you! After watching the press conference and browsing the internet for more clues, and reading what others have said, I think I can sufficiently break it down for us “average joes” in the technology world. So, what was the conference all about? First off, be prepared because Zucky said that this is just the start of “Launching Season 2011″. Secondly, Mark Zuckerberg did a great job of talking about WHY and WHERE Facebook is going, giving some insight on how social networks are being used today, how they will be used in the future, and how Facebook plans on keeping up. Zuckerberg talked about the social networking trend being at an “inflection point” and that for the past 5 or so years, we’ve all talked about how social networks are used to “connect people”. He sees the next 5 years of social network activity to not just be about connections, but be about the value we receive from it. He talked about measurement, and how in the past we’ve been measuring success on these sites based on “number of users”, but Facebook wants to measure it based on the value of what people are using and getting out of the network. This is an interesting concept to me, and I definetly agree with him on this point that in the future, we are not going to be measuring number of users online, but measuring VALUE, what we are getting from online networks, searches etc. The internet holds such a vast capability to enhance our communication, knowledge and relationship skills as human beings, so I’m thrilled to know that Facebook is really working with this model and staying on top of the social evolution that has become the internet and Facebook. Zuckerberg announced that there are now over 750 million users on Facebook and everyday they share around 400 billion content (this is publically shared, not counting privatley shared goodies). This number is huge, given the fact that they announced a few months ago that they hit 500 million users! It truly is taking over the world and how people connect. Have you ever been out (say a bar) and had someone say to you “Facebook me”? It’s becoming as common, or even more common than “Call me”. We now know that people are sharing TWICE as much information today than they were the same time last year, and the Facebook team only sees it growing in the future. Ok, so what exactly was the “Big announcement”? Well there were actually three. Let me break it down.

Group Chat: This product was rolled out less than a year ago and already over 50% of users utilize this function, with an average of 7 people per group. It’s a way to organize a group of people and gives the ability to see the history of what everyone has said (which can sometimes be annoying if you get stuck on a chat you don’t want to be on, trust me I know), but in the grand scheme of things its an efficient way to communicate with larger groups of your “Friends” . So, what’s new?

NEW:

Add friends to your chat box
Even if your friend isn’t online, you can “chat” with them and it shows up in a message so they can later see it when they log in to Facebook

I really like that you can now add friends to the conversation on the chat box that’s in the right hand corner of the screen. This will be great if you’re trying to make plans and want to get others involved, and even if they’re not on Facebook at that moment, adding them allows them to see the conversation later, so that’s a cool function 2. New Chat Design: Everyday, a billion messages take place on Facebook, so redesigning it to fit more browsers is smart. It’s one of the largest chat networks online today! So what’s going to be new about this design? NEW:

Simplified “chat” tab
Takes into account different browsers and computer sizes
Ability to send messages by clicking your friends account, as seen on the right hand side bar.

I see this as just the evolution of Facebook chat and a smart, simple re-design that was necessary and won’t neccesarily make things worse, but in the end provide an easier to use chatting experience no matter what kind of computer or browers you use. 3. Video Chat: This was the “big” announcement that has had the internet buzzing for awhile. Yes, Facebook announced that they are partnering with Skype and creating Facebook Video Chat. I was a little skeptical about the new addition, but after watching it be demoed, it seems incredibly easy and something I am personally very excited for! See, you don’t need Skype to participate, you just need a Facebook account. You can talk to any of your friends (and only YOUR friends) by simply downloading and “allowing” the app. Facebook claims you can download in 20-30 seconds and chat away with whoever you’d like! This “one click connection” is really going along with Facebook’s theory about measuring the value of HOW people are using the internet and Facebook. The ability to talk to any of your friends directly from your Facebook page is very exciting, easy to use and absolutely the next “evolution” in this social networking ecosystem. NEW:

You can now push a button that says “Call” and video chat with your Facebook Friends
It’s easy to download and very user-friendly
Did y ou know you don’t HAVE to have video/microphone capabilities on your computer? Local social networking expert, Ramsey Mohsen, talked with KCTV5 News yesterday and explained that your friends/family don’t even need camera/mircorphone to use the Facebook Chat!
Only individuals can use Facebook Chat right now, not businesses…but who knows what the future holds (Hello awesome customer service!)

I’m really excited and interested to see how this Facebook chat not only effects how we are connecting and communicating with each other, but how human beings will continue to use the internet and change it’s use over the next few years. The video chat, to me, is right on scale with where social networks should be going, and I look forward to see how businesses, celebrities and even educational institutions use this in the future! Here are a few links that I used to help me wrap my head around what all Facebook rolled out yesterday. Ramsey Mohsen did a GREAT job at really laying out what the Video chat does and how easy it is to use. Check out his news interview from KCTV5.com right here: FBVideoChat The Press Conference that was done yesterday by Facebook and Skype can been seen in a few places, but I watched it here: FacebookAnnouncement Other references I found helpful: Mashable Huffington Post Forbes Have fun checking out the new features! Let us know what you think, and until Facebook makes another change, we will talk next time!

Fresh ALERT: Facebook Changes Business Page Design

freshid — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:55:19 +0000

Update: We have confirmed the migration date is March 10th vs. March 1st. We have also confirmed that the custom tab width is NOT changing and will remain at 520 pixels. Our friends over at Facebook have once again “surprised us” with changes to Page design. To be fair, they had communicated a few months ago that Pages would at some point change to be consistent with the personal profile design changes they implemented in December, 2010. Unfortunately, not everything was clearly explained and in some cases what they said a few months ago is no longer accurate. These new changes will impact how Pages are designed and managed so we wanted to make sure our clients and friends were in the know. Facebook has started a FAQ list for your reference. A very helpful article we found thanks to our friend Laura Watkins is over at Inside Facebook. Here are the resources we are reviewing that Facebook has provided: Pages manual, Change benefits , Pages Resource Center. You can elect to upgrade to the new design now through March 10th, 2011. On March 10th, all Pages will automatically change to the new design.

The Good….

Post as business

A Page administrator can now log-in to Facebook as their business page and therefore post/comment/interact as their Page vs. your personal profile. In the past, you were only allowed to comment as your business on your branded Page. As an example…I’m a business page administrator for Pepsi. I see all kinds of other people talking about Pepsi on their personal walls or on other business/fan pages. I want to respond to those posts and comments as Pepsi not as Lisa Nicholson Qualls. Up til now I didn’t have an option to respond as Pepsi except on the Pepsi Page wall. Now, I can respond all over Facebook as Pepsi. This feature also allows me to “like” pages as my Page instead of my personal profile. If I happen to manage multiple Pages this allows me to be logged in as one Page and “like”, “post” and view “insights” for just that business. If I want to switch to operating as a different Page, I can simply go to my account settings, select “use Facebook as a Page” and change to the page I need. Prior to this change, I had to “like” pages through my personal account leaving my news feed overwhelmed with updates.

Notifications

Page administrators can now turn on email alerts to help them manage their Pages. In the past I was limited with getting alerts for only my personal profile…now I can set up my settings to have alerts sent for each Page I administer.

Wall Filter

The Page administrator can choose to have Page posts only displayed OR they can show Everyone’s posts based on Facebook’s algorithm to select most relevant information. Facebook states that relevancy will be determined by the post’s geographic and language nature, the timeliness of the post and volume of likes and comments a post has received. The most relevant posts will remain at the top of your page until something more relevant is posted.

The OK….

iFrame vs. FBML Custom Tabs/Applications

A growing trend on Facebook is for businesses to have “custom” tabs design and developed to better captivate and engage Page visitors. These “custom” tabs had to be developed using “FBML” code which had its own good and bad but was something you got used to if you were doing any FB customization at all. FB has now announced that they now support iFrame coding which in many ways should make custom tab and application development a bit easier. However, instead of giving developers an either/or option they are REQUIRING all custom development be done in iFrame as early as March 11, 2011. What has us uneasy is Facebook is “strongly encouraging” all existing FBML tabs be converted to iFrame tabs ASAP. We speculate this could become a requirement by Facebook in an effort to get rid of FBML all together as early as this summer.

The “ugh”…

New Layout

For those of you who have gotten used to and like the personal page layout changes implemented in December then you may be ok with the new layout. We weren’t fans of the layout changes in December and still aren’t fans today. Moving the tabs from the top page navigation to the left side bar makes them hard to see and possibly easily forgotten. Many companies and non-profits have gone to great strides to personalize these tabs to provide their customers, visitors and community members rich information, media, and interaction opportunities. By minimizing the tab visibility, it will be less likely that page visitors will click around as much as they would if the tabs were on the top of the page. We will be keeping a close eye on page analytics/insights to see if and how traffic on the page changes with the new layout. Pictures Lastly, since tabs have now been moved to the left sidebar, Facebook now has pictures posted on the top of the page…just like our personal pages have been since December. Some of our business pages did not have many pictures loaded as we integrated in Flickr and/or used video. Therefore, when we took a tour of what the new page would look like there were only profile pics displayed or empty thumbnails. We have also noticed that the thumbnail views don’t always scale appropriately cutting off pictures in the wrong place. The good news is you can easily hide pictures from being displayed on the wall. On the “ugh” end, this new feature will require some work to make sure pictures are loaded, that they scale correctly in the thumbnail and that as new pictures are added that they go through an evaluation process to make sure they look “good” on the home page.

What we tell our clients…

Obviously changes are going to have to be considered and implemented. We encourage at least 10 quality pictures that represent your brand, products/services, customers and/or employees be uploaded and tagged to your page. All pictures need to be tested for thumbnail scaling for wall display with those not passing the test being selected as “hidden.” You may also want to considering converting your FBML custom tabs to an iFrame solution. If pictures do not exist then this may be a good time for a photo shoot. We are offering discounted hourly rates to ease the burden of these required changes to previous project-based clients. For our retainer clients we are including any necessary FB updates as part of their monthly package. We know change can be challenging and want to make sure we do what we can to make it as seamless and painless as possible. It doesn’t matter to us if you are a past, current or soon to be client, if we can help answer any questions regarding these changes please give us a call at 816.359.3554, leave us a comment or catch us on Twitter at @freshid. Be who you are and learn to be better, Lisa

How Not to do a Social Media Promotion

Kristi — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:01:42 +0000

I was excited, then disgusted last night, in fairly short order. I learned that there is something called SocialCam coming from Justin.tv, the video site. SocialCam is a mobile app that lets iPhone and Android users take some video, upload it, tag people in it and share it swiftly with their social pals. Sounds awesome, right? So I marched over to the little site and put in my email address for “early access” which I liken in my mind to be Beta testing, although I realize that may not be accurate – maybe they have already done Beta and this is a pure marketing play. If this is their beta testing process, it is WAY off base, so I will assume for the sake of argument it is not. I got this little gem of an email almost immediately: They can’t wait to get the new app into my hands, IF I pimp the ever-loving crap outta their unproven, unseen warez, is the stark reality of this “offer.” I don’t like it. I don’t like the approach. I don’t like the marketing philosophy that says this is okay. I don’t like the subtle extortion, I don’t like the encouragement to blast your social networks with this referral link – especially for a SIGHT UNSEEN product. Maybe this thing royally sucks! Maybe it’s hard to use, unstable and unreliable. Your social friends should be able to know you believe in what you’re sharing with them, and your mention of it is either:

news you find interesting or compelling or important (or know they will)
something that delights you so much you want to share it with others
something that offends you so much, you feel compelled to take a stand against it, and are therefore sharing it
something you have personal experience with, and you are sharing your honest opinion about
something noteworthy that people might be interested in (which I am sure Socialcam is counting on you thinking it is)

But at the end of the day, this is a play for free ole’ marketing, done by you, on behalf of them, for the “carrot” that is POSSIBLE inclusion on this wonderful early access list. Forced or coerced sharing in return for something you consider of value is NOT a good marketing practice. When it comes to social and the ever elusive Holy Grail of “Viral Marketing”, don’t be an ass. Stop thinking users with social network accounts are stupid. We don’t all buy Snookie’s book and sit around waiting to promote your company for free, for nothing. Be respectful of others, be intelligent, offer something of value, make a good product, have good support and any social media sharing, blog kudos or mentions will happen organically, naturally and deservedly. This should be your #1 “Social Media Best Practice” if you are USING it to market your company, products or services.

Fresh ALERT: New Etsy Feature Will Let Users Find You by Email by Default

Kristi — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:01:47 +0000

This post could be titled “The Almost Perfect Way to Make a Security Change on a Social Site” This morning I got the following email from Etsy. We sell some templates there so this is in reference to a new site feature that will go live in the next few weeks:

Now, upon first reading this, you might think “Awesome – Etsy actually notifies their sellers IN ADVANCE about a feature that might affect their privacy, security, and usage of the website. What a marvelous approach.” But look closer… yes, they are telling us in advance. Yes, there will be an opt-out checkbox AFTER the feature goes live. Sigh….. so close, yet soooooooo far away from doing what is ultimately in the user’s best interest here. Etsy should have:

Planned to make the feature OPT-IN only
Sent the great email above, describing what’s happening and how to opt-in
Altered their privacy policy to reflect the changes, as they have done
Set all users up to NOT automatically be using the new feature (disabled by default)
Done whatever marketing is necessary to convey the benefits of the feature after launching it

But they didn’t, and just like Facebook’s new privacy setting automatically enabled for all users the other day, they have not done the right thing by the population at large. When will these companies ever learn the boundaries of user experience, security and privacy???

Fresh ALERT: Facebook Privacy Setting Enabled

Kristi — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:32:34 +0000

I was alerted this morning by Facebook friends that there is a new setting automatically enabled, that you may well not want enabled. I have some screen shots here of how to go and disable it or at least learn what the setting means so you can decide for yourself whether you want to play in these advertiser games or not. 1. Go to your “Account” and click “Privacy Settings” 2. Click the “Apps & Websites” Link 3. Click on “Edit Settings” next to “Instant Personalization” 4. Read the information & decide to leave the setting enabled or disable it Now, why is this a big deal? For one thing, Facebook needs to stop setting up opt-in settings for users en masse, without giving them a giant alert notice when they hit the site, so they can make the decision right then and there. Despite hundreds of thousands of complaints, articles written and grievances filed, the company continues to prove non-trustworthy when it comes to what and how they are USING their users. And they are using you – make no mistake – to get more partner and advertiser dollars and to inflate the value of their company. For another, neither the partner sites NOR Facebook can ever really know you well enough to make valuable personal selling recommendations based on your purchases or interactions with friends. I wrote about this sometime back in Are Recommendations Engines Circumventing User-Focused Design? if you’d like to look at this from my perspective as a usability specialist and customer advocate. (Pardon the missing images – this post is from an old blog site and I have to locate the missing images. Argh.) At any rate, non-opt-in is BAD, and taking the responsible measure of informing people of changes made on their behalf is GOOD. Facebook notoriously errs toward the bad side in this regard, so user beware!

The Ultimate Restaurant Site – What’s Missing Today

Kristi — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:18:56 +0000

I have a lot of problems with the vast majority – and by that I mean 98% of all restaurant sites today. They are not set up to help the users who are there for a specific purpose or to fully engage prospects who’ve never been there before, and there’s really no excuse for not making these sites better. A few weeks ago I did a radio interview with Jeffrey Summers of Hospitality 101 on this topic, which you can listen to while reading this if you like – it will open in a new window: Blog Talk Radio: Building a Better Restaurant Business 7/27 I had an experience, just that day on the way to a lunch meeting that has to be a common occurrence for others, I’d imagine. On the way to Gordon Biersch, running slightly late, I needed to look up my meal in advance so Lisa could order for me, so I looked up the restaurant on my smartphone. They did not have a mobile version, so I navigated best I could, but had to put in a zip code or find my state to try to get to the menu. (A better way? Do a mobile app that picks up the smartphone’s geo-location and shoot them to the right menu/map/location information instantly.) I finally got the menu for lunch pulled up, and it was a PDF of course – restaurants seem never to have heard of HTML when it comes to menu’s online) and some of the PDF was dark and colored so it was very difficult to find what I needed to look at. I finally gave up, and since the one white page of the PDF had salads and appetizers on it, decided to pick a salad to eat. Sigh… oh well. This is SO typical. Type in any major city into Google: “restaurants Chicago” for example, and go to the first sites that come up. Ask yourself this:

Do they have their menu chunked into sections so you have to click back and forth to see what having a whole meal there would be like?
Do they only offer their menu as PDF’s you have to download to view?
Do they have pertinent information about how to reserve for big parties, catering info, delivery info, business meeting capabilities, and things beyond the typical that you might be seeking information about?
Do they offer convenient links to Driving Directions so you can pull that up without having to do the work yourself to get them?
Do they link to reviews for you so you can get a sense of the restaurant’s quality from unbiased sources?
Do they solicit your feedback, either personally via email or social network invitation, or through poll questions or short surveys? Do they make it easy for you to ask questions?
Do they have large, detailed photographs, video of the space and imagery that immerses you in the experience of what the restaurant would be like if you visited?

Sadly, many restaurants fall short in the areas above. And those are just basic needs: find a menu, get a sense of the restaurant itself, get driving directions to it, communicate with someone to give them feedback, a complaint or ask a question. What about more advanced stuff? We aren’t even getting close to doing what technology and the social web enables us to do, like:

A mobile site that is particularly geared towards the needs of mobile users and anticipates their actions to make the experience both efficient and pleasant.
Real-time content, currently spread around the internet at sites like Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Foodspotting and many more, being aggregated into your site.
User experience on-the-cheap, because people are willing (and sometimes you can’t stop them) from sharing their experiences online. Polls, quick surveys, soliciting feedback on social networks, making it easy for people to give anonymous feedback… this is something every hospitality business should be using the internet for today. Listening, talking, and seeking information about what you’re doing right, what’s wrong and how you can improve.
Real relationships – beyond simply interacting. Jeffery has long been a proponent of serving customers a bit more like they do in Europe, which is to get involved in their lives. Some of my favorite places where I do business get to know me personally over time, as I am a regular customer, and go the extra mile to help me get done what I need to: become more polished at the nail salon, cut off my nappy hair and make me look more presentable, clean my clothes so I can make a good impression at a meeting, or nourish me with some delicious food that I may be craving.

Jeffrey, a seasoned restaurant & hospitality consultant, says they’ve found that 88% of people visit the website of the restaurant that they will be going to later. So people ARE seeing your sites, whether you think they are and are watching the analytics or not. They’re visiting via their mobile phones (dumb and smart), on laptops, desktops and via links sent by friends. They’re visiting after randomly catching a picture of your food on Foodspotting, or a checkin from a friend on Foursquare or Gowalla. They’re coming to you from Yelp and other review sites, or even a random Google mention. What do they see when they get there??? This is what I want to see… I had wanted to make this a pretty diagram in Illustrator but only had time to whip out a fast sketch, so apologies for the low-fidelity image here:

Bottom line: this is what I need. This is what your site users, mobile users, customers and prospects need. Feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments! We need you to have a website of your own, first and foremost. You are not in the Facebook business, though you may use that site for marketing and communications. Don’t rely on Google and Yelp and other directories to list your information – they’re not going to do your selling for you! I get so frustrated when I type in a restaurant and city name and cannot seem to locate ANYTHING except third-party sources of information. (NoRTH in Kansas City, I’m talking to you. I’ve seen a site before but think it was linked from your parent company, because searches don’t bring back anything relevant that is owned by you. You make enough to have a unique domain name, surely. Sigh… also, this name – it may sound fancy schmancy, but it is virtually impossible to find relevant tweets about you, because “north kansas city” or “north overland park” doesn’t bring up what you should hope it does on Twitter.) We need to see FULL menu options, to read it fast or envision an entire meal, without hopping around all over your site, trying to piece together the big picture. Help me get enrolled by tempting me with the whole enchilada. We need shareable menu content, down to a single item and for the whole menu. Use PDF’s for what they were primarily designed for – to print from and to send! Have your menu as a normal web page or pages so people can copy/paste and share this content with others. I have a design for this we’ve never implemented yet, that involves showing the shareable bits if the user wants to, with one click. The technology is there today – utilize it! We need to see macro shots of your delicious dishes to make our mouths water, and large scale, panoramic shots of your space. We want to see happy customers at the bar, your waitstaff, chefs cooking, the front door staff, (and please tell me you have nice, sufficient waiting room!) Hire a great photographer, and bring the ambiance to your site – it’s the next best thing to being there! We want to see your recent press. If you’ve been written up in the newspaper, a restaurant guide or even a blog post, please link to it for us and let us read about you from others. If the press mentions contain both good and bad, even better. It makes it seem like a more realistic, honest assessment in the reader’s mind. We’d love to see some interactive elements like video taken in your space (from a low-rent Flip cam or a professional production, either one.) We’d love to see a virtual tour like real estate folks offer, so you can walk through the space without being there. Even better? An interactive tour with a friendly, appealing tour guide (like a hostess, business owner or your top chef.) Make us WANT to come and see for ourselves. Make photos in a virtual tour LARGE to immerse people in your space a few moments. We want to read reviews from folks who have eaten there. Point to Yelp and other review sites. Link to Foodspotting. Ask for more reviews! Respond where you can, to negative reviews with the honest truth. Give people the 360 degree perspective about your restaurant and fix what’s broken. We don’t just want a Facebook icon and Twitter icon in the footer of your site. That’s okay, but optimally, bring in social feeds, and aggregate this real-time content in your own site. People are talking about your place, you are hopefully sharing specials and information on Facebook and Twitter. Bring this all together in the ultimate hub of information. Keep an eye on your universe. Use Foursquare’s API to show who has visited you recently. Be a connector of people who love sushi, wine, barbecue, french food, tex-mex, etc. Get involved with them in conversations online and translate that into real-world sales. (Contact Jeffrey to learn more about that!) We need directions. Make it easy – Google has given you all the keys you need to post a map, link to driving directions, or send directions to another person who might be meeting you. Take advantage of the technology that’s available and make it pleasant for users to utilize your site. This leads to goodwill, and goodwill leads to good customers and better sales. We want to know how long you’ve been in business and what your credibility is. Give us visually rich, verbally descriptive images that tell the story of your history, your particular philosophy, your owners or chef’s background, your funny customer stories. Help us know you’re credible and engage us mentally, so we’ll want to be part of your world. We want to know what others have said about you, so give us testimonials and link to or replicate positive reviews so we can quickly understand what other people like about your service, your food or your catering abilities for big parties. We need a custom mobile site. There are inexpensive-to-expensive ways to accomplish this. We can help you understand all your options in the mobile realm. Beyond simply having a neat site, our friends at Meers Advertising are doing some amazing, fun stuff with mobile SMS text campaigns. Fun stuff to consider? Text “steak” and get back the special of the day, or text RSVP to reserve a table for tonight. Text “save” and get a coupon delivered you can either print, or show the waiter on your phone to use the coupon of the day. We have a slew of other ideas for using social networks and content created by yourself and users to drive traffic to your site, but that’s a topic for another post. What to do if you’re a restaurant and feel overwhelmed by all the options, issues and choices? Here are some ideas:

Contact Jeffrey Summers at RestaurantWorx about a restaurant consultation
Add the RestaurantWorx blog to your reader or subscribe by email
Contact us at Fresh ID about your restaurant site
Listen to Hospitality 101 radio shows – they are chock FULL of helpful tips!

New Packaging for Campbell's Soup Impacts User Experience & Hopefully Sales

Kristi — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:59:24 +0000

I am fascinated by Neuromarketing, because I like psychology, I like user experience and human factors research, and I like selling stuff and making money. A lot of people have a bad impression of neuromarketing because they worry about Evil Marketers tapping into our brains to get information about how to influence us… and that may be an aspect for some companies that spend money on this research. But trying to understand what customers want and need and how to appeal to their sense of style, tastes or desires is also what we do in user experience testing, so I look at it more positively than negatively. This week I saw a great example of neuromarketing and wanted to share it with you. I think this is just so neat, that the Campbell’s company put the time and effort in, but I like this example most for the enhanced user experience. Check out this new label… The Wall Street Journal says that the research was conducted over a two year period, to figure out how to get consumers to buy more soup. From the PSFK blog:

For the past two years, researchers studied microscopic changes in skin moisture, heart rate and other biometrics to see how consumers react to everything from pictures of bowls of soup to logo design. They combined these biometric tools with a different type of deep interview to more accurately gauge which consumer communications worked better.

These labels are not just pretty to look at – they will actually make locating the right soup for your needs much easier… right now the logo on red really does draw your eye to it much more than is helpful – it’s distracting compared the often lighter-colored soups. Color-coding the cans will also be helpful – so though this was done to make soup a more appealing purchase decision, it also makes buying it quickly easier, so the user experience has been improved also. I can’t wait till these cans hit the shelves. If you want to learn more about neuromarketing (as a layman), my two favorite resources are Roger Dooley’s blog and the book Buyology. Roger Dooley is a fantastic guy to talk to – I’m lucky to have him as a friend on Twitter, and his blog is so educational and interesting. What I love about his posts is that he uses lots of examples and then explains why and how the example is effective or not, all without overloading you with information or too-complex details for those of us not immersed in this field of study everyday. I read everything he ever writes and highly recommend it: Neuromarketing, Where Brain Science and Marketing Meet. Read Roger’s take on the new packaging in Your Brain on Soup. Buyology, by Martin Lindstrom, is a book, a site, and an experience. You can view chapter summary information, buy it at numerous places, or read many news articles about the book and Lindstrom’s take on what makes people buy something. Visit the site – there is a lot of information to explore!

Information vs. Engagement: Are You Giving People What They Need?

Kristi — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:45:46 +0000

I don’t expect this to be an overly popular post – I have brought this conversation up several times – I even moderated the #sm42 chat about it, and it almost always results in a backlash of folks that claim all social media communication is about engagement, and I am wrong to think otherwise. But still… I think otherwise. I just can’t let go of the notion we can make social media work even more efficiently and effectively for all concerned. I’m not against engagement and talking to people. Obviously I talk to lots of people who talk to me on Twitter, and do my best to engage both new people I don’t know and people I consider friends. As well as prospects, clients and various companies and brands. I am a user advocate, after all, so I get it. Using Twitter, Facebook and various other social platforms to develop mutually beneficial or even just interesting relationships with others is not new. Using these platforms to solicit web traffic, sell a book, product or service or promote yourself as a celebrity or expert of some type is really becoming yesterday’s news, as well. People are jumping onto these platforms by droves to take advantage of the marketing opportunities, and to provide a listening ear or customer support also. There is definitely marketing value, in listening to people and acknowledging what they have to say about your company… it takes finesse sometimes, which savvy social media marketers and community managers have (or anyone tweeting for your company) in order to read the needs and then meet them, for the particular individual you’re dealing with. But I know there’s more we can do, with all the people, and the easy, instant access, and the short-burst communication and the open api’s and ability to integrate technology online, where it can be accessed from anywhere there’s a computer and internet connection. So much more. Some enterprising local companies are taking orders over Twitter and having food or drink ready for the person when they arrive. Delivery companies are finding ways to use Twitter. Cabs can be ordered and dispatched. Shipments can be tracked. I even had an interaction with a great company called Gourmet Library and they changed their site for me that night, to add a suggested feature. Now THIS, this is a beautiful way to use these unexpected (a few years ago) resources in ways that can benefit our bottom lines and improve our business processes. Still… people go on and on about engagement and almost can’t stand to have a conversation including social media that doesn’t put the total emphasis on that singular concept. I understand why – lots of companies and business people are on Twitter, but they don’t all do it like we wish they would. Some of them are stiff, not overly chatty or friendly. Some are defensive. Some of them have an account name and don’t even tweet or acknowledge things being said about them at all. Some users/customers/prospects DO choose another company based on the lack of interaction, by the way. Some send out automated, crappy sales solicitations and annoy you. Some just listen – you know they are – using all the real-time streaming as intelligence but they don’t deign to respond. Some intervene too much – maybe you want to vent about your hideous tasting sandwich from a fast food chain, but don’t want to be confronted about it in public. So all the advice and the opinions and feedback about how to develop these relationships online is definitely warranted. But is “engagement” the ONLY need that people have? I’ve been thinking about this a long, long time. I believe people/users/customers/buyers/employees have needs, and engaging with a company representative in order to meet the need is only one facet of a holistic plan to be implemented. For you, in your life, what’s the fastest way to go about getting a particular piece of company information? Say you want to know the hours and location of a company you plan to do business with later today. Do you…

Ask a friend/spouse/coworker if they know?
Look them up in a paper phonebook?
Look them up in Google or online?
Go to their site and hunt until you find the information on the site?
Call phone information and ask for their phone number so you can talk to someone on the phone?
Drive by the location to look at a sign on the door?
Search for them on Twitter or Facebook, to see if the company is there and you can ask or see the info?
Send an email to them to find out?
Ask an intern/spouse/assistant or some other person to find out?

Different people will take different approaches, based on how they learn and gather information, and where they are at the time. If I’m driving, I might ask someone else to look it up for me, or I might Google a search at a red light. If I’m on Twitter, I might pop the name into search and see if the company is there, and take the lazy route of asking someone and waiting for the answer. If I want to see the company’s site, I might visit and poke around and eventually get to the info. But I want to be able to do any of these things, and come up with the answer fast… because I have a lot to do and this is kind of like “white noise” in my day – until I get the info I need, I can’t ignore it and so it’s on the mental task list until I can check it off. Emarketer’s latest research offers reasons that people befriend or follow a company using social media. They say social media users are “interested in deeper engagement.” That seems to be somewhat true, but have we helped respondents identify what it is they TRULY need? Two of these categories are too vague (at least as represented in this simple chart.) Do they need a person from Whole Foods, Macy’s or Apple to address them? Or do they need a question answered, a complaint addressed, a suggestion for a feature or product acknowledged, some praise for an employee noted, a request considered, or some other, specific need answered, that may or may not involve “engaging?” What requires unique answers vs. what could be answered in a FAQ or inventory call? Inquiring about known product availability is different than asking if the company even has a product that meets a particular need, or a service offering. Asking for hours of operation is different than engaging in a conversation about the best person to contact within the company to discuss a potential business deal, or an inquiry about a unique problem with a newly purchased product. Asking a Human Resources representative on Twitter about the most appropriate clothing choices for a new hire, is different than asking if there are job openings. One requires human engagement, the other can be answered by a machine. We don’t refuse to automate business processes inside the enterprise, or factory, or kitchen… wherever they make sense and are affordable. So why do we act as if some automation of information via a social platform is a crime against humanity? As a user experience designer, I have seen that interactions inside a site or software system (or over a phone system) are also forms of engaging with your company and brand. The increasing popularity of making purchases online is a testament to this. You need to think of interactions and transactions as mechanical engaging, and you’ll see how important they are. People have good, bad and downright horrifying experiences, just like they do with your employees in person. An online experience with a site or ecommerce shopping cart can leave the same good or bad taste in your mouth, resulting in the same good or bad word of mouth sharing. If you have a crappy site, and are hoping your salespeople or customer support will make up for it (or vice versa), you won’t be fooling anyone, really. Customer care is a pervasive, underlying foundation or it’s not, and all aspects of your approach need to deliver on it. Social media is not a silo, your site is not a silo, your blog and community managers are not a silo, your managers, customer support handlers, marketing people, receptionists, retail floorwalkers, the lobby, restrooms and the parking lot are not independently going to carry the brand – it takes all of these pieces – human, tangible and intangible – working in tandem from the same value belief system, to satisfy prospects, buyers, partners and even former customers. So instead of looking at the world of social media and thinking “Oh my gosh, how can I even go there? Our staff doesn’t have enough time as it is!” I am suggesting that you step back and ask yourself, what do people in your business ecosystem really NEED?

What do prospects need?
What do people appropriate for our products/services need, that don’t know about us yet?
What do existing customers need?
What do people with a return or complaint need?
What do potential partners need?
What do employees need?
What do our salespeople need to close deals/do their job?
What do company managers need?
What do investors/stakeholders need?
What do people we owe money to/do business with need?

Then look at your people, business processes and existing technological systems, and pinpoint where you can start to meet these needs. If you can honestly always answer “deeper engagement” for the myriad needs you will come up with, I’d be highly surprised. We have got to separate true need of specific information (inventory question, process explanation, how to return something, what time a store closes, if something desired is in or out of stock, if a discount is available for bulk purchase, if sales or discounts exist) from ego gratification from need for positive acknowledgment (desire to contribute to brand growth or offer a suggestion) from need for issue acknowledgment (desire to be heard when customer has had a problem or complaint.) All of us that do marketing consultation and act as social media advisors need to be careful tossing around terms like “deeper engagement.” What does that mean, anyway? I have deep engagement with my closest friends and family – not so much with Freshbooks, though I sure think very highly of them and recommend them often (for example.) It makes people feel good when a company rep or major brand responds to them, but why? Is it because they are perceived as being busy/important/popular and the name-dropping in our direction impresses others (and maybe delights us. It can be fun when someone you admire responds.) But is our ego drive to be acknowledged an unacknowledged driver behind the call for engagement with brands and companies on Twitter? Or do people need access to information, that may sometimes includes a person and sometimes an automated FAQ or inventory tool? What makes interacting with Sally Smith (a random person – like any of us) any different than interacting with Mark Parker (the CEO of Nike)? Do we value a brief interaction with Mark Parker, who we don’t know, more than with a beloved friend who lends us a word of encouragement, or a mate who declares undying love in public for all the world to see, or a boss that gives us an ‘atta boy’ in front of our peers? If people aren’t accessing Twitter accounts for fast info now, is it because that type of interaction doesn’t much exist today, so there’s no precedent to believe they can do that? Or because they don’t want to? (The classic chicken and egg question.) I would much rather hit Twitter (where let’s face it, I am 75% of the time off and on) and ask a quick question and get the answer now (automatic response) or later (via a nice human) than dig through a company site full of information and FAQ’s or support questions. It might be the height of laziness for me, but it’s the art of providing convenience and engagement (even if automated!) for savvy businesses who have the foresight to see it now, because it WILL come eventually. Our processes for automating certain interactions are more clear inside the company than on these social platforms, I think. We haven’t built them yet, but we can and we should go further than the “social” in social media and include opportunities we have to meet and answer needs in a number of cool ways. Maybe it’s just me, but…

I would greatly prefer to order some of my food and beverages directly via Twitter and then go pick them up (like Coffeegroundz in Houston wisely initiated early on – I was longing for this just the other day from Moe’s in Shawnee, KS)
I’d love to be able to sit on my rump in Twitter and ask an Amazon account about a book someone mentioned, and have the link to it sent back to me, instead of going to the site and searching
If I have an Apple Mac issue (I have multiple Macs and an iPod), I want to be able to hit a knowledge base with my question from Twitter. It may work or may not, but it seems easier than going and digging up the info at their site. It’s just one more hook, but for me, mentally massively more convenient.
Someday I want to ask for hairdresser (lawn care, dry cleaner, nail salon, doctor, air conditioner repair, etc. recommendations and receive a nice link back to a list of known folks reviewed near me (or the city I will be going to.) I don’t want a special, local Kansas City site – I want to ask the world at large, from where I hang out (my site, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
I’d like to be able to tweet a preferred appointment time to my nail lady, doctor’s office, chiropractor, etc. and get an answer back – an automated return of “Yes, that time’s available, would you like to schedule” or “No, I’m sorry, it’s not” is no less valuable coming from a software system than it is a human being. Either way, I get the appointment – engagement and customer care happens with the practitioner I am going to see and the people who take my money at the door, in addition to the software system they set up to meet my needs.
If my internet goes out, or the electricity, I want to tweet an account and get a status update back.
I want to ping my gym and find out what classes are being taught at 5:30 pm (because I realize that’s when I can go.) Or I want to know when Thom or Martha are teaching, or some other schedule related question.

Ask the question OUT, get the answer back IN is the future of cloud computing. Right now, I have to do a lot of work, despite how much more convenient things are now than they were 5 years ago. I have to know the places to go, or ask people and find out, and then go to the sites, and then do a search, and maybe they have or don’t the info I am looking for in THEIR particular database. If they don’t I have to start over. But these social platforms have opened a new door – they offer new horizons of people-powered comments, reviews, praise and complaints to work with. With links mentioned, people recommended or disputed, reports posted, analytics tracked – this is incredibly valuable to the humble person overworked, underpaid, and with the ambition to pack as much productivity into a day as they can. Forrester, who many companies rely on to separate the good from the bad data and information, has recently added a bucket of “conversationalists” to their social media persona ladder. But… I think this needs more work. I’ve added a couple of notes in green: This chart just doesn’t address people who are seeking information vs. the need to engage, in any of these areas. The RSS feed comment is mildly confusing – I assume they mean these collectors aggregate feeds into a feed reader or something, or maybe mix them, but not sure. “Inactives” may not appear to be doing anything, but we can’t know that – after all, they signed up for some reason… maybe they are self-educating or scouring for deals or seeking specific information. Why aren’t we building databases based on social queries? Is it because we are so focused on people, and people who need people (LOL!) that we are totally overlooking an entire segment of socialization? Once I asked @WholeFoods if they carried Nutella – someone answered and said no, it does not meet their ingredient quality list. That answer could be popped into a database for a future automated query, so the next time a Nutella addict wants to know it could be answered automatically. The supplements questions alone (if anything like the quantity we got in the store) could result in a big time-savings for the human staffers. Similar questions as an example: take Cost Plus World Market – do they have a location near me, do they carry Fat Tire Beer (at my location, or nearest?) Does LifeTime Fitness have a tennis center at a gym in Kansas City? (No, automated answer.) Will they ever have one? (Requires human answer with explanation.) Can I tell someone who will listen/respond at LifeTime, how much I wish they would bring Tennis to a KC gym? (Human answer with link to ideas site or direct forward to tennis program director, preferably on Twitter, or Facebook, or wherever I have initiated this conversation.) Do they have any recommendations for tennis in the Kansas City area then, given they are not meeting my need as an existing customer? (This is where the company could go the extra mile in their answer/recommendation, resulting in customer loyalty, user retention or positive WOM benefits.) I am not saying the people running branded accounts on Twitter aren’t doing a world of good for their companies, customers and brands. I have no idea why, but one day someone mentioned to me she had a big problem with a seatbelt in her Ford. Not knowing how I could help, but having a passing acquaintance with Scott Monty, Ford’s very socially present PR person, I forwarded her issue on to him. He got the right people involved apparently, and a few days later she told me Ford had contacted her and was resolving the problem. Now, while I was glad this was the case, I don’t know why her efforts to reach them on her own had failed. These are the kinds of customer care issues all companies have to examine and correct where they see failures. If there were only automated systems, this would not have been possible, and I am not recommending we replace the people spearheading social media efforts at the groundbreaking companies that are here now, with automated systems. In fact, to know how to deal with people who request things and ask questions of you on Twitter, you need to BE an active Twitter user, so don’t even think about planning automated services without being immersed in the social culture, or you will likely pay for it in negativity. I’m suggesting we (my company and others who think about technology and integration and business processes non-stop) help these Twittering employees and companies by coming up with new solutions. New ways of approaching the needs. New ways to scale and manage the requests. I hope that’s clear, if you read this far! I leave you with two things. Tonight I asked the question “If you have recently interacted with a brand/company on Twitter, what was the nature of your interaction? Question/comment/issue?” and I got a lot of neat answers and opinions, which I have starred as favorites. I recommend browsing these comments for insights. New friend @CariEllison gave me a link to a related article that’s interesting, so you might want to check it out also. Want to discuss this? Tell me I’m full of smack? Need help with an integration plan or process? Let’s talk about it. I’m curious to know what other folks think of the idea of mixing automation (for utility, aid and response, not marketing – huge, huge difference) with people on social platforms.