2012-11-26: User Experience Strategy

joe natoli | givegoodux.com

1 UX strategy the value of delivering value


2 why UX strategy? a cautionary tale.

➡  retirement planning company develops new online business model (website)

➡  $200+ cost per instance to service customer support calls; thousands of calls daily

➡  website plan relies on usage and customer loyalty to drive down operational costs


3 can’t-lose proposition

➡  research shows cost of 1.2 cents per instance via online self-service

➡  design and build cost of new site is $1.3M

➡  ROI projections for year one "are off the chart

➡  project gets greenlight


4 the new site launches

➡  personalized account and educational information

➡  real-time market data and companion mobile app

➡  $750K marketing campaign drives thousands of users to the site’s home page, where they take the very next step:


5 they quit and call customer service.


6 so, how ‘bout that ROI calculation?

website design & development

marketing campaign

$1,300,000

750,000

($2,050,000)

customer support call costs (non-website)

customer support call costs (website)

($1,500,000)

(3,400,000)

total ROI ($6,950,000)


7

so they ask me: what the hell is happening? and why?


8 so we gather the tribes.

➡  they talk, I listen

➡  processes

➡  rationale

➡  opinions on what/why

➡  dissent and blame


9 I ask pepto-bismol question one.

“Did you ask customers about what " they felt they needed to be able to " do with the website?”


10

➡  majority of site users were somewhat new to the entire idea of retirement planning.

➡  the advancing age of the majority of these folks made them also novices at the entire idea of using the Internet.

➡  they needed handholding to understand the registration process & consequences of each action


11 on to pepto-bismol question two.

“What kind of research did your user " experience or user interface teams " do prior to designing the site?”


12

➡  IT designed and developed the website.

➡  two programmers who were “pretty good "with graphics” handled the UI.

➡  no user experience professionals were consulted.

➡  a graphic designer was brought in "after the site was built to “pretty it up.”


13 last chance to save face.

“Did you show customers a prototype " before launch? Ask them what was " useful and what wasn’t?”


14


15

what to do about it


16 if you forget everything else, remember this.

form follows function= BULLSHIT


17 if form did follow function... functionality would take priority over all other design considerations aesthetic considerations would be secondary to functional considerations every functional element would ultimately have one (and only one) design one size would truly fit all!


18

audience needs

client desires

ethical obligations

aesthetic inclinations

material properties

cultural presuppositions

functional requirements

time

budget

resources

reality check


19 REMEMBER

every force evolves form.


20 start with strategy.

what’s worth doing?

focus

what are we

creating?

definition

what value does it

provide?

value

how do we deliver it?

scope

givegoodux.com

21

what’s "worth "doing?

viability | feasibility im

porta

nce

UX efforts must address

these

UX efforts should

accommodate these

Unwise use of time to address

these

resource: adaptivepath.com

givegoodux.com

22

what "are we creating?


Client

Project Manager

Team Lead

givegoodux.com

23

what "value does it provide?


Who is the target audience?

What experiences are compelling to them?

How is the offering different from competitors and substitutes?

givegoodux.com

24

how "do we deliver it?


TOO SMALL

TOO BIG Unrealistic delivery expectations

Trouble creating a timely release (e.g. Vista vs. Mac OS X)

Battling “can’t we also have _____ ?”

Nervous designers + developers

Unclear path to the full vision

Unremarkable, unimpressive, watered-down releases

Symptoms we haven’t clarified scope


25 let strategy inform user experience.

➡  successful design is born from clear strategy that determines what the customer experience should be.

➡  that overall experience must be driven by business goals and customer needs.

➡  know your customer — and "remember they are not you.


26 let user experience inform design.

➡  the level of visual engagement and communication provided by the user interface

➡  the workflows enabled by the underlying technology

➡  the necessary degree of clear feedback for user actions "(and system reactions).


27 let design inform everything else.

➡  information architecture – volume, order, priority and labeling

➡  navigation structure(s)

➡  visual hierarchy and segregation

➡  prototype, test, revise, repeat.


28 takeaways

➡  the networked world we all operate in instantly exposes "inconsistent business processes and poorly integrated "systems via the quality of the user's experience.

➡  in the age of the wireless web and mobile ubiquity, ROI "will be much harder to come by unless providers can "get the UX/CX part right

➡  you must give customers what they want, when they "want it and how they want it delivered.


29 takeaways

➡  the right solution is not possible unless you ask the"right questions – and solve the right problems.

➡  you must have internal agreement on strategy: what’s needed, "who it’s for, why it’s necessary and how you’ll create it.

➡  creating truly successful user and customer experience "cannot be left to IT or Marketing or the Executive Team; "hire experienced UX and UI professionals.


30 takeaways

you can make money, or you can make excuses.

BUT YOU CANNOT DO BOTH.


31

what can I help you achieve? call 410.627.1783 or email me at [email protected]

Technology

2012-11-26: User Experience Strategy