Xperience This!

A common problem facing many advertisers today is this: You’ve got a PPC campaign that has done its job.   Its driving quality traffic to your landing page, but your page abandonment rate is really high and people are bailing almost as soon as they get there. Sound familiar?

If it does, then it should inspire you to ask your online marketing firm, “What are we doing wrong?”

The best way to answer this is to take a look at it from your customers’ perspective. When they click on a PPC ad there are certain things they are looking for when they hit the landing page. If you don’t meet those expectations, they are likely to bounce.  So then, what are your visitors expecting to see when they reach your landing page? More »

All humans have at least two things in common: we expend effort to produce some desired outcome (we work); and we conduct our affairs intersecting with other people doing the same, negotiating transactions both formal and informal (we are social). Where these two endeavors intertwine – that is to say, everywhere – distinctions between what is and is not work are usually artificial, difficult to enforce, and highly subjective.

Whether in the hall or break room, or next to an actual water cooler, the “Water Cooler Effect” has been credited with improving employee productivity, spreading rumors, and producing better research. It is generically used to refer to informal socializing among people who share a physical workspace, and believed to foster the kind of informal connections which build social capital within organizations.

But how do geographically-dispersed organizations meet the challenge of building teams of people who will infrequently (or never) meet face to face in any informal setting? They need to reproduce “the water cooler effect”, but in a virtual environment.  And while there are plenty of tools for “Enterprise Collaboration,” that’s usually been limited to providing access to the materials needed to accomplish specific tasks, and a forum for discussing and developing work product. There are fewer tools aimed at the enterprise which invite non-structured, non-project-based collaboration. And yet this purpose is equally vital to the culture and life of the company.  

It is here that social media, properly embraced, offer a solution. More »

Successful service design relies on aligning the service goals and journeys of customers and service providers, appropriately setting people’s expectations and their mindsets for a service, and taking a holistic view of orchestrating all of the elements of a service. Most often, service designers work within the context of an interaction that can glibly be described as a “nice to have.” Whether it’s buying a satisfying cup of coffee, finding the right mobile data plan, or planning and enjoying the perfect vacation, these experiences are essentially “optional.”

But what are the experience design considerations for a service that isn’t optional; that is, a service that when not optimal puts people’s lives at risk. Emergencies fall into this category and lead to fascinating service design challenges associated with aligning the emergency service experiences among various service providers and their customers. In her latest article for UX Matters, Gaining Control Over Chaos, MISI XD Account Director Laura Keller explores the unique challenges of designing effective emergency services – from identifying the range of emergency scenarios right through strategizing how to improve services going forward.

It’s a powerful article that raises intriguing questions, such as who ”owns” your experience of an emergency? Laura describes the proactive leadership role PSE&G took in helping residents prepare for and respond to Hurricane Irene. Should we as customers of regional power companies expect them to assume such a leadership role or do we believe that responsibility resides elsewhere? Should PSE&G’s emergency service be considered a model for other power companies? If so, what implications does that expectation have for emergency service providers who must coordinate with the power companies in an emergency? What joint planning and coordination should they be doing?

Just as with individuals, emergencies bring out the best and worst in organizations. As Laura makes clear in her article, effective emergency service design requires the best of service design professionals.

The following blog post dissects dimensions of employee engagement through an ecosystems-based point of view.

The Metaphor: Companion Planting

Outside of my MISI work, I spend part of my time working in a Philadelphia City Harvest community garden. I employ a gardening method called companion planting.

Companion planting cultivates reciprocal relationships between diverse yet interconnected entities. For instance, nutrient rich soil provides the foundation for healthy growth. Specific vegetables are paired and planted with complementary herbs, flowers or beneficial weeds that work with one another to manage pests, enrich flavor, attract helpful insects and enable resilience. My role as the gardener is to provide the resources for mutually beneficial interactions to unfold over time. The effect is a self-sustaining ecosystem where all integral parts, both human and non-human, participate in its making, flourishing and evolution.

Even though companion planting requires a certain amount of work upfront, the results are manifold. A higher yield of quality vegetables contains the right amount of nutrients and flavor, unmatched by monoculture production. Beneficial vegetation and insects abound. And the positive results travel beyond the garden. People are properly fed with nutritious food. A city corner is beautified. Neighbors work together to maintain the city block. The neighborhood is proud. A proactive community-based movement continues to grow in Philadelphia and beyond.

People’s lives are made a bit better.

Human Approach: Think In Ecosystems

Solutions that don’t encompass or work in concert with others across [the many] aspects of our lives significantly reduce their ability to succeed. – Nathan Shedroff, Author of Design is the Problem and Making Meaning More »

Or How Diapers.com Changed How I Shop by Remembering Four (4) Basic Aspects of Excellent CX Design 

Normally when I write a customer experience (CX) related blog post it is about something that went very wrong. After all, I’m just like most people. Something goes right I tell my husband and a couple of friends. Something goes wrong, tell the world! This time, I want to talk about the impact even a small great experience can have on brand loyalty – and how it can lead to changing hearts, minds and behaviors.

Believe it or not, despite all the multi-touchpoint experience design I do, I am 100% an in-store shopper… or I used to be.  The ability to see and touch the actual products I am going to spend my money on is very important to me, as is the money I can save on shipping. (Hey, that extra $10 can lead to an even nicer pair of shoes!).  All of that changed, of course, with the arrival of my daughter a few months ago.  What used to be long afternoons of wandering the mall for a great bargain have turned into wondering the halls of the web for…oh, say the cheapest deal on baby formula.  Sigh…

All during my pregnancy people were telling me to get ready for the world of online shopping.  I insisted that while I might break down for formula and diapers, NEVER would I be “one of those moms” who does all of her personal shopping online.  That said, towards the end, hitting the mall was not so much of an option. Resignedly, I opened up the Mac and went online.  And I hated it – with one exception… Diapers.com.   More »