Goodwill hunting - the art of generating goodwill with your users

So i was re-reading Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" and a few (ok more than a few) pearls of wisdom came back to me as to why 'this' (this = user experience, interface design web standards etc) is so important to get right in the first place !! You need to be very clear about what drives customers away, and what keeps them happy.

Let's talk about what generates negative goodwill (I'll call it badwill):

• hide the most useful information where people can't find it - this includes contact #'s, store locations, shipping costs, prices, availability of stock, delivery timeframes
• Don't let me do things the way I want - I don't want to have to enter in (), -, etc. I will add my own 10 cents here, and if you need data in a certain format then at least tell me what format is required
• Ask me for information you don't need, OR I can't see value in providing to you - now this is CRITICAL !!!!!! If you ask a person for information you have a duty to make sure you use it wisely and it serves a purpose TO THE CUSTOMER not you as the business. People don't like forms where you need date of birth to send simple feedback. Equally annoying is when once you have it you spam us, or you don't leverage it eg log in and see your details in the form. Otherwise you face privacy and security concerns as well as people turning off you cause you spam
• Fake sincerity and caring - if you say that you care then BE HONEST AND BACK IT UP WITH ACTIONS. The web especially is a very impersonal medium and it is easy to make words sound like bland generic 'lip service'. Lets look at the famous words " your call is important to us". Really? cause if I'm holding on the phone for 1/2 hour then I would disagree. If it wasn't important to me I would have already black banned you and told my friends not to bother with you. CAN U AFFORD TO THROW AWAY YOUR CUSTOMERS IN THIS WAY ?
• Blinging up the content but diluting the message - so you put some flashy graphics or visuals on your home page. Do they dilute the message or keep your brand strong and at the forefront of your customers. Don't do anything cause it's the latest and greatest. Do something because it fits your business model, brand and media direction. Most people just want to find content, complete their tasks and do something else. Think of the bank queue, what would you rather be doing
• Present a website that doesn't look amateurish - While this might seem at the other spectrum to bling, this is just recognising that your content cannot look sloppy, disorganised or unprofessional. My personal perspective is to try and use standard HTML markup and CSS presentation to give your content structure but a level of professionalism and branding

Now on the other hand are the goodwill bulls eyes - the tricks that will really help you engage with your customers:

• What do your customers repeatedly do on your site and make it easier to do this every time they come back to your site - if you only do 5 things in a refresh always review this part of your site. Can your customers easily and repeatedly do this right first time every time. If they can't then try and re-design it so they can
• Show me what I want to see - tell me all the hidden costs, terms and conditions, delivery etc so that I can make an informed choice knowing all the facts. Whilst you may lose a few sales you will get respect from people who found what they needed to make a decision
• Make it simple and only make me do what I have to - save me from completing unnecessary steps or providing irrelevant information eg allow me to track an order on your site, and send me the order number where I want eg to mobile via SMS or to email and make it link to the order information right away
• Put effort into generating appropriate content - people don't generally come to a site to browse. They are after information to answer a question they have. Once people have found what they want INVITE them to comment on how well they could find content and how useful it was to them - this is your chance to get feedback from the source at time of transaction. This is GOLD !! Consider also taxonomies and controlled vocabularies so that you present the same message in the same voice consistently
• Know my questions and have answers to them already - if you understand why people visit your site and what they do regularly then you have your first set of FAQs
• enable print friendly content - this is absolutely spot on. How many time have you printed something out and find that half the content is missing. I would add to this and say enable device friendly content. Try and re-use content on different devices eg web, smartphone, tablet etc. The other one is email link - but allow the person to provide text so that they remember the context in which they are forwarding to someone - sometimes it can be to themselves to read later - you never know
• error handling - ok the default option here is to enable people to recover from errors. HOWEVER I PREFER TO GIVE THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE - give people enough information so they can get it right first time and complete the task or transaction without requiring assistance. This can be assisted by both User Acceptance Testing as well as Usability Testing - ie going through tasks/scenarios with people to see how successful the task is
• when required apologise - if you can't do what people want then at least acknowledge this. People are less likely to get annoyed if there is a message up front to say you can only purchase via phone between 8-6pm for example
• allow diversity and inclusion - this is one of my own must haves. I think it's absolutely necessary to ensure that every type of customer you have feels included on your website and can do what they want easily and successfully. For example elderly people can use bigger fonts, people with screen readers can read complete transactions and purchase online etc. Whilst there can be some overhead with this it does open your market wider to people that you may never considered customers previously.

So, that was much longer than intended but as you can see, pearls of wisdom for you to review and adapt to your own business. Good luck !

Technology and Social Media - will 2010 be the year of networking, connections & relationships, and are they real?

I find it interesting that in our daily life we are becoming so much more connected to technology. Kid's have no idea what a cassette tape is, nor know what a tape deck was. They would not know what a photo slide is, nor would they know maths without a calculator and spelling without a spell checker. The kids of today have grown up with the internet and don't know of life before being online.

The benefits of social media technologies are that it encourages sharing, openness and establishing connections eg podcasts, you-tubing and twittering to so many people in every corner of the globe. However others see technology and social media as a limiting force, stopping real world connections with actual people. There are multiple arguments either way.

So is technology and the ability to connect via social media as real as a friendships in reality?

I think that it comes down to a few areas when you connect into social media and other relationship building technologies:

1. start of with people that you TRUST - this gives you a point of truth, because you know the person, and therefore the people they know and like are also likely to be people who you would get along with too
2. CONNECT with people that seem to have the same interested and passions that you do, so that you have something to talk about with equal and shared knowledge/wisdom, but where you can add value and input into conversations you may not know details about.
3. have an separate online IDENTITY for your professional life and personal life - you can never be too careful about what information you release on social technologies or the web, so have a similar avatar or image of yourself that is enough like you that people could meet you in person and see the resemblance. Also depending if you want to be recognised or not, get a name that you like and use it everywhere. This is especially relevant for PERSONAL BRANDING & networking with professionals in your field. Be consistent in this usage, to develop relationships and trust (yes that word again)
4. INTEGRITY - be sincere and respectful of people you meet. If you wouldn't do something to someone you meet in real life then don't do it online because you have technology as a cover to keep the real you hidden
5. Allow yourself to BE YOU - even in the online world with technology providing a sense of distance/personal space and anonymity, people still get a feel for someone and can determine if they like them or not, the same as in reality
6. BE ACTIVE in your online community - share information and items of value with others and in return they will share information with you

When you think about it, this isn't that far from what you do in normal life, it's just allows you to talk to people globally.

I have met some fantastic people around the world, shared in their lives, knowledge, successes and journeys and hopefully returned the favour. I respect the infinite knowledge that is brought to me via the electronic medium and feel enthusiastic to have connections with such fantastic people on the other side of the world who I will most likely never meet.

Technology enables these connections to be made, and whilst there are bad aspects to it all, this mirrors the real world.

interesting online security dilema

I recently needed to contact my super firm and get a figure. Unfortunately for me I didn't have (or for that matter even remember getting) a PIN to access their services.
Now my concern was that the PIN is something they set and you get via snail mail. Given the lack of security around peoples letterboxes, it would be easy to find out this PIN by raiding the letterbox. You get a lot of personal goodies with that PIN as well that could be useful in the wrong hands. I would much prefer a email sent to my work address, although this method has flaws as well.

I was interested that the firm chose a method that is not the 'norm'. Despite banks warning us that we should never disclose our PIN and never write it down, this firm chooses to do the opposite and write down your PIN for you. Meanwhile you have to know your member #. I assume that you can't change this pin as it's printed on a card you carry around. So what happens if your wallet/purse is stolen. There is soo much information just in that one area.
Now banks do follow a similar system where they send you a you a PIN, but it's in a seperate transaction to getting a card, and there are hoops you have to jump (ie security check) first to ensure you are who you say you are. You then need to change your PIN and not write it down.

I guess I will find out more when I get this card and can access my account. It was strange for me but maybe it's the norm for you and the companies you deal with.

The Internet invasion of privacy - what is sensible data to request from users

Ok, can you see a theme yet ?

No, it's just not a place to rant, although you may think that. Rather I am trying to make people think about their world a little differently, and how they live in it.

Now, the web. The web is becoming such a standard social interaction and workflow tool that it's almost as vital as a credit or debit card. Just today I found the same issue in two different areas , so what do you consider about these two interactions (ie what would you do and do you find it reasonable) - they are both asking for my full name (what I consider a very personal request for such an impersonal/anonymous medium as the web):

1. I received an email from the admin of a site about a email subscription I completed. Their only request was for a valid email address. Fine I thought, so I gave them my internet email address. I then got a reply from one of the people there asking for my full name. No reason was provided at signup point, so I decided to write back asking how they will use the information. With so much spam email and phishing occuring, why would anyone just send their details out to anyone who 'seems to be' the same people.
2. I joined a new social networking (ie web 2.0) site. All well and good, but I could not register until I provided my full name. Tried a few obvious options, but no, I needed a 'full name'. I did this but on my terms.

My 'take': In many internet sites I question the validity of the information they ask to collect. Why ask for a full name, when I cannot see what I am getting myself into and what they intent to do with my details once they've got them. It may have been the fault of the person who invited me to join this site, but is the onus on my friend to say something about registration (if in fact they care) or the company to tell me how they will use my information and why then need to collect it.

I would recommend that websites should only collect enough information they need to do whatever it is that you want, and inform people how the information will be used upfront, so they can agree or not right at the start. Some forms are just stupid and longwinded and downright invasive with no regard to privacy.

Can u use this - if you would feel uncomfortable having to give this information to someone you don't know then don't ask for it and don't collect it. Also, look at the entire picture and the sum of data you are trying to collect on a person. Make collection of this information OPTIONAL. Google manage to let you sign up to accounts with a existing current valid email address and an username (if it's free). The web medium is NOT the same as snail post so don't try to get the same information.