timyeo's posterous

Designing websites for 4 users (Andrew Chak)

 

Screen_shot_2012-04-18_at_4

The work of Andrew Chak has been enlightening. It encapsulates many of the UX concepts I use within the framework of designing websites for 4 users. 

Andrew put it quite simply; there are 4 types of users: Browsers, Evaluators, Transactors and Customers. Now, these aren't actual people, but they represent mindsets we adopt during the decision-making process while engaging with an eCommerce website.

Browsers

A Browser is at the beginning of the decision cycle. He does not know exactly what he wants but he recognises that he has a need and needs help to better understand what he should be looking for. 

Evaluators

An Evaluator wants help in making a choice. He wants detailed information to compare alternatives, whittle down his options and make a decision to transact. 

Transactors

A Transactor has decided what and where he wants to transact. He needs help and guidance to lead him through the website's call to action before he gets lost or loses his motivation.

Customers

A Customer has completed a transaction with the website. He is looking to be taken care of and given a reason why he should transact with the website again.

 

In the book, he also talks about the 2 fundamental motivators that move users through the decision process:

The desire for reward: rewards are about communicating to user the type of person he can be or the results he can accomplish by working with you (e.g. bikini-clad women on posters selling beer).

The fear of punishment: this is the fear of being hurt or, more importantly, losing out on something. Anything that compromises our freedom to pursue opportunities or our freedom to choose will prompt us to act (e.g. time-limited discounts or limited quantity products).

 

You'd think that selling the benefits of a product (reward) to be a stronger motivator. However, of these 2 motivators, it is more effective to emphasise the consequences (punishment) of not acting than to promote the value of what you have to offer (e.g. only 5 tickets left!). 

 

 

 

I highly recommend reading Andrew's book Submit now: Designing persuasive websites. In the meantime, I leave you with an excerpt from the book that contains a checklist for evaluating websites using this framework. 

 

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Design_lessons
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Lean UX and the dichotomy of being a UX consultant

Leanux

I was listening to Jeff Gothelf's podcast on Lean UX, and it articulated what I've felt for a very long time. 

If Lean UX is new to you, it is about reducing waste in the work we do. It's about looking at all the tools we have in our UX toolkit and deciding which tool to use at the right time, AT THE RIGHT DEPTH. It's focused on rapid iteration in low fidelity. 

It's about getting out of the deliverables business and focusing on the business of design. Amen!

What I think Jeff is alluding to is similar to what Joshua Porter talks about in Deliverable vs Delivery.

The job of being a UX consultant requires us to be both a consultant and a designer at the same time. While the designer in us would focus on iterating the design till it works, the consultant in us thinks about how best we can communicate the work we do to audiences in a meaningful way. 

In my experience, working towards a deliverable has been a practiced way of working. The deliverable is the [shiny product] we work our butts off producing that marks the end of one phase and the beginning of another. 

But I wonder: is this really the best way we can provide value? We pour our blood, sweat and tears into the deliverable and perch it up on a pedestal, forcing us to defend it when we face criticism, when really, design should be a CONSTANT dialogue of "what if.." and "did you consider.."? 

To quote Jeff: 

"Designers should not be held to the expectation to get the Design right the first time." 

 

Have we somehow unconsciously moved from delivering a design to delivering a design deliverable?

My obsession has been not just to design better things, but to design better as well. Which is why this topic of Lean UX invigorates me. To end off this blog post, I leave you with a few references to how other UX professionals have "trimmed the fat" off their processes to deliver a better design more efficiently. 

I'd love to hear your views and stories on the topic of Lean UX and how it has helped you!

 

Lean UX References:

 

 

Lean UX and the dichotomy of being a UX consultant

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I was listening to Jeff Gothelf's podcast on Lean UX, and it articulated what I've felt for a very long time. 

If Lean UX is new to you, it is about reducing waste in the work we do. It's about looking at all the tools we have in our UX toolkit and deciding which tool to use at the right time, AT THE RIGHT DEPTH. It's focused on rapid iteration in low fidelity. 

It's about getting out of the deliverables business and focusing on the business of design. Amen!

What I think Jeff is alluding to is similar to what Joshua Porter talks about in Deliverable vs Delivery.

The job of being a UX consultant requires us to be both a consultant and a designer at the same time. While the designer in us would focus on iterating the design till it works, the consultant in us thinks about how best we can communicate the work we do to audiences in a meaningful way. 

In my experience, working towards a deliverable has been a practiced way of working. The deliverable is the [shiny product] we work our butts off producing that marks the end of one phase and the beginning of another. 

But I wonder: is this really the best way we can provide value? We pour our blood, sweat and tears into the deliverable and perch it up on a pedestal, forcing us to defend it when we face criticism, when really, design should be a CONSTANT dialogue of "what if.." and "did you consider.."? 

To quote Jeff: 

"Designers should not be held to the expectation to get the Design right the first time." 

 

Have we somehow unconsciously moved from delivering a design to delivering a design deliverable?

My obsession has been not just to design better things, but to design better as well. Which is why this topic of Lean UX invigorates me. To end off this blog post, I leave you with a few references to how other UX professionals have "trimmed the fat" off their processes to deliver a better design more efficiently. 

I'd love to hear your views and stories on the topic of Lean UX and how it has helped you!

Lean UX References:

 

Magazine article: 5 tips for eCommerce web design in Russia

...and suddenly...*POOF!* it's appears!

I wrote an article on Jame's behalf for a Russian journalist earlier this month. Today, I got the email: it's published! Here's a screenshot of it (and for those who don't read Cyrillic, the original English writeup below). 

It_james_breeze109
--- Article (originally in English) ---

5 tips for eCommerce web design in Russia

Designing eCommerce websites is challenging. A successful product is one that has been designed with its users in mind. However, how do you design one website that is going to be used by hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of your customers? Is it possible to design a website that all your users will find easy to use?

In this article, we talk about 5 tips on how you can design eCommerce websites that are easy to use. These tips are universal and are based upon best design practices in the user experience industry. 

1. Show users the product they are buying
- Buying a product online requires a high degree of trust and good faith. Online customers can't touch and feel the product they're buying, and yet they are being asked to part with their money. 
- To tackle that, show users as much of the product as possible. Show them multiple pictures of the product from different angles. Share user manuals and instructions. Provide as much information about the product as you can. Create an experience where users feel as if they know everything about the product and what they will be buying. 

2. Avoid chunks of text
- Research has shown that users don't read online; they scan. Avoid long paragraphs of text. Break content into sections. Use bullets to itemise key points. 
- This allows users to scan the page and quickly isolate the content they are looking for. Once they find the content they are looking for, users are motivated to read it. 

3. Clear call to action
- After convincing a customer that he needs a product, the worst thing to do is to make it difficult to buy. 
- Have a clear call to action (e.g. Buy now). Use a button (not a link). This should be the primary action on the product page. All other actions should not receive as much attention. 

4. Short checkout forms
- Filling out a long checkout form (before you can buy something online) is like a long queue at the checkout counter: nobody likes it and it's a waste of time. 
- Emotionally, users are left wondering why they are the ones who have to jump through hoops when they are the customer. They're paying good money for the product; shouldn't they be served instead?
- Only ask for the minimum amount of information you need to complete the checkout. For additional information (e.g. signup for newsletter etc), ask it after. Users are more likely to provide this information once they've been satisfied with your service. 

5. Contact us
- Some organisations deliberately make their contact information difficult to find in order to reduce their call centre costs. 
- In this day and age, users are going to find you one way or the other. So why hide? Also, making yourself difficult to reach irritates users, breeds a sense of distrust and contempt within them.  
- The fact is, users are contacting you for a good reason. Think of it as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with your customer and to build trust in your business and product. Make it easy for customers to contact you. 

Q) How do you design a great sign up page? (Answer: B=mat)

I chanced this article yesterday: Why burying sign up buttons helps get more sign ups

Once you get over the salacious blog-post title (like I did; why would you want to bury/hide things from users? that just sounds evil), Dimitri made the point that a call to action alone isn't enough to get sign ups: 

"Content is what helps them understand your product a little better and to potentially take the next step…"
But what is good content that will improve conversion? How do we create good content? What must good content have? 

A good thing about public transport is it gives you time to read; and this morning I got my answer when I read through Stephen P. Anderson's Seductive Interaction Design; and the answer is: B = mat

Stephen sited the Fogg Behaviour Model by Dr. BJ Fogg. 

"My Behavior Model shows that three elements must converge at the same moment for a behavior to occur: Motivation, Ability, and Trigger…

…A person has to have some level of motivation. They have to have the ability to do the behaviour. And then they have to be triggered to do the behaviour. Those three things have to happen at the same time. If any element is missing, then the behaviour won't happen."

...When a behavior does not occur, at least one of those three elements is missing."

Out of the three, Triggers seem to be the most important. In Dimitri's example, that would be the call to action button. What Dimitri's example had was a trigger and an easy way to signup (i.e. just enter email address). What it didn't have was content that was motivating.  

The main thing I takeaway from this lesson is a framework to evaluate interfaces. If you are wondering why you're not getting the behaviour you desire, do you have:
m - motivation; content that is motivating
a - ability; make the behaviour easy to do
t - trigger; the call to action

I hear it works with getting your partner to take out the trash too (:

Teens Respond to Pleasure, Not Pain: Parent Accordingly

Chinese-boy-getting-ass-whoppe

The idea of parenting, and raising the kid as right as I can, is daunting to me. 

Corporal punishment, usually caning, was a big part of my childhood (I liked burning stuff up (:  ). Truth be told,  the thought of getting caned made me put down the matches a couple of times (though few). Other times, it made lighting up the liquid fuel all the more exciting. 

This article explains why. 

Excerpt:

Too much accelerator, not enough brake
During most of the teen years......Risky behaviors feel great and are experienced as more rewarding.  Impulse control hasn't yet caught up—nor have knowledge and judgment. Thus emotion says go, but wisdom hasn't yet said stop.

How science changed my parenting

There are important take-home messages here for risktaking, social policy, and our understanding of teens that I will discuss in my next post.

But the first thing I took home from this reading had to do with my parenting. TEENS ARE MOTIVATED BY PLEASURE, NOT BY PAIN.

Thus telling a 13 year old that he will fail a test tomorrow if he doesn't study isn't that effective in inducing willing compliance. He knows that. But risk avoidance is not emotionally motivating. And that video game sure is.

Reminding a 13 year old how good it feels to accomplish something, how happy he'll be when he does well, and how much more time he will have to play if he studies efficiently works a lot better.  Those POSITIVE emotions activate their incentive processing center. And teens are VERY sensitive to pleasure.

So I tried it. 

I stopped reminding my son of all the negative consequences of not doing what he was supposed to.

I consistently pointed out how good it felt to do the right thing. Every positive I could think of.

A week later, things are going great.

He's less anxious. His work has improved. We've gotten along better. And he's taking more responsibility for making good choices. Even choices he doesn't like (like practicing his violin tonight because he wants a whole day of uninterrupted time on Saturday). 

And you know what? I feel better too. I can be motivated by reward as well.

Come to think of it, I dare say this applies to adults as well. 

Why We Crave the Food We Crave

Ep19_black-forest-cake_640x360

Excerpt: 
"Once we have imprinted our minds with this association of pleasure and a specific sweet or salty indulgence, we have landed ourselves on a path of reoccurring cravings.  

It's also important to recognize that food is a primal activity.  It has deep-seated meanings that may come from events in our childhood when a chocolate chip cookie was offered to you every time you were upset, for example.  Craving foods can also have metaphorical meaning.  For example, the expression "food is love."  

So, you are probably asking yourself “How do I conquer these cravings?”  
- Allowing yourself a small portion of the craving culprit will give you the feeling of accomplishment and you’ll likely be satisfied without overindulge  as may be the case if you try ignoring it for too long.

- Adding a few M&M’s to your yogurt for example will cater to your craving in a less regretful manner.

- Eat 3 square meals a day at regular intervals.  If you put off eating lunch or breakfast, you may find yourself seeking a fast solution to hunger to get you through the rest of the work day and the cravings will kick in full strength.

- Keeping fruit on hand is a good alternative.  There are many fruits that offer the sweetness you are seeking.  A bite into a juicy apple may be all you need to get past the craving!

- Change things up!  If your routine includes a trip to the vending machine on the way to your desk, try packing a small Ziploc bag of trail mix instead. A smell sending you into a frenzy? Try leaving the room and taking a breath of fresh air or otherwise occupying yourself to take your mind off of the craving."