Mobile Commerce Strategy and Tactics

When designing for mobile commerce, aside from the decision to deliver the experience via the mobile web browser, or through a native application, businesses must decide how to design the best "eCommerce" user experience; an experience that satisfies mobile use cases, both in, and out, of the store. The first step of this Design process should be to analyze the modern day, "shopping cycle", in general. How do shoppers of a particular brand (and competitor brands) currently use their mobile devices to support each phase of this cycle?  

1. Discovery - finding products  

2. Engagement -contextualizing products

3. Conversion - buying products

4. Reward - getting incentives to shop frequently Next, the business must decide whether their mobile experience is more likely to be discovered via mobile search, or will consumers be likely to download an app? Much of this decision also depends on whether the business wishes to take advantage of features of the device, that cannot be accessed via a mobile web, browser-based, experience. The following infographic visualizes the mobile shopping cycle, in four phases, and suggests tactics to support shoppers, at each phase.



 

Social Multimedia - The Future of Entertainment [INFOGRAPHIC]

Everyone, from disruptive "over-the-top" entertainment service providers, to monolithic cable companies, have a point-of-view about how to deliver "Social TV" to a younger, and increasingly social, consumer base. They've built prototypes and had discussions in convention halls, but we've yet to see a video entertainment service that provides a level of socialization, above and beyond "contextual tweeting" and "liking" on a second screen app.

I guess that I am just as much an offender, as I've developed my own POV. My vision for social, TV entertainment, what I call "social multimedia", is described below, and visualized in an accompanying infographic. In order to develop a concept for a service that would provide the most value, and, hopefully, the widest adoption, I had to think about the current challenges facing "entertainment service" providers. The catch is, that the solution to these challenges had to include social engagement.  

1. Digital Distribution Breeds Piracy - As physical media got transformed into digital media, physical distribution channels and retailers got replaced with digital distribution. This new form of distribution had a significant impact on entertainment service industries, such as publishing, music, and home video. Digital distribution led to revenue loss through increased piracy, causing content developers to avoid social tactics, as they didn't want to be perceived as enabling the "sharing of media". Of course, they've never been able to figure out how to provide a compelling level of social engagement, on an entertainment platform, which, in turn, improves content discovery. That's the goal of social discovery...improve relevant content discovery. While that may be the goal of "social discovery", it doen't harness the power of a large community to be the legal distributors of the digital media. This is a key challenge that "Social Multimedia" attempts to solve.  

2. Offline Entertainment Services Still Exist - Believe it or not, there are still forms of entertainment that are primarily, if not totally, offline! We live in a Digital World. We live in an instantaneous culture. It's time to digitize legacy, offline entertainment, such as 1st run, theatrical releases, live music concerts, and DJ/Club appearances. The question is, how can a digital application enable content producers to broadcast offline entertainment, to digital devices? Read on.  

3. Social Media is Still "Only for the Lonely" - The holy grail, for Social TV, is the ability to share experiences, not share hyperlinks to experiences. Social Multimedia absolutely requires "co-experiences" to drive engagement. Shared experiences are the heart of this vision. So, how does Social Multimedia work? Expand the infographic, below, and continue to the explanation of the concept.



 


Concept #1 - Aggregate and Broadcast ALL of the World's Entertainment - Since we all know that the service with the highest quality content will win the war of consumer adoption, my entertainment service needs to aggregate ALL forms of entertainment (online and offline). So, how will this service enable the distribution of offline entertainment? The Social Multimedia service will provide a compelling value proposition to content developers, by giving them an application to allow them to broadcast their content directly to consumers! Or, in the case of a live venue, they can wait until traditional tickets get sold out (when a theater reaches capacity), and begin taking digital reservations. I'll explain... Imagine that you are on a date, and you decide to take her to the movies. Unfortunately, when you arrive, you notice that the tickets are all sold out, for the showtime of the movie that you both wanted to watch. No worries! You can now purchase digital reservations to stream the movie to your Smart TV, after the theater sells out its capacity. Just walk up to the digital kiosk, at the theater, and purchase your digital ticket, to stream the movie, up to 24 hours after purchase. You can see how this service could apply to other, offline forms of entertainment, such as music concerts.  

Concept #2 - Enable Multi-Device Ecosystems - To enable true, multi-screen interactivity, which is a must for a service/application that will offer robust socialization, as well as the ability to provide "lean back" consumption, the service must recognize nearby devices. Device recognition and synchronicity will enable the two modes of this service:  

a. Lean-Back Mode - Assign one of the devices in "lean-back" mode, in order to passively consume digital media content. In other words, tell your Smart TV that you want to watch TV, and only watch TV, on that screen.  

b. Companion Mode - Assign any of the other devices in the room the ability to provide "Second Screen" and "Social" features. Doesn't sound revolutionary, huh? That's because I haven't discussed one of the key features of this service. Keep reading.  

Concept #3 - Give Users the Ability to Broadcast What They are Watching - Ok. Here it is. Other services will let you Tweet or read Tweets about what you are watching. This service will enable users to connect with followers and friends, and, in companion mode, invite them to watch the film, TV show, movie, or rock concert that they are watching...in real time! How can this be legal? Simple. To accept an invitation from a friend, one must authenticate, or sign-up with the entertainment service providing the content (like Netflix). Once authenticated, the co-viewing experience can begin!  

Concept #4 - Location-Based, Broadcast Advertising - The first question I've been asked, by the people who have been exposed to this idea, is "how are you going to make money?" There are two ways to "monetize" Social Multimedia. First, content partners pay to have their content included in this entertainment aggregator service (cable companies, streaming video providers, movie theaters, studio networks, indie artists, etc.). Second, revenue could be collected through a "next generation" advertising model. Here's the scenario... You are with your buddies, in NYC, trying to decide which bar or club to hit next. You open the Social Multimedia app (name TBD), and, in map view (or augmented reality view) notice that the DJs are broadcasting their playlist. Simply tap into a stream to preview the type of music that's spinning in any of the nearby clubs. Certainly, that's a compelling way to get patrons into a bar or club. Another revenue stream comes from digital purchases of digital media. You are walking down the street, and notice some dude who looks like he is rocking out with his smartphone and headphones. The app tells you that he is broadcasting his playlist. You decide to tap into his stream, like what you hear, and decide to purchase one of the tracks that was played, from iTunes. That's another way to generate revenue, via this type of service.  

Conclusion - Although there are many concepts, challenges, and technical hurdles in my vision of Social Multimedia, I feel that there is also great opportunity waiting for those who might take the risk. If an entertainment service could successfully convince a critical mass of content providers (online and offline) to team-up to provide consumers the high-quality entertainment they seek, on demand (a no-brainer, if you think about it), and they were able to provide any end-user the ability to become a "re-broadcaster" of this content to friends and followers, they just might win the war for consumers' living rooms.

Jonathan Lupo
http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

Visualization of the UX Design Process

User Experience Design isn't magic, although it does require the Designer to know the "formula". Once she understands this process, it is easy for her to create intuitive user experiences, for any digital platform, over and over again.

For the novice UX Designer, and for those who already know this process, I've provided a quick "one sheet" visualization of the UX Design process. It should be noted that this graphic focuses on the Design process, but is not inclusive of the Design validation process. Most will argue that Design validation IS part of the overall UX Design process, and I would agree. I want to develop that "one sheet" as a separate graphic.

Multiple Devices. Cloned Experiences?

Usability Engineers and Technologists who think they understand the basic principles of User Experience Design often brag that their latest UI is one that can be rendered consistently from device to device. They'll go on to state that a consistent User Experience across devices is "best practice" for UX Design.

If their interpretation of that "best practice" is the replication of a user interface across multiple types of devices and form factors, I say they are missing the point of User Centered Design..big time!

Multi-platform, brand consistency is, indeed, important, in terms of the aesthetics, personality, and the taxonomy of products, services, and content. But that doesn't equate to the need to present the user the same user interface, or even product and features, from one device to another. This practice implies that the Design team has no idea how different devices may be used differently by end-users.

It is necessary to extend our behavioral personas, which may focus on single device usage, or a "single scenario" involvng one device, to include scenarios involving multiple devices...even multiple, concurrent, device usage.

Mobile and Desktop = Solitary Experiences
It is helpful to understand the number of people likely interacting with the user interface, when designing the UX for a device application. For example, a mobile phone, desktop computer, or laptop, probably doesn't get passed around too often. In the case of the mobile phone, a device that could easily get passed from one individual to another, it may be odd to think of this device as a "solitary device", yet the thought of another individual using my smartphone feels like an uncommon use case.

Also important in determining whether or not an application may be shared, is the physical size of the device that the app UI sits atop.  If the application is intended for desktop computer or laptop, then the bulkiness of these devices, and the likely context of their usage, influences our decision to design solitary user experiences for them.

Tablet = Sometimes Solitary, Sometiomes Shared Experiences
The tablet provides an ideal form-factor to share an experience with multiple end-users. A simple scenario is a well-designed, television remote control application that can be passed from one member of the family to another, while watching TV, in the living room. A second scenario is a digital magazine application that is ideal for sharing.

In the first scenario, the TV remote app, we may design the User Interface to accomodate multiple, end-users. We may do this, by introducing sub-accounts that store bookmarked channels based on the preferences of each, individual in the household. The important thing to note, is that the UI may need to present different data, based on who is using the device.

In the second scenario, the digital magazine, we may still design the UI to target a single, end-user, at-a-time, even though we know the device may get passed around.

Mobile = Different Use Cases than Desktop
A business should focus on the differences of a digital UX, versus the consistency of the UX across devices, when designing a mobile application. Given the context of usage of a mobile device, as well as the small screen form factor, it makes no sense to "miniaturize the desktop UX", and shove it into a mobile app.

End-users have their mobile devices wherever they go, but they use mobile apps for different reasons than desktop apps. When designing an application for a mobile device, it is important to think of one or two, likely, high-priority use cases for that application, in a mobile context. Don't try to replicate every feature in your desktop application for your mobile app. Document likely mobile scenarios, and use cases, first, before tackling the user experience design of your mobile application.

Conclusion
There's alot of work to be done, prior to launching a single digital application in your total digital ecosystem. It involves consideration of your end-user and consumer behavior across every digital touchpoint, throughout the lifecycle of their interaction with your brand (which, hopefully, has no end-point). There is no simple, "best practice" to suggest that every user interface and product feature has to be the same on every device. Devices are components of a tool-box to aid the user through her journey, not a cloned tool, of various sizes and form factors, that has a single-minded, repeated function.

What has your UX Manager done for you, lately?

You may have entered the UX field indir­ectly, through mento­rship, or by studying peers who you admire. Addit­ionally, as you evolve as a UX pract­itioner, or look for new emplo­yment in the field, it is important that you seek an employer who meets your personal and profe­ssional needs. When you take an inter­view, remember that it isn’t a one-way inter­rogation, but the start of a profe­ssional relat­ionship. For it to work, you must feel that you are getting as much out of the relat­ionship as your future employer is getting from you. Further, if you are currently employed as a UX pract­itioner, it is reaso­nable to ask yourself if you are getting the most out of your manager. The following are profe­ssional and personal needs that you should expect your UX manager to fulfill, for you to evolve as a profe­ssional, and as a Creative human:  

Inspi­ration – Working in the Design field, day after day, requires a daily dose of inspi­ration. That inspi­ration may come from your work envir­onment, from your personal life, from books, your peers, etc. You should also expect to be inspired by your UX manager. How often do you seek inspi­ration from her? Does she impress you with her work, process, blogging, portf­olio, or leade­rship? Is she active in the profe­ssional commu­nity, or publi­shed? If you find yourself in a Creative rut, do you feel comfo­rtable walking into your manager’s office to brain­storm? And, do you feel like you can squeeze instant value out of that session? You should.  

Oppor­tunity – It should be evident to you, that your manager is gradually incre­asing the level of compl­exity of your work, or putting you into new, and poten­tially uncom­fortable, situa­tions. These situa­tions might involve putting you in front of clients, execu­tives, or giving prese­ntations. There is risk in doing so, but the goal is to give you oppor­tunities to grow, as well as scale the team’s leade­rship. If your manager isn’t exposing you to new situa­tions or oppor­tunities, it’s time to have a discu­ssion with her about “where this relat­ionship is heading.”  

Leadership – Ever find yourself in a difficult situa­tion, that you don’t know how to deal with? It may involve a team member, a client, a work issue, or a Creative problem? The ability to solve problems in the workplace is the mark of a good leader, and a good manager.

Skills – As an employee, your perfo­rmance and skills are always under evalu­ation. Your manager knows exactly where your strengths lie, within the User Centered Design process. Do you know what her strengths are? When was the last time she designed a study, analyzed UX research, conce­ptualized a strategy, or visua­lized one? Is she capable of producing innov­ative, intui­tive, or engaging inter­action design? Has she designed a mobile appli­cation or respo­nsive web exper­ience? It is vital that you believe in your UX manager as a pract­itioner as well as an admin­istrator. That’s the goal of mento­rship. Learn through obser­vation and inspi­ration.

The field of UX is extremely compe­titive. The pace of techn­ology is warp-­speed. You need to develop your skills. You should expect that your UX manager is one-step ahead of you, and willing to distr­ibute her knowl­edge. If you do not believe this to be true, then you are not getting the most out of her.

Digital Tactics for eCommerce Personas

Success or failure, for an eCommerce business, is linked to an understanding of the different behaviors of online shoppers. Developing successful tactics to support unique behaviors, tasks, and motivations, means getting familiar with the following eCommerce personas.
Get the full infographic here

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Know Your Digital Media Consumer [INFOGRAPHIC]

With businesses rushing to extend their digital distribution of media to connected consumer devices, and Cable television threatened by the onslaught of "OTT" (Over the Top) services, it is more important than ever to truly understand the "Digital Media Consumer". Who are they? What are their likely behaviors? What tasks will they need to accomplish, when accessing broadband user experiences across devices? Empathy Lab has collaborated with media companies to answer these questions, in an effort to help them extend their distribution of digital media products and services. The following personas have distinct needs, as it relates to digital media entertainment, and digital media service providers should focus their service design efforts around satisfying these needs.

"THE VALUE HUNTER" "The Value Hunter" is a consumer who is "shopping" for a digital media entertainment service. She is likely examining the value proposition of services in her consideration set, and comparing features, in an "apples-to-apples" manner. To satisfy the needs of "The Value Hunter", entertainment companies should make it easy to discover the value proposition for their service offering, and enable consumers to compare service features with competing services.

"THE SPORTS FAN" "The Sports Fan" is an individual who needs to stay connected with his favorite teams as well as the rivals of his favorite teams. Give him the ability to receive notifications to alert him to watch his team's games, before they are played. Provide him with scores and stats, to increase his knowledge about the sports that he loves!

"MS. CATCH-UP" "Ms. Catch-up" is a busy professional who cannot be tied down to a network timetable, to watch episodes of her favorite shows (like "Dexter"). She likely owns a DVR, and is a "time-shift" viewer of programs. Satisfying her needs requires enabling her to quickly find, watch, and receive notifications about the latest episodes of her favorite TV shows.

"THE MOVIE BUFF" "The Movie Buff" is a collector, and someone who prides himself on owning a high-end, home theater system...so the content quality better live up to his standards! Offer him high-definition, full-screen video, and hig-quality, stereo audio, to play on his surround-sound speakers. "The Movie Buff" typically looks for movies within a specific genre, so he needs the ability to filter content that way, as well as "by Director", and "by Actor". "The Movie Buff" craves user and expert reviews and ratings, so that he doesn't waste his precious time on terrible flicks!

"THE CORD CUTTER" "The Cord Cutter" probably doesn't own a TV, and, perhaps, never has owned a TV. He spends most of his day working, and consuming content, on his desktop computer. "The Cord Cutter" doesn't understand why he can't watch his favorite TV Shows and Movies on any of his connected devices (smartphone tablet). And, why should he pay for networks and content that he'll never watch? The key is, not to force him to..and to provide him with flexible service and payment options.

"THE FAMILY" "The Family" is a group persona, and each member of the household has a distinct set of needs. In order to deliver relevant programming to each member of the family, it is important to offer a unique set of recommendations and customization options, tailored to each sub-account. When considering the needs of children, in the household, it is important to offer parents more control over programming that they have access to. Parental controls, and the ability to block "mature" content, is extremely important to satisfy the needs of this persona.

The Complete INFOGRAPHIC -

I've grouped each persona into a consolidated infographic, below:

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Applications Are For Humans

Empathy Lab believes that intuitive and engaging interfaces are designed with an in-depth understanding of your end-users’ needs, behaviors, and motivations. Here is an overview of our behavioral research practice.

Apps are for Humans

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Trends in Mobile Commerce [INFOGRAPHIC]

Businesses that wish to adopt mobile commerce tactics as part of their overall, digital strategy, must first understand how consumers shop, and what tasks they perform with their mobile devices and tablets, while shopping.

When we think of "mcommerce", there is a tendency to think about it as driving sales through an application or mobile-optimized website. When mobile use cases are carefully considered, however, it becomes clear, that mobile commerce is as much about driving sales "in brick and mortar stores" , as it is, electronically (eCommerce).

I've created an infographic that highlights some recent "facts about mobile commerce." I find these quick stats useful, as a starting point, to developing an overall mobile strategy for clients, based on how their consumers are likely to use their mobile devices at key points within the shopping life-cycle.

You Conducted UX Research. So What?

In business, research means nothing until it leads to conclusions that are actionable. Unless your firm gets paid to publish studies, the research that you conduct is probably intended to "green light" a project, plan an information architecture, or validate a design direction. That means that the planning, execution, and analysis of the study needs to be focused on specific objectives. Good research is costly, and any appearance of financial waste, not only jeapordizes the potential for further researh, but may put a client relationship at risk.

Beware of the "Open-Enders" -
Qualitative behavioral research should be open-ended, in that the line of questioning should not lead participants to a closed-ended response, like a "Yes" or "No" question would. Additionally, questions should not lead to a specific response that betrays the researcher's point of view (facilitator bias). Although the types of questions asked should be "open-ended," the agenda for the research interview should not be left "open-ended." Actionable research requires preparation and a solid line-of-questioning. There are those who believe that it is not important to plan out the interview framework and line-of-questioning. Some feel it is ok to leave the planning and interview strategy "open-ended." I say, beware these "Open-Enders," because their research may not be focused on specific objectives. Unfocused research can waste a client's money and ruin an agency's credibility.

Planning for UX Research -
There are many ways to planning for UX research. Here are a few:

1. Identify application or system design objectives - in order to plan a taxonomy and information architecture for an application, a UX Designer must document the key tasks that end-users are likely to perform. From a research perspective, this means developing a line-of-questioning intended to aid a participant's recall of similar tasks performed recently. The goal, then, should be to have the participant walk the researcher through these tasks, so that the researcher may observe the participant's "task flow." Thus, the application design can be modeled to intuitively facilitate task completion.

2. Aim to focus the research on what the client does not know about their end-users - My previous blog entries emphasize the importance of understanding what a client already knows about their end-users, based on any research they may have conducted in the recent past. Find the gaps, and develop a study that aims to fill the gaps with knowledge about the end-user segment's behavior.

3. Plan the interview carefully - There are many behavioral research interview techniques available, to gain a better understanding of end-user behavior.

First and foremost, I always recommend contextual inquiry, because it provides the necessary context (environment) to aid a user's recall of daily tasks.

Plan a portion of the research to be an interview, and a portion to be behavioral observation. In order to do so, be ready with a line of questioning that prompts the participant to go online to complete a task.

A diary study is a good technique to learn about a participant's behavior over a period of time. In order to plan for a diary study, however, you must be prepared to recruit and contact the participant weeks in advance of the interview, so that the diary can be reviewed with the participant at the interview. So, it really all boils down to preparation and planning. Maximize your time with end-users to elicit actionable feedback that will inform your Design, Digital Strategy, and build upon your clients' existing body of knowledge.

The Collaboration Trap

Interactive agencies all promote the fact that they work "collaboratively" among disciplines. Sometimes, however, this claim tranaslates to informal methods, such as seating employees in an open floor plan, or merely putting interdisciplinary project teams together, in a "war room." Don't get me wrong, I think these are all great ways to start a dialogue between employees with different sets of skills, however, a formal "collaboration plan" is a more efficient and predictable way to get value from this conversation.

Don't fall into the trap. Set goals. 
Informal collaboration can be costly and inefficient. A well-intentioned meeting of the minds, with no agenda, can result in wasted time, angry employees, and, more importantly, bad decisions. When timelines and budgetary parameters are tight, goals need to be set, for collaboration. For example, make sure that collaborating teams know when actual decisions need to be made, for key screens of an application. Goal-setting should be done upfront, and put into a project plan, prior to "brainstorming."

Establish ground rules.
I'll get back to this point later, but there are delegates from each discipline present in a successful, cross-discipline collaboration. Make each delegate "the authority" for their respective discipline. Establish rules for collaboration and brainstorming, like:

1. Solutions must be accompanied with a rationale, based on meeting the needs of the business, end-user, or brand

2. Solutions must be visualized, or clearly articulated, to be considered.

3. x number of hours are allotted for each decision.

"Socialize" concepts.
Imagine a scenario, where an Art Director and a User Experience Designer (and the gap is narrowing between the two roles, by the way) debate the layout of an a screen for an application. The UX claims that her layout achieves likely use cases, as validated by client research. The Art Director presents her argument about proper layout, balance, and focus. Each employee has valid points. So, how long does this "stalemate" last? Who decides the next move?

Since the User Experience Designer and the Art Director are both adept at visualizing their conceptual directions, they should do so, applying medium fidelity to the illustrations of their respective solutions. After returning, quickly, with sketches in hand (using a napkin, Visio, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, whatever), the two need to broaden their conversation to include a Business Analyst (or an Account Manager) and a Technologist (who is encouraged to be brought into the dialogue as soon as possible). These two roles bring other factors, such as business objectives and technical feasibility, to bear on the decision.

Make an informed decision.
Bringing others into the mix, gradually, with differing perspectives, may help the team make decisions and move forward. "Design by committee," however, isn't an efficient process. Ultimately, after input has been solicted from the group, one discipline lead needs to "cast the final vote." If decisions are, ultimately, UX-related, it should be the lead UXD, to make the decision. If it is a Visual Design/Brand issue, then, the Art Director should make the final decision.

Decisions can be more-informed by the group's input, but final decisions need to be made by individuals.