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"User Experience"
I december 2008 gjorde jag ett försök till förutsägelser inför det kommande året. En av dessa var att det var hög tid för e-handlarna att tillhandahålla betydligt bättre villkor runt leveranser. Jag menade då, och menar fortfarande att den som kan
- Erbjuda gratis levereans inom en rimlig tid
- Erbjuda samma dag- och nästa dag-leverans till rimliga priser
- Berätta om detta på ett öppet och tydligt sätt
kommer att vinna stort.
För några dagar sedan skulle jag köpa en luftfuktare för att få lite drägligare inomhusluft i vinterkylan. Jag hittade en från honeywell som såg juste ut och fick goda betyg från kunderna.
Det var inte tretti.se som sålde den billigast, men jag har handlat därifrån förr och deras utlämning är nära TAS kontor. Till min stora förtjusning upptäckte jag, i utcheckningen att jag kunde få levererat samma dag! Det kostade en slant, men tanken på att få hem min vara samma eftermiddag var för lockande för att inte nappa.
Jag beställde 13:30 en fredag, 30 minuter innan Samma dag-gränsen, och för säkerhets skull valde jag min hemadress som leveransadress. Kl 20, just som jag började misstänka att jag inte skulle få någon leverans, knackade en jäktad kille från Bring på dörren och överlämnade mitt paket. Lycka!
Det finns klart utrymme för förbättring, men det är stort att kunna konstatera att Tretti tillsammans med Bring skapat en riktigt konsumentvänlig tjänst. Användarupplevelsen i e-handel stiger markant när man tar bort den frustrerande, till synes obligatoriska, vänteperioden!
Så här skulle Tretti kunna ge sina kunder en ännu bättre upplevelse.
- Var tydlig med att jag kan få mitt paket samma dag (och på helg!) på alla sidor på sajten, inte bara i utcheckningen
- Vara tydligare med när leverans kan ske. Jag missade att leverans skulle ske mellan 17 och 21 eftersom det stod under ”Övriga Sverige”. Jag trodde faktiskt det skulle komma innan 18.
- Se till så att jag får sms- eller mejl-avisering – ”nu har ditt paket skickats, det beräknas vara hos dig mellan 19 och 21″.
Luftfuktaren då? Den står avslagen i ett hörn och gör mest ingenting, men det är knappast viktigt i sammanhanget
Apple förekommer ofta i unboxing-filmer och har erkänt fina förpackningar. Ett av deras kännetecken är den sobra ”Designed by Apple in California” som möter oss när vi öppnar en ny förpackning.
De är dock inte ensamma om fina unboxing-upplevelser. Min personliga favorit är en betydligt mer vardaglig produkt, nämligen den som Arla bjuder på i varje paket Bregott. När jag öppnar min förpackning möts jag av en slät silvrig folie, med tre små ord på.
Arla skapar en fantastik atmosfär med ett så enkelt grepp, och jag blir glad varje gång jag tänker på det.
Naturen är god. Glöm aldrig det.
Oh come on, that’s just not fair – that’s how much I want this.
Although it the video seems a little old, it’s exciting. Features, according to Sima Systems, include
- Multi-Touch — The ability to recognize multiple and simultaneous touch points. Capable of recognizing ten or more simultaneous touch points at 1,000 updates per second.
- Multi-Force — The ability to measure the “z axis”. This allows the user to locate a point without activating it, then, by exerting slightly more pressure to actually activate the point. There is no need to lift fingers and retouch.
- Dynamic Home Row — Allows the user to touch the sensor without looking at the display or pad, and intuitively the sensor understands the purpose of the gesture (i.e. typing, commands). The sensor can be programmed for virtually any manner of touch and gesture input.
- High Resolution — The resolution (points/mm) remains constant regardless of sensor size.
- Auto Calibration — The touch sensor self calibrates with each touch providing optimal point data at all times.
- Standard Materials and Processes — Same materials and manufacturing processes as those used for standard resistive sensors. This provides a proven and stable means to implement SiMa’s touch sensor wherever standard resistive sensors are now deployed.
There’s a video over at their site of the Gemi Pad
Google’s new fade-in start page seems like a bold move at first, but it’s not as crazy as some reactions would have you believe.
A lot of the work we do in interaction design is about increasing the signal-to-noise ratio. Allowing users to focus on the task at hand is essential to great user experiences. Google recognizes this, and it’s no secret that most people come there to search.
Here’s what I like
- Primary Persona Focus – It’s few that are courageous enough to actually focus on their Primary Persona’s key goal.
- Perseverance – initially the fade-in yielded longer Time to First Action-delays, but over time, it’s become shorter than before. Applause to the UX team for waiting it out!
Here’s what I think needs work
- Privacy – I can’t tell wether I’m logged in or not if I start searching. This isn’t a big issue, but it’s something to consider.
- Are you feeling lucky? Why not let it join the rest of the secondary actions?
The fade-in happens as soon as you move your mouse or leave the search field. You might be distracted if the content were to fade in as you we’re typing, but it doesn’t. It’s surprisingly refreshing. Great stuff, simply put.
Soon, we’ll be talking about what content goes below the Fold, as well as what belongs after the Fade.
(The effect isn’t available in Safari as I write this)
I’ve been a boring sceptic when it comes to agumented reality applications – they require several steps to set up and transcend digital-physical boundaries. From a usability perspective, the threshold is quite high. On top of that they’re generally completely useless, little else than a demonstration of technology to glean some light from hype.
However, US Postal Services have managed to come up with an application apart. It helps you select what box to use for shipping, without entering any information about what you’re shipping. It’s still imbued with the basic problems of augmented reality, but it most certainly is useful! There’s hope, after all.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp0EyeXayNM&feature=player_embedded]
[Via ronnestam.com]
Google’s User Experience department is sharing findings from eye-tracking studies on their search results page.
I’m all in favor of eye-tracking and other methods of usability testing that observe the subject. People can hardly ever tell why they’re doing what they’re doing, anyway.
A basic, important understanding is how people scan results;
They start from the first result and continue down the list until they find a result they consider helpful and click it — or until they decide to refine their query.
A nice video of eye-tracking shows you just how the user moves her eyes through the results. They’re impressed at how fast the eyes are moving, but if you know anything about saccades (the involuntary, constant moving of our eyes that assemble vision) you’re more likely to be interested by the fact that the subjects eyes are moving slowly through the results, indicating a tight focus on the task at hand.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w29DrEEsqT4&eurl=http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/eye-tracking-studies-more-than-meets.html&feature=player_embedded]
They also talk about Universal Search, where thumbnail images appear next to some results. Their test data indicates that the thumbnails are helpful – they allow users to more quickly confirm or dismiss a result as relevant.
Microsoft should give Windows 7 away for free, writes Matt Buchanan over at Gizmodo, or at least lower the prices significantly and get rid of the plethora of versions that Vista comes in.
I absolutely agree, but for different reasons. He suggest three versions between $129 and $149, but why stop there – how about selling just one version – Windows 7.
Let me illustrate;
Compare Vista Editions - If you want a rugged street experience, go for Home Basic...
OS X - there's only one edition. No pre-purchase anxiety on what to buy here, just buy or no-buy...
Yes, I know Windows users outnumber OS X users like ten to one, but which one is the mover? That’s right…
User Experience isn’t just about interface, it’s about message too. If people can understand your business model – they’re less likely to feel screwed over. In fact, having a simple, straight-forward transparent pricing strategy is usability 101.
This is the last post in a series of predictions for 2009. It revolves around an emergent meme where controlling your attention is the new work ethic, as opposed to the old one, working hard.
The old work ethic, hard work, was the enabler for the industrial revolution. It stipulates that hard work is good for its own sake and that it makes us better as human beings. As the information age began, hard work became even more important – up until the ’80s, using a computer program often required you to build it first. At the turn of the century many of my colleagues, myself and the industry at large, prided ourselves in being hard workers. We would hammer away day and night to get the job done, sleep under our desks and deliver, deliver, deliver. We worked crazy hours. We worked hard.
In Outliers, Malcom Gladwell observes;
Control of attention is the ultimate individual power. People who can do that are not prisoners of the stimuli around them.
Looking back, it’s possible that not all of those hours were work. We did play a little too. In fact, at times it was all play. As we’ve grown, individually and as an industry, we’ve fortunately started to work fewer hours, and although many of us still work hard we’ve handed the torch to the game development crowd. Man do they work hard…
How do your distractions manifest?
Distractions aren’t just easy to come by, they seek us out. We’re im:d, twittered, syndicated, e-mailed and called. We’re facebooked, tumblred and jaikued. We’re massively influenced by recommendations and tips from our peers. We’re subjected to marketing by companies whose sole existence relies on distracting us enough so that we’ll spend a few minutes watching their funny clip. When we’re accosted from all sides at all hours, how does anyone get anything done, ever?
A new black
The new work ethic is controlling your attention. It means that you should strive to work less hours, but stay on task and be more effective in the hours you do work. If we’re going to cope, we have to learn how to tune out. The pundit that can focus for six hours a day is ever more valuable to an employer or client, than the one that ”works” for twelve hours every day reacting to every impulse, internal as external.
What can service providers do?
If you’re offering something online, or anywhere, you need to consider emphasizing the aspects of your service or product that makes peoples lives more simple, not more complex (aka cool). On my end, I’ve been sketching out an application that will help us manage our conversations better. If successful, it may well lessen the attention fragmentation we experience.
The back story
The meme originates in filter failures and the proverbial distraction virus. In May of 2008 programming language designer Paul Graham pointed out that ”[Internet-based distraction] is not a static obstacle that you avoid like you might avoid a rock in the road. Distraction seeks you out.”
Gladwell makes a case for circumstance, social factors and genes as key factors to success rather than hard work in Outliers, but David Brooks wrote a very interesting commentary to rebuke it, where he mentions the new work ethic. This inspired Mike Elgan to write Work Ethic 2.0: Attention Control. It’s a good read.
Where do we go from here?
The subject of attention control is huge, and requires a post all of it’s own. I recommend taking a cue from people with small children, they’re usually extremely effective when they get a chance to work.
I’ll leave you with this; if you base your self esteem on the amount of twitters you receive, you’re on a slippery slope.
How do you manage your attention? Share your tricks in the comments.
All posts in my series of predictions for 2009;
Mitt hjärta klappar hårt för oslagbara användarupplevelser och 2009 var jag med och startade byrån The Amazing Society, där jag sysselsätter mig med att lösa komplexa problem åt smarta människor.
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