Jeofrey Bean of Del Mar Research and I are putting the final edits on our new book, The Customer Experience Revolution. It will be available January 2012. Jeof and I have interviewed folks who have shared their talents with Xerox PARC, Apple, Google, Netflix, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, JD Powers and more to gain insights into how great companies … Read more
Becky Carroll’s book, The Hidden Power of Your Customers, is not another “customer service” book. Becky reminds us that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” – that businesses should not let the allure of new customers keep them from fully realizing the power of existing customers and clients. Current customers … Read more
In pursuit of new business, a small consulting firm was frequently asked if they had a website. Based on the demand-side information and needs of the business, the three missions of the website were to: Establish company credibility Be an easy-to-use networking tool Provide those working at the company with an easy-to-access, anywhere sales presentation … Read more
Validate that customers’ needs are met and tasks are easy to do. Putting your solution in context for your customers and users, is a key to validating that the solution meets their needs and is easy to use. You need to work with people who fit the profile of your target customers and conduct design … Read more
Develop a specific mission for your website—before investing the technical and creative talent, time, and money in the build. Here are some examples of actual website business missions: Reduce time-to-market and time-to-revenue Generate qualified leads Expand product and service reach while reducing our costs Target a previously unreachable customer Allow partners to more easily do … Read more
When you know the problem your site helps you solve, the content better addresses the needs of prospects and customers in the market. This “two-way connection” is based on developing a solid view of the website users— new prospects, clients, suppliers, etc., including: • Who they are • What they need • What they want … Read more
The way the website communicates what the company does for the prospect or customer is more important than what your company actually does. Do not put up content and then push it out. Find out what the prospects really value about your products or services and how they want it described. Call these your “Do … Read more
In recent years, many executives frustrated with their websites have been told that investing in search engine optimization (SEO) should be their next step in making the most of their website’s performance. While some business owners and leaders have noticed improvements, most are still not sure that this effort truly optimizes the website for their … Read more
Businesses frequently want an evaluation of their websites—mostly to know how they compare to the competition. Based on our experience, most businesses are disappointed with their website’s ability to convert visitors to loyal customers. In fact, many people say they aren’t really sure what their website does for them. To assess and enhance website effectiveness, … Read more
Developing prototypes and reviewing them with target customers and users is key to designing easy-to-use solutions. You must spend some time validating workflow, navigation, information grouping, information hierarchy, terminology, labels, and interactions to ensure they meet the needs of the market and your users. Your understanding of various customers’ needs, users’ workflows, and content overlaps … Read more
During User Experience (UX) design, develop diagrams of various users’ workflows, noting where they are similar or different. Next, based on your findings, group your customer and user types by similar roles, and create profiles or personas that synthesize users’ skills, patterns, and goals to better understand their needs. Companies in mature markets may not … Read more
The first step in developing solutions that are easy to use is understanding customer and user needs within the context of the market and existing competition. It takes market and user research to: define the problem your product must solve and design an optimal solution understand the strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ solutions in comparison … Read more