Let me explain this by going through a case study of a company that i have had a great user experience with, alice.com.

the homepage design of alice.com

First off, their website is just plain beautiful. The color scheme is relaxing, the layout is clear and the overall feel to the site is pleasing to the eye.

Right away on the homepage, they have clear direction “Create a Free Account” is prominent call to action. Below that is all the supporting information on why the user should create a free account. The logos and rotating testimonials all go to help build the needed trust in the company that the user needs to push them to follow the “call to action.” Nothing pushy, nothing overwhelming, but all the needed information is within plain sight so it takes less than 4 seconds to understand what this company is about.

The final signup screen on alice.com

Second level of a great user experience, is a quick and painless “signup” process. Alice.com, like many other successful signup forms has three simple steps. Not much information is needed to get started, and easy to understand instructional help bubbles are throughout. You can also clearly see what number step you are on, and are always reminded that your account is free, will always be free and you can cancel any time. These are helpful nudges to a hesitant user.

the user's homepage on alice.com

A third layer in having a positive user experience is to keep them coming back. Now most importantly to this is to have a good product or service, but also to execute this smoothly. In the case of Alice.com not only does the product choosing and purchasing process have to be smooth, but also the shipping, packaging and having everything arrive safely.

Now for the icing on the cake. How to stand out from the normal, run-of-the-mill companies in your user’s mind? Simple. Treat them like more than a normal, run-of-the-mill customer.

A message on twitter from @alice

Track their spending and the products they buy, now remember that. Remember their name and personalize the shipment by a card with their name on it. Calculate what products they also might like from the history of the things they have bought, and send them a free sample of it. Why not customize their view of the homepage with a coupon of a product they have purchased once or twice. Keep track of what your customers are saying on social media and thank them for being a customer. Basically, do whatever you can to make your customer feel special.

Creating an exceptional user experience might take a little more time and effort, but it pays off in the end. Exceptional user experience helps create an exceptional and devoted client base that will be worth more than their weight in word-of-mouth advertising gold.

Personal balance is just as important.

Several years ago, I spent a whole year traveling with a music team, playing concerts almost every day. I had a blast playing the drums, meeting people, and traveling. It was a year of adventures. Exhausting, but rewarding. One thing I remember throughout that year: I loved what i was doing, but I really wanted to spend more time creating art, doing graphic design projects, and developing websites.

Now my life consists of creating art, doing graphic design projects and developing websites full time. I love every moment of it. Still, sometimes I get the desire to go play music every day.

Keeping both of these passions in my life is key for me to keep my “personal balance.” So how does one keep their balance, while still making a living?

One tip that I started implementing after I went full time with my own design company: Reserve one day a week to do my own projects. EVERY WEEK!

And it works.

By keeping myself in my personal balance, I found I was more creative, more productive, more focused and just plain in a better mood.

So I challenge you to try applying the “one day a week” rule. Do something your passionate about that you don’t do every day at work. I bet it will help your outlook on life. And let me know how it goes for you.

Today we got on the subject of social media, and in particular – how I believe that many organizations and business are using it completely wrong. “Some groups, schools or businesses just sign up for all these social media sites, then proceed to forget about them and just leave them idle.”

My mom questioned “well, so what?”

So what? How about all the missed opportunities to provide a personalized face to your brand, organization or company? How about all the trust you could develop with your potential audience and customer base? How about all the missed chances to turn a frustrated and unsatisfied customer into a loyal brand supporter?

Being a retired public school teacher, my mom challenged with the fact that most schools are understaffed, and the teachers underpaid. “So they just don’t have the resources to do that stuff.”

Ok, valid point. Lets do some math.

Lets say we ask one teacher to spend 5 minutes a day just posting and responding to a couple messages on twitter and facebook. Lets keep their weekends free, so 5 days of 5 minutes is 25 minutes. lets round that up to 30 minutes.

Now lets say that we’ll hire this teacher to continue the social media “5 minutes a day” thing throughout the whole year. maybe spending less time in the summer months, but would balance out for high workload weeks during the school year. 30 minutes a week for 52 weeks, that’s 26 hours.

I asked my mom what a fair wage would be for a teacher who takes on a coaching position, or leadership with another extracurricular activity group and she estimated $25/hour. So 26 hours at $25/hour is $650/year.

Now in the case for this being a teacher at a private or parochial school. If that social media campaign helps ONE student decide on choosing that school, you have more than paid for that $650–and in some cases–you just made tens of thousand dollars.

So is 5 minutes a day too expensive? You better believe it’s not.

Interactive marketing techniques and technologies should be inherent to your brand’s web presence as well as all of your other media touch points. Together we can collaborate to develop effective interactive broadcast channels that re-define how your business or organization delivers content and conversation. Contact us »

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