Digital In Motion

Starbucks & ATT: Multi-Channel User Experience Gone Wrong

I collect user experiences.

I take pleasure in observing or experiencing the good ones. The ones that plant favorable memories about brand so that I, in a purely unconscious and Pavlovian way, will seek to repeat these experiences. Obviously unpleasant memories have an equal yet adverse effect on consumer choice and behavior.

I'm particularly interested in experiences that move from one channel to another, connect, intertwine, aggregate, get smarter about me and what I want. And remember it the next time.

So I have stories. Lots of stories. That I pull out for client meetings, or presentations, and to help build business cases and to explain to people what multi-channel interactive solutions are and what this means to their brand.

Naturally, on this journey I am exposed to and collect bad multi-channel user experiences as well, although I don't seek them out. Here is an example:

Like so many urban professionals, I do meetings at coffee shops. I often do work in coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels, picking up wi-fi wherever I go. It's there, it's easy to tap into, it's free. Caribou was the first one to really get us going on the idea that it should be free and easy. I thank them for that.

Starbucks wi-fi to my knowledge has never been free. So if I can choose someplace else to meet someone for coffee, I will. Last week, I had a meeting at a Starbucks, got there early and really wanted to get on the Internet. Asked the barista if they had free wi-fi. She said no, but that I could buy a pre-paid coffee card with a code that would give me access to wi-fi. Okay. Did that.

Step 1: Buy Pre-paid Card with Code
Step 2: Open browser, follow URL and instructions on back of card where I enter the code and the scratch off secret number associated with it

(Now, this is all it really guided me to do on the card and after submitting the code online. So for someone really not familiar, they would think this is all there is to it, right? Wrong.)

Step 3: Go to Starbucks home page, click on link to get on the internet (ATT co-brand)
Step 4: Enter your promo code to get on. It is denied. Fat-fingered? Try again. Denied.

Get up, go to get in line at coffee counter, ask why code from card does not work. Barista comes over to my table, takes me to a completely different URL on the Starbucks site where I have to set up a full account with ATT. Hmmmm. Just for Wi-Fi. And I'm supposedly pretty advanced in terms of this crazy InterWeb space. If I were an average customer and not an experience collector I would now just give up, because it has already been 30 minutes and I am still not on. Barista cheerfully explains to me that the account set-up is necessary because the card I bought is actually a rewards card and now I would be eligible for all sorts of special stuff from Starbucks! I look at the $5 coffee card I bought and it says nothing at all about rewards. Or that it is a rewards card. Barista who sold it to me said nothing about it being a rewards card.

I go back to the Starbucks/ATT homepage mash-up login interface, enter my new login ID and password, hold my breath and lo and behold, I have a connection to the Internet!! Wow.

I think this is what we would call too much squeeze for the juice.

This, my friends, is a multi-channel user experience. There is the physical store presence where the card is sold. There is the drive to the virtual world where the brand attributes live on. There is engagement (and co-branding) with other properties in this space, and there is a trigger email that reaches out to me beyond the confines of the site itself.

Did someone at Starbucks and/or ATT actually go through this process like a user would?
Have they been to their competitors spaces to understand what that experience is like?
These are user-centered questions and should result in improvements and changes to the process.

Good Web Strategy, UI and IA Matter

As the digital world gains dominance and prominence in the hearts and minds of consumers all around the globe, companies are taking heed and are investing more of their marketing budgets in their web presence and representation in the Web as a platform overall.

This is a good thing. 

A cursory evaluation of many company websites shows plenty of lackluster 1990s/early 2000 user interface design elements with broken information architecture from years of bolt-on information and functionality. Beyond that, many of these sites are still very Web 1.0, that is, read only, static information. They are presented with the underlying assumption that the audience will somehow find their site via search engine or from the links provided in all of their marketing collateral.

As these companies evaluate their options for a re-design and re-launch of their web presence, they are increasingly looking to in-house or existing advertising agency relationships to do this work, with the assumption that creative is creative, right? A (print) designer can design a website, right?

Wrong. First and foremost, Web strategy should not be optional. Hire someone who has at least 5 years of experience doing this type of work. This is a complex discipline that requires knowledge of the business, marketing, technology (past, present and future) and behavioral trends, in addition to the critical processes, understanding and skills needed for a good website project’s success.

Second, information architecture (IA) and information design are critical to any website projects success, even if it is a refresh, even if it is a small project. Sometimes you get lucky and have an experienced designer that will do the IA for small sites, but typically these are separate skill-sets.

Third, print designers are not the same as web designers. Not that they can’t evolve these skills, but don’t assume that you can just have your print designer design your website. Web usability, design, production and front-end development are all unique in this channel.

A strong web producer or project manager are the glue that keep this all on track and they should also have experience in this channel, as the knowledge of the process is unique to this space.

If you don't know if you've got the right team to deliver what you need in the Web channel this year, hire a good Web strategist and they will help you create the right kind of plan and process for your business.

Kemp & Company provides strategy for multi-channel interactive solutions: On the Web, on mobile devices, and in physical spaces.

 

Collaboration and the Rise of the Creative Class

 A colleague invited me to lunch this week. What was different about this invitation was that the lunch spot offered up was in the middle of the Minneapolis Art Institute. Clever boy. It was a perfectly fine lunch and conversation. But the truly memorable part was the last half hour where we walked a few of the galleries together and mixed conversations about business with observations about art.

 

If I were to take the pulse of the many conversations I’ve been having most of this week, the beat would be pounding loudly about the connections between the small players (consultants, independents, freelance), the big players (interactive agencies, full service agencies) and the companies large and small that buy their services. The conversation is about the work, how much of it there is, and if there will be changes in the way that work is procured.

 

Well, yes, in challenged economic times there will certainly be changes in the way talent is procured. And maybe there should be. We all know of agencies and individuals that have been black box selling everything from advertising to interactive services by wrapping them in a cloak of AOR and the ability to be so cool they don’t have to explain anything.

 

Valuable (and memorable) resources will come to the client table with a clear understanding of the problems clients are facing today and with that understanding as a basis, they will need to bring truly differentiated creative thought and action that will help their clients make money, save money, create efficiencies within their organization or in some way demonstrably move the dial in the direction of growth.

 

Being a super-smart and truly creative thinker are important elements for differentiation. A genuine love of and passion for what you do is another. The rest of the magic comes from all the other team members doing their part; then the ideas start to blend, form and grow and something truly worthwhile gets created.

 

Today’s market will value IQ and the creative class more than ever. It is that unique talent, in collaboration with a companies’ own key resources, that will move the dial in the right direction.

Like the Whos down in Whoville...Possibility and Hope

Turns out that people cheat. And lie. And are greedy.

You could replace ‘people’ in that line with corporations, but in the end the corporate entity is inanimate and it is the people making the decisions.

 So while we grow up learning that lying, stealing and cheating are wrong, we see it all around us as adults and it is as pervasive as it is surprising.

 So is this a depressing blog about lying cheaters and Good vs Evil? Actually, no. It is about the fact that most of us actually believe that people are good until proven otherwise and we would like to make the world a better place. And that in this crumbling economy where every news day is more disheartening than the last, somehow what we're actually hearing all around us are Possibilities. Conversations about Hope. Perseverance. Tenacity. Like the Whos down in Whoville who had their Christmas stolen, but got up and circled round, held hands, smiled and sang with joy anyway we are finding that we really are a resilient bunch. And we don’t need to lie, cheat and steal to have a happy, fulfilling life. Turns out that happy and fulfilling comes, in part, from doing good deeds for others.

 So in this dark and depressing economic time, I find it brightly optimistic that more and more of us are saying that in addition to the work we do every day, we want to be involved in something that is meaningful, some way that we can use our talents to make the world a better place.

 Take a look at sites like Akoha, the world’s first social reality game; Games4Change, a group dedicated to supporting the development of games about the most pressing issues we face in the world; initiatives like Kiva, Ashoka, and Guy Kawasaki’s blog: How to Change the World, A Practical Blog for Impractical People. It’s about the surge in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and social entrepreneurship in corporations large and small. It's about building and fostering communities both here and abroad. 

And that's all good for the business of business, and for the business of life.

Let’s Get Social

Social Media…Social Strategy…Social Technology. Web 2.0

 

While the online world explodes with new and interesting ways to connect and participate in social spaces, brands are sort of left scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get invited to the party.

 

First of all, let’s look at the broad definition and characteristics of social media on the Web today. It’s certainly about the power shift from corporation/brand to individual or groups of individuals that start to form communities of interest. Second, it is about the shift from read only, one-way information to a read/write, two-way conversation. This fosters customer/audience engagement, participation, conversation and collaboration. The more people use it, the better it gets.

 

Brands who are successfully engaged in social media in meaningful and relevant ways can see the following benefits:

• Increased customer satisfaction in all channels
• Increased loyalty, acquisition, retention
• Increased traffic and conversion
• Better SEO
• And support center/call center cost savings.
• Innovation and growth for the enterprise

 

Think multi-channel (Web, mobile, store, call center, other).

And internal to the organization as well as external.

 

Today, the big opportunities for business include:

 

Online Communities (Consider multi-lingual)

• Forums
• Blogs
• Micro-blogs
• Special pages and events

• Presence and participation across social spaces as a whole

Ideas Platforms

• Ideablob
• Dell Idea Storm
• MyStarbucksIdea

 

Web Services/Open APIs to drive growth on the web outside of your mybrand.com space.

 

As the Web 2.0 movement is about the power shift from the corporation/brand to the individual or groups of individuals, one of the hallmarks of the Web 3.0 wave will be the further personalization of the content and data that we receive and how we choose to receive it. Through an open API/Web Services strategy companies can see considerable extensions of their brand and increased conversion as a result.

 

Some other social applications to consider: Social Entrepreneurship and Social Shopping Sites. These deserve their own attention in a subsequent blog.

 

Where is social going?

1)      It’s going mobile. It’s already mobile, but this will get better and more sophisticated.

2)      It’s coming into your living room. With the next wave of IP enabled devices and interactive television, you will start to see social technology integration on your TV.

3)      It’s going physical. Think about the possibilities of GPS on your mobile, plus triggers from favored retailers. Now say you have a wishlist with a major retailers or a shopping aggregator like Wishpot. Then you drive by a retailer that has that flatpanel TV that you have on the list and pushes you a text message telling you you can get 20% off of that TV if you purchase within the next 60 minutes. Takes the whole know me, show me you know me philosophy to the next level. And drives incremental growth. Sweet.

Be The Change You Want to See in the World

Thank you, Gandhi.

Back from 5 inspired days at PopTech (www.poptech.org) in Camden, ME and now I’m trying to simultaneously get back to business and distill what I learned there into actionable bits that I can infuse into my everyday life.

It’s difficult to describe why this conference is so special.

I tell people it’s like the World Economic Forum meets Wired Magazine. It’s about getting a world-class education in a variety of meaningful topics in 4 incredible, information-packed days.  It’s about 500 amazing people that are side by side as equals. All interested in being part of the change they want to see in the world and willing to travel great distances to congregate and communicate with compassion, respect, openness, and humility. Some of the most brilliant, creative, talented people come to this conference every year and I feel quite small in the presence of all of that brilliance. But most of us do not have the opportunity to mentally rub up against this type of intelligence and passion for changing the world. Speakers go on stage for their presentations and stay for the entire conference, sitting amongst us. We are one, talking about issues, sharing stories, and learning, speakers and audience alike.

We were awed by Stephen Badylak’s work in regenerative medicine, entertained by Imogen Heap and Amos Lee, educated about body language and human behavior from Joe Navarro and we applauded Jay Parkinson’s ability to innovate in the dysfunctional world of healthcare today. We saw Kelly Dobson engage with machines in really unusual ways,  cried with Laura Hinson as we contemplated the enormous topics of forgiveness and recovery as related to the genocide in Rwanda, and were absolutely inspired by Ben Zander as he gave a 15 year old cellist the lesson of a lifetime.

And like going to summer camp as a child, we bonded, and stayed up really late, made some incredible new friendships, hugged, and said goodby with promises to see each other again next year. 

Because of and in addition to all of this, I go because I believe it makes me a better person. Smarter, more aware. Humble. Braver.

For most of us, in our daily work lives, the softer side of business and life does not have a prominent place at the table.  For those of us in the digital communications space, we think a lot about business development, providing value to clients, forging new relationships, managing teams of people, staying on top of changing technology and trends.  It’s about core demographics, need states, user experience, coding, systems integration, marketing and results.

PopTech mixes hard science, economics, politics, technology, art, and medicine with poignant stories about how and why it all matters. Your head fills to the brim with all of this and invariably there is something said, done or shown that brings tears to the eyes and makes your whole being throb with what only can be described as true feeling.

And that is why I go.

To find and feel my heart every year, and to return to real life to share it with others.

What’s in a Name? Imagery Triggers: Poetry or Porn

The digital bullet train (our current mental mode of transportation in the interactive world) has succeeded in proving to me that even in the most innocent of things, care must be taken to investigate all possibilities.

And so, this my second blog, is dedicated to the quandary we may occasionally find ourselves in when we try to move at the same speed as the bullet train and end up being flattened by it instead.

This is a cautionary tale about how I came up with my username on Twitter. And how I learned to regret it. As a consultant and work gypsy in the interactive space for the past 14 years, I have become increasingly ‘corporate’ and have lost the ability to share much of the creative energy and spirit that drove the first part of my professional journey. Now there are a lot of reasons for this that aren’t part of this blog, but I do look for ways to try to inject some of this creative thought back into my every day life where I can, despite the fact that the day in and out of life in multi-channel interactive world can be pretty geeky and technical sometimes.

So, a while back when I wanted to join the fledgling Twitter community just to see what it was about, I was also joining a multitude of other social networking sites, all requiring unique profiles and user IDs and passwords. And so one late night while registering for Twitter, and not being able to use my real name as my Twitter name, I just came up with something completely different. Bluvelvetmuse. I liked the tactile and seemingly poetic nature of this name in a sea of bits and bytes. And without Googling it, I just used it.

Some months later now there are many people on Twitter. And someone yesterday asked me how I came up with this name. And did I know that Blue Velvet was a porn network in NYC. And a highly erotic indie film from the ‘80s. And honestly, the answer was no, I didn’t. I probably should have, but didn’t.

So, now my poetic and tactile velvet muse feels a bit tawdry and I am faced with the embarrassment of having associated myself with this name and also for not having done my homework beforehand.

So while I would have liked to have just found something else that plays on the senses, I decided to find a different outlet for that and ended up with /KempInMotion. Pretty safe, to be sure. It syncs nicely with my new blog, Digital in Motion, which will live under my Kemp & Company moniker. I may start a more personal and literary blog as a creative outlet and call it Poetry in Motion. 

Twitter started out as a fun creative outlet and turned into a space where my clients, colleagues and potential clients now follow me and clearly reputation management is of utmost importance.

In the end, though I made a safe and professional decision, I fundamentally believe that with care and purpose, the imagination is still ignited by words, images, and memories of what something feels like, smells like, and sounds like. These are the joys that color our world.

Web Initiatives: It's a whole new game. Are you ready?

Times they are a changin'...

Those of us steeped in the traditional waterfall methodologies of the past for deploying web-sites are in for quite a shock. The ways that we've been thinking about strategy and development of web-enabled initiatives, where sites can cost anywhere from several hundred thousand to multiple million dollars, need to embrace a whole new world of perpetual beta. First of all, there aren't that many full, from scratch virgin e-com site builds out there today. Second, the technologies and platforms we have available to us are so much more lightweight, scalable and functional that we don't need to consider the custom build in the same ways that we used to. The attempt to perfectly lay out a multi-million dollar, two year deployment plan is just not realistic or responsible way to spend our shareholders' or clients' money, because by the time you get that behemoth off the ground the digital space will have changed and you'll already be behind. Seriously, if you can't frame it up so that it launches something in a 3-6 months window, it's probably too big. Break it up into chunks.

Having just managed the deployment of two Community Portals for Best Buy (forums.bestbuy.com, forums-es.bestbuy.com, accomplished in 8 weeks on the Lithium (www.lithium.com) platform, I can tell you that this whole business has been turned on its ear.
The deployment of something like this is a beginning, a beginning where we want and encourage our customers to create and co-create this space with and for us. So the way these sites will look 12 months from now will be much different than they look today. That is a considerable shift from the website development strategies of even 2 years ago.

I find it highly energizing.