Category Archives: usability

Who are you marketing to exactly?

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I get the feeling that for company that is scoring my personal online brand, Klout doesn’t know “me” very well. Aside from the roller-coaster scores that appear on my account, it’s the email offers that really confuse me. Take a look at this example:

Klout News Offer - Doesn't have any meaning to me, personally.

I think it’s cool that they are expanding their international efforts and helping Airbnb celebrate in the UK, but let me geo-locate myself. Nope, I’m not in the UK. I’m in the Heartland of the United States, Iowa to be exact. Maybe the campaign is trying to make me aware that Klout offers more incentives out of the US, but when the headline reads “Treat Yourself with a £50 Travel Voucher from Airbnb” – I immediately focus on the £50 and think, “Did we switch currencies?” If only I read my email thoroughly, maybe I wouldn’t have this confusion? Last I checked most people scan when they read, especially email offers.

The user experience and marketing strategy wasn’t thought through very well. Simple segmentation could have been applied to make sure that an offer that I would actually be interested would be sent to my inbox. Either my connections with user experience folks in the UK have put me in the European segment or Klout doesn’t know me at all!

Another great example of how important it is for you to know your users.

Are some companies using bad UX for attention?

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RISKAs I finished reading this article, NY Times Readers Comment on Comments by @usertesting the thought occurred to me that the NY Times and/or other companies are purposefully rolling out “unfinished” user experiences? This strategy would be to get feedback from the fans, without doing user testing in a formal setting. A cost savings? I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t have that inside information.

Most companies shutter at the thought of getting negative comments from their users, which is understandable. Rule #1 – Don’t tick off your fan base. Except in this case, the NY Times has a huge following and by responding to the “fans” and making the user experience change that they requested, the users felt like they contributed to making the NY Times application better.

Rule #2 – Break Rule #1 if you intend on making your fan base feel warm and fuzzy!

The other thing to note is that large companies that react to users complaints and make a user experience change are quickly called to attention in the media. Think of how Google+ rolled out to the world. Limited by invite to get a small sample feedback. Those early adapters felt privileged and also felt like they contributed to something bigger than themselves. “Oh my gosh, the Google+ Team actually listened to me!”

Maybe my theory is wrong. Did someone put together a strategy to implement bad user experiences, listen to their user base, make the change(s) they want and then gain more user confidence and loyalty? Or was it just poor user testing then a reaction to panic and negative responses?

I’m thinking strategy, what do you think?