Customer Experience Crossroads

Improved local search is coming soon to a smart phone near you

 
I was looking for maps of local meeting places (aka Starbucks) one day recently, and found this great little tool called FindbyClick. It looked like something I could really use, and I was excited to see it had mobile download availability. Just not for my Blackberry. Darn.

This prompted a quick e-mail to the company, which resulted in a delightful conversation with Kevin MacDonald, head of the location-based product group at developer Pentura.

FindbyClick was a media darling for a brief period when it was first introduced, but is not the main line of business for this IT development company. Nevertheless, it has a place in the hearts of the team, and is still in line for some development.

"My dream is to tap into the community, to help take content that would be of interest to others, and to use this content to create a social network on a map," Mr. MacDonald says.

He observed that a challenge for all mapping services, whether Google Maps, MapQuest or TomTom, is that "they have a lot of stale data."  He had hoped to build enough of a community that people would go in and correct incorrect data. This did indeed happen in some instances. "We had one guy who had a Wal-Mart obsession," who did considerable work tagging and moving points around to their correct locations. Another individual provided many of the locations and tags for Starbucks in Hong Kong.

Mr. MacDonald believes that the launch of FindbyClick was "a little ahead of the curve." IPhone had not yet been released, and mobile device capability was constrained. At the time this service was built, only Nokia had the capacity to put such an application on their phones.

Subsequently the firm has worked with a number of major organizations on location-based applications, including Google.

Maps as information sources

You can learn a lot from mapping. For example, Mr. MacDonald notes that Manhatten is covered with Starbucks, but New Jersey has almost none. We speculated that perhaps New Jerseyites were more of a Dunkin Donuts crowd. Or perhaps they get their Starbucks at work, not in their home neighborhood. You can tell alot about the people in an area by the stores and services in the area.

The future of mapping is definitely bright

Mr. MacDonald agreed with me that push marketing to your mobile device is not likely to be appealing to many people -- the "turn around now for a great deal" kinds of applications that were forecast a decade ago.

Instead, what he sees is the potential for predictive functionality based on an individual's own tags. So my phone might tell me about things that are similar to what I have already expressed interest in. If I have tagged a lot of delicatessens on my maps, my phone might find additional delis for me from the lists of things others have tagged. This feels something like Del.icio.us functionality brought to a map, and that would be excellent.

Another limitation has been the lexicon of descriptions available to tag a given location, which Mr. MacDonald likens to working with a limited vocabulary. In the future we will have more free-form searching, instead of being limited to a specific set of tags.

FindbyClick will launch a new version in 2009, "with more data, more content, and content more personalized to you."

Experience design implications

So many of the things we want are local. And the web has not been very good at local search. When we are looking for a hair salon, we want one that's convenient. Even more for a drycleaner. Same thing for a daycare, a dentist, or a framing shop. Sometimes it's urgently local, as is the case with a gas station or a bank machine.

With local search and mapping getting better, and with smart mobile devices ready to help, we will all be able to get out from behind our desks more and find the places we need. If your company has any kind of physical presence, you will want to be considering how you will take your place in these interactive maps.

Resources:

Pentura Solutions Inc.-- an IT consulting firm that developed FindbyClick

Google Maps Mania --  a blog about Google Maps. Here's their story about FindbyClick

FindbyClick the blog -- Kevin MacDonald's blog

Where customization is going

I've been searching for the perfect planner for years. The hidden hope is that somehow the right system will help me stay on top of things better. One result of this is that I am on the mailing list for various planner outfits. Over the years I have used Daytimer (my first love), Prenote from QuoVadis, Priority Management, DayRunner (only a brief fling), Franklin Covey, and Levenger. And like a lot of planner junkies, I have also created my own pages when I couldn't find what I wanted. (Yes, I was looking for something more customized to my needs.)

It's a good way to have a look at the whole notion of customization, a trend which continues to pick up speed, thanks to information technologies.

The paper planner business hangs on, I believe, because some of us just are not linear enough to deal with an electronic calendar. Or we just like the fluidity of paper and pencil. Electronic calendars have relatively little in the way of customization ability -- you pretty much have to deal with the interface the way the software designers planned. 

The Old Way

Proprietary systems, special binders, expanding layout options support the drive to differentiate

Some systems have almost no customization options, such as Priority Management's paper planner system, below:

You can buy fancier binders, but that's about the extent of it.

Quo Vadis has pretty standard guts as well, but offers a great selection of good looking covers.

Daytimer, one of the granddads of this category, has a massive selection of binder options. And they also have quite a wide variety of page formats as well as a few colorful themes:

 

Franklin Covey goes much further on the theme options, as you can see in this shot below from a recent e-mail advert:

 

The New Way

Custom printing lets people create their own unique style

Sadly, the planner that you can design yourself doesn't really quite exist yet, unless you are a do-it-yourself kind of person. But it can't be far off.

I can print business cards at MOO with a different picture on the back of each one. Pictures that I upload, or pictures that MOO has.

 

I can print custom sneakers for myself, again, using my own designs that I upload, or using a set of patterns and colors the company makes available to me. Yup, there's a hefty price premium. But why not? I haven't been able to decide what I really want, or I'd be sporting my own pair already.

If I really want to build my own planner, there is a web-site for me and my community where I can download templates -- or upload my own designs! DIY Planner has templates and designs you can use to build your own planner. Users upload images of their planning and calendaring systems, share tips, and demonstrate a zestful commitment to meeting their own needs instead of being forced into a template that's not-quite-right.

 

This is what customization looks like. Options built for one person. Not a pre-printed theme -- a me-theme.

Creative fun with Kodak

Who couldn't use a few super-hero tricks this week? You can turn yourself into a super-hero at the Kodak "Make Me Super" site.There's a little video with a song -- customized with your name even! And you can order fun accessories.

It's a promotion, yes. It's not world changing. it's just for fun.

There's a nice piece on this campaign by blogger Karen Hegmann. I like her point about the use of narrative, and giving people permission to have fun. When so many things seem to be going wrong in the world, fun will take on a lot of importance for people.

Using GPS to build customer experience: yes, it's another Harley-Davidson story

GPS device maker Garmin is launching a specialized version of the Garmin Zumo - the Road Tech Zumo. It will come pre-loaded with all the Harley-Davidson dealerships, as well as a program to share rides. These will be the kind of rides motorcyclists love, of course -- with windy roads, good scenery, and an absence of express-lanes.

As GPS becomes ubiquitous, I expect to see a lot more innovation of this nature. Read more on the GPS Lodge story.

Resources:

Harley-Davidson Zumo GPS - the Road-Tech Zumo, on GPS Lodge, Aug. 4 08

Co-creation watch: Lolcats

There seems to be an endless appetite for amusing ourselves with frippery. Here's the LOLcat I made today.
What I am wondering is this... is there anything on your web site that is designed only to amuse, only for the sake of amusement? Or is it all sales, sales, sales and more sales?
Just asking.

Get your own car logo, make your own stickers -- co-creation is everywhere

This is my Scion crest. I don't actually drive a Scion, but in the interest of keeping you well informed, dear reader [and avoiding real work, of course] I went to their site and designed one. It has several symbols that make sense to me. I had a lot of trouble picking the animal for the top, but the crest just didn't look right without it.

You can make the crest using the provided elements. The site is really easy to use, and free. You can download the crest and get it printed up if you wish.

To be honest, I'd never even heard of the Scion. Maybe you hadn't either. This is buzz at its best, quite apart from showing your loyalists that you understand them. And Toyota has never been known for innovation in this area. Looks like that's changing too.

If you want to see some interesting research video, you can also find that at the Scion Speak site. They came up with the icon after sending a graffiti artist around to talk to Scion owners, and some of the clips are here.

Somehow, the ability to make your own car crest reminded me of Moo, who now offers customizable sticker packages for a mere $9.99. This is not much more expensive than the stuff I buy at Staples, and a lot more interesting.

I am a stationery junkie at the best of times, and when I found out about these stickers, I had to seriously restrain myself from ordering great gobs of them. [I would have the coolest discussion groups around, surely! Okay, I've only put it off till I have a good business reason.]

Co-creation is everywhere. This is not going away anytime soon.

Resources

Do-It-Yourself Logos for Proud Scion Owners, New York Times, March 24, 2008

The ratings game: President's Choice gets 3 stars for their new star system

Star systems have been in use for decades, maybe longer -- the Michelin and Zagat guides, the auto association guides, the various star systems for European hotels.

Even university students can rate courses and professors. The trend continues to grow, and becomes continually more democratized.

Amazon gets free content created by their customers with the book reviews. And customers get the insights and ratings generated by average folks. Anyone can rate anything on Amazon, not just books. These Tommy Hilfiger Nantucket blue extra-long twin sheets were rated high by some, poorly by others.

Given how useful these ratings are to most people, it's interesting that it has taken a long time for the trend to spread. I was excited to see that President's Choice has just launched a rating system for their line of food products. It's a great idea, and I hope they stick with it. Here's why:

In addition to the useful feedback, this kind of approach acknowledges customers as an active part of the story -- participants, not just consumers.

Consumers get useful information. I read somewhere that even negative reviews on Amazon didn't necessarily translate to lower book sales.

Imagine adding a 5-star label to the packages of crowd favorites? This is as good as a testimonial.

The image pictured above is a PC Goat Cheese Torta, and hors d'oevre that gathered 5 stars from at least 4 raters. It's construction uses several products. They could have featured recipes in the store (or by cell phone?) that give you ideas and ingredients for highly rated recipes.

My one complaint is that the web site is painfully slow. I looked around for a while to try to find a negative rating, and just gave up in frustration. If I hadn't been writing an article, I would not have persisted as long.

So their system gets 3 stars out of a possible 5: good idea that could be much better.

Addendum:

I added a review to their Noodle Wrapped Shrimp. Was annoyed that I have to say "value for money," because I have no idea what the shrimp cost. They just came out of my freezer. I think this is a limitation that would discourage some people, because you are required to rate on three categories.

The other note that I would make is that there is a loyalty question, "would you recommend?" But surely the correct question for a food item is "did you like this enough to buy it again?"

Monitoring Web 2.0

Reader, technophile and very capable researcher Matt Towers sent me this link to everything web 2.0.  Great list, thanks Matt.

Web 2.0 watch: how to build your own anything

You may think you have heard altogether too much about web 2.0. But in fact, it's like seeing a big boat slowly move across a lake -- you can hardly believe the size of the wake when it finally hits shore. In my usual Agatha Christie / Miss Marple way, I hope to draw some interesting ideas from some applications you've seen or heard about.

Instructables
Here's a personal favorite:  Instructables.  There are instructions from ordinary people here on how to do everything from avoid having to sort laundry to building your own Computer Numeric Controlled Router from scratch. I'd really love to have one of those, but it's a bit beyond -- actually WAY beyond -- my assembly abilities. Here's my own modest contribution to the pool of learning.  The site is extremely easy to use. Explore only at your own risk, because honestly, if you have a creative bone in your body, it will take you half the day.

This site is primarily built around visual instruction for things that have a physical world presence. Like laundry, lathes, earrings. I haven't seen any instructables yet about how to set up a trust fund. But why not, really?

Imagine cross-breeding Instructables with banking and investments. What we see today are a lot of bulletin boards that have disjointed information provided by investors and home budget gurus. What if this kind of information were more carefully harnessed and structured?

Implication of all of this: as information about how to do things continues to get easier and easier to find, by itself, it won't have much market value.
What this means for you and your service business:
--> you need to keep raising the bar on the knowledge and skill you are selling. Because low level knowledge and skill is free
--> you should be thinking about ways of taking existing platforms and leveraging them for your own content. Get out there, get in the conversation!

Custom-manufacturer with clever marketing idea: Freddy + Ma

Custom manufacturing really seems to be taking off, and here's another example: Freddy & Ma, makers of custom handbags.

Pick a basic style, choose a leather color, then go wild on fabric choices, from a fantastic selection of fabrics. So many wonderful possibilities, and a very engaging interface.

And how did those clever people entice me to their web-site? They offered TypePad bloggers a generous discount on a bag. And look at all the free publicity they are going to get from this, to say nothing of new customers.

How can we make information more accessible to customers?

This is interesting on so many levels...

DiggExpose has combined -- what the cool kids call a mash-up -- Snap's web page image previews with Digg's tracking of what's being tagged online. 
The site lets you choose which type of information display you would like. For each display, as you move your cursor around, the display responds. It's very intuitive. Here are a few screen shots of the options...

This one is my favorite -- it's a giant loop you can very quickly scan

  This one is the default, a cluster.

Tile view ...

This rolodex style view reminds me of something available in Windows 3.0 that was also very intuitive.

Snap, the people providing the previews, have invited all their users to Digg the site. And on the Snap blog, commenters have started riffing on applications they would like Snap to develop along these lines.

This would all just be so much blah, blah, really, except for these things:

• Customers will use your product in unexpected ways, especially if it is digital. You can learn from this if you pay attention. Because some of it will reflect improvements. Some of it will reflect new market opportunities you hadn't thought about before. There might be alliances just waiting for your call.
  

• The notion of managing information feeds in a non-linear way is very appealing. It puts much more control in the hands of the recipient. It's not just a feed anymore, it's a buffet that you can quickly scan for the most appealing morsels.

Imagine being able to look around in a content heavy site in this manner. Something such as a bank web site, or investment information site. Even a hospital site, or a government site. I'd love to be able to access a catalog shopping site this way.

The existing navigation would be there, but there might also be a page where you can just sort through the images.

• The designer created several options for using the images.  A cluster, which is fine if you just want to see what's happening in the Digg world. The tiles, for those who like their world to be a little more organized. And the loop and line for scanners.

Questions you should be asking:

1. How are our customers 'mashing' what we provide with something else to make it better suited to their needs. And does this suggest a new product, service, alliance, or market?
2. How can we give customers more control over accessing information from us? Especially online. Can we let them choose the display format? What about copying this brilliant thing, and putting a Snap image search on our content heavy site? We might even get some amazing PR from that.
3. Do we have easy ways for customers to help us create our product or service? Can they post their ideas on our blog or bulletin board? Is there anywhere on our site that you INVITE people to tell us their ideas?
4. How can we use images or graphics to help our customers navigate the experience better -- whether it is signage, or wiring instructions, are we making the information maximally accessible in the shortest possible time? Or are we still stuck on text?
5. When was the last time we launched something and people smiled with delight, charmed that we were working so hard to make things better for them?
   

Innovation Watch: Moo Cards

When I heard about MOO cards, I was so tickled I had to have them.  And now my blog has its own business cards, with graphics used in the blog.

MOO cards are smaller than a business card, and printed on very nice stock. They arrived in a little white plastic box with a colorful label, and a card that says "Yay! You're our new best friend."  Another MOO card, of course.

What's the beginning of the experience like?

What a delightful thing when it arrived, looking more like a new i-Pod than a box of business cards. It made me realize how deficient and un-exciting the arrival of a regular box of business cards has been in the past.

If you want to re-think customer experience, you might consider what the 'unpacking' or 'entry' point looks like. Is there anything to delight the senses? Do people enter your premises with anticipation?

Personalization and Co-Creation

Moo lets you create your own card using a simple online interface. If you want, you can upload your own photos, and slide a little editing window around on each one to pick exactly what will go on your card.  Up to 100 different images. [At last, another use for all those graphics created for the blog!!!]  Or you can use MOO's images.

These are cards I would hoard if I didn't want so much to share them.

And they arrived faster and more painlessly than any business card I've ever ordered. Okay, they don't have custom print colors, but so what. They are uniquely mine. Something MOO and I created together. And of course the unit cost is much higher than a regular business card, but the value is so high, it feels like a bargain.

So now my blog has its own business card. It won't be original for much longer, now that I've told you. So don't tell too many people okay? Only the cool kids.

Co-creation watch: Make Your Own Wired Cover

I missed the chance to get my real July issue of Wired issued with my own picture on the cover. But we can all have fun making our own Wired cover just by going to this link.

Fun promotion, and a good way to get a story into a blog or two.

Co-creation and fashion brands

Reader Sophie R. is studying at the London College of Fashion, and sent me some questions with respect to her dissertation on fashion management. I thought her questions were interesting, and hope you do too.

Sophie: What has changed in the last decades in terms of : consumer behaviour, ways of consumption?  What do the consumers expect the most from the brand today?  Is consumer behaviour in fashion different? If yes, what is different?

Susan: With the advent of the internet, many people expected brands to become less important. This hasn't really happened, except in commodity purchases, where quality and status aren't that relevant. When faced with overwhelming choice, a brand that you trust can help you make a decision. In this sense, brands are even more important.  The big change with brands is that we no longer choose a brand for life; most of us are pretty fickle when it comes to our brand selections.  Another big shift is that we may be luxury brand purchasers in one area of our lives, and bargain purchasers in another, without finding anything inconsistent about this.
This trend is very evident in fashion, with the success of knock-off houses like H&M and Zara providing inexpensive access to high-style and design. Yet luxury brands still have tremendous presence, whether it's a Prada handbag or an Omega watch.

Sophie: Could you explain in a few words the concept of co-creation? How does the consumer react towards co-creation? How could you qualify the presence of co-creation on the market place   
nowadays? Does it have implication on any brands’ success?

Susan: Co-creation is about bringing consumers into a closer relationship with the brand by inviting them to take part in the creative process. This could be by letting people propose advertising. Or it could involve giving customers tools to customize and personalize their purchase. Mini Cooper gives customers an enormous array of customization options, for example. 

We would still want our brand to make sure we look good at the end -- my assumption is that BMW is not going to let me design an ugly Mini. So I can trust the brand, and experiment within the brand's boundaries.

A brand should only choose the co-creation route when they can make it fit into the brand promise -- co-creation is likely not for every brand. A brand that is all about stability, for example, might not be a good candidate for co-creation. I think most financial institution brands would struggle with this concept.

Sophie: Why is interaction important for the consumers? How can co-creation influence consumer behaviour?

Susan: Consumers don't want to be passive recipients of dispensed wisdom from big companies. There are a multitude of personal styles at work today, especially in the fashion world. There are so many 'looks' now, that we can all do almost whatever we want.

Let's consider a fashion organization that is conducting creative design workshops with their target customer on a regular basis. The customer involvement in the creation process will ensure that the product that emerges makes sense. This is a lot more than a focus group -- this is an ongoing involvement of customers in the creation of the future of the brand. The internal designers have the last word, but they have greater access to involve the customer in creation.  I don't see this being relevant for all consumers, but for those that are really engaged with the category or the brand, and are opinion leaders in their segment.

Sophie: Can you describe the role of Internet in the development of co-creation? How does Internet help brands to interact with the consumers?

Susan: The internet has provided a means of communicating with customers on a large scale, and allowing tremendous efficiencies in creating supply chains that can accommodate a lot of customization, and customer interaction. Web 2.0 applications like MySpace give people the opportunity to create and interact on a huge scale. This is now setting the standard for what we expect to be able to do generally.  So the internet has simultaneously improved the ability to create two-way communication, and raised expectations for it.

I expect that people like Madonna have always been able to enter into a dialogue of co-creation with designers like Gaultier. Patrons of the arts have had some co-creation capability since the time of the Medici. But the presence of the internet, and the general flattening of the global economy, has brought this possibility to a much larger number of people -- it has democratized co-creation.

Sophie: Is co-creation a short term phenomenon or a long term change?

Susan: We don't usually want to give up things we have learned to love. So I would say this is a trend that has long-term legs. But no organization, fashion or otherwise, should think this relieves them of the need to be cool and be design-focused, or to understand their customers and segments. In fact, that need has never been greater.

Co-creation does not mean telling me to go ahead and do-it-myself. It means bringing my ideas as a consumer / customer inside the company, creating an ongoing dialogue with this group, and giving them more influence over direction. In this sense, we could consider co-creation as the next phase of evolution of  Voice-of-the-Customer thinking. Except VOC is often a survey, and co-creation is much more connected, more of a dialogue.

Sophie: Last words: suppose you have one advice to give to brand’s managers who want to co-create with consumers, what would it be?

Susan: I think I've said enough already, and am going to throw this one out to the readers. Readers, how would you answer that one?

So Sophie - if you get an A, send us a gold star, okay buddy?

Co-creating with your customers: a TTC story

Our local Toronto Transit Commission is not known for its usability or customer experience.  I tried to figure out which one of four buses would be most likely to come by one day recently, and was completely unable to decipher any of them (see above map, which defies all cartography conventions).

The TTC's web site is no better, either from an aesthetic or informational standpoint.

Bringing bloggers into the design process

But let's get to the co-creation, and see what can happen with even a little effort to invite your customers inside the tent...

The story is best told by the blog that started it...Reading Toronto:

"The Toronto Bloggers' website challenge to new TTC Chair Adam Giambrone gathered steam with postings on readingtoronto.com, Spacing.ca, Torontoist.com, Blogto.com, and transit.toronto.on.ca. It seems that Toronto's netroots can influence city hall. In case you missed the news, bloggers in the city were embarrassed by the transit commission's online presence. We asked our readers - people who tend to use the site every day - how they would improve the TTC website. Their answers are honest and insightful."

The new TTC chairman, Adam Giambrone, seems to have accepted the challenge. Today's Globe and Mail reports that he will be meeting with the bloggers to discuss their ideas, and a new site should be up and running by the summertime. !!! 

This is a big step for an organization I've heard described as insular, rigid and paramilitary in outlook.

And the input is excellent.  Here are a few of the suggestions made via comments on the various blogs:

"Like Google Maps, I want to be able to type in a destination address, execute a search and be taken to a map segment that shows the nearest TTC route; then I’d like to be able to use that route information to construct a travel plan from my point of origin....
The current system expects a user to know what route number he/she wants which is, of course, backwards thinking."

"As well as a journey planner, simple printable maps should be available to broswers, maybe with operation schedules/wheelchair accessible stops/other related information provided."

"Information like closures, schedule changes, or route disruptions should be available on the site, as an RSS feed, as an e-mail subscription, or as an SMS subscription that can be signed up for from a page on the TTC website."

"Trip planner please. Vancouver’s Translink already has one that on their website that’s very helpful. Also, most Translink stations display a phone number which you can call en-route and speak with an attendant regarding Transit schedules, like how long until the next bus, and route information.
http://tripplanning.translink.bc.ca/hiwire?.a=iTripPlanning&.s={$SID}"

I thought this recommendation was particularly insightful...

"...the TTC should hire a someone to head up a Design department. This person will be in charge of formulating standards for TTC advertising, route/schedule information posters, website design, and station/vehicle signage. ....If that doesn’t happen, this will just be a one-off, and like all one-offs will end up decaying into another sloppy mess. The TTC needs design everywhere, not just on its web site."

Another commenter has created a TTC schedule for their Palm, that you can download!!!!! 

Another great suggestion from several people: the TTC should make their database available to developers, to enable just this sort of open-source innovation.

So what?

The learning here: if people care about your service, they are receptive to helping you improve it to meet their needs better. The insights generated on these blogs contain real insights, the sort of ideas I'd be delighted to generate for a client as part of a research project. And this organization is getting them for free. Let's hope they have the brains to listen.

If your customers built a web site about your organization...

You might ask yourself this: if your customers built a web site about you, what would be there? What tips and tricks would they share with others? What navigational aids? What contact points? What secrets would they share?

References:

"The TTC gets some online help", by Bert Archer in the Globe & Mail, January 6, 2007. [free for 7 days]

Reading Toronto, founded by architect, urban planner and columnist Robert Ouellette, looks at the city from the standpoint of the creative arts.

Spacing Wire, a blog about public space issues in Toronto. Here's the TTC post with comments.

Blog TO, a blog about Toronto events, with an emphasis on the arts. Here's their post about the TTC with comments.

Torontoist, their TTC post and comments are here 

Transit Toronto shows how a dedicated fan site can actually provide significantly more useful information than the corporate site.

Personalization & Co-creation Trend: HP's its personal campaign

HP's new campaign, it's personal, is letting me create my own little video ad.  You can see it here:

Or you can go make your own.
 

HP has tapped into something important here with the notion of "it's personal". Our computers are extensions of our hands and our brains, more and more. Losing a hard drive is now worse than losing your wallet. When you can't use your computer, it feels very difficult to be productive. Amazing how this has happened so quickly.

Apparently some of HP's enterprise customers are exercised about the new campaign, because they have been telling their employees that the computers are not personal, are in fact company equipment, and should not be shared with kids or used to download music, edit personal pictures, etc. Someone needs to tell these companies that they crossed the work-personal boundary first, by expecting employees to be available anytime, anywhere.

The personalization trend we have spoken about here before is more than just acknowledging this, however, it is giving people the ability to have their own preferences met. This seems like a good start. Is HP thinking about customers the way Apple does? We can only hope.