The truth is, unless you’re running a website without dynamic content, click tracking has some real big issues that will waste your time and potentially harm your conversion rates if you base decisions on this data.

We’ve heard horror stories – so it was nice to stumble on an in-depth article by Red Ant that matched our experiences of click tracking.

I’ll summarise the big ones below.

The playback recording is false

• It’s not a true recording of the session, it’s just clicks and screen grabs. There’s a huge difference between what you see on the playback and what the user sees. See these two videos to understand what you’re missing.

What the user sees:

What the service records:

No Cookies

• The bot that visits the site to take screen grabs of the visit is session-less if you use cookies. What it captures and what the user saw will be different.

No Ajax

• The bot will miss all dynamic/conditional content and interactions that are delivered by JavaScript. This is pretty huge. Take a look at the different images below:

What the bot recorded

What the user saw

Privacy?

• There are huge privacy issues with recording everything a user types. Are your customers happy that you are logging every click and letter they type with a third party service?

Eye tracking with click tracking?

• There is no useful correlation between mouse tracking and where you are looking. Click tracking services misquote out-of-context research to support their claim of this being a cheaper way of gathering visual attention data. We have a detailed article here about mouse eye tracking.

This is just the tip of the iceberg to get you thinking.

Now go and read the great article on Red Ant about their experiences of click tracking.

The post With a big pinch of salt: What you need to know about click tracking services appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

I think we all underestimated just how fast the mobile market would grow. Google is now saying that it is about to get more searches from mobile than desktop; revising its original prediction of early 2014. Another figure I heard from Google was that tablets/iPads are the fastest ever adopted piece of tech. Web usage stats on Boxing Day 2012, saw some pretty phenomenal shifts in platform use towards tablets.

So what trends are we seeing?

Sofa & bed is where your business case for a mobile strategy exists; the user on a bus is usually an edge case.

People need a good excuse to go fire up the laptop. As daft as it sounds, turning on the computer is now starting to become a chore that we have to think about. People love the instant-on of iPhone, iPad & their Android/Windows equivalents, hence we all now start a lot of our browsing on mobile, whilst sat on the sofa. Some research has found that 60% of desktop computer based web research starts on a mobile device.

Prediction: Those that focus on broader mobile strategies over location specific strategies will win.

Does everybody hold their phone like me?

Unfortunately (for designers), the public hold their phones and tablets in both landscape and portrait orientation. There seems to be no hard and fast rule for predicting what layout people prefer. We see people turning their devices naturally at different points in research. If your usability testing is suggesting that there is a favoured orientation – has your research protocol encouraged this behaviour? Do you have a camera or mount that encourages the user to hold the tablet in a certain way? Always make sure the participant can hold the device being tested in a natural manner to get better research findings.

Prediction: Those that design mobile apps and sites with flexible/responsive layouts will perform strongest.

Mobile is loved because it’s clean and simple – but is it sustainable?

The strong mobile experiences that people love and return to, are similar to the rich experiences they have on desktop but without the noise of advertising, upsells, re-marketing, waffle, etc. The size of mobile screens has forced us to focus on delivering concise user journeys without monetising every bit of screen real-estate. Any type of marketing noise/advertising on mobile is generally unwelcome to the user. So how do we fund the mobile experiences of the future if users are so hostile towards advertising? Just think about how you feel about the odd advert appearing on your iPhone Facebook app timeline. Do we need a new model to fund the mobile future? Google are hoping to keep advertising away from Google Glass – so where will Glass revenue come from?

Prediction: We will see an increase in research that helps us understand how to monetise the mobile experience.

Mobile expectations are hugely misunderstood.

In the rush to go mobile, user journeys continually run the gauntlet of being over simplified to meet budgets and project timescales. A lot of simplification to-date has been driven by the thought that a smaller screen means you need to deliver a simpler experience. This old-school thinking seems to suggest that: ‘screen size’ is proportional to the ‘scope of the experience’. i.e. the smaller the screen, the simpler an app needs to be.

The reality is that the immediate nature of mobile increases the opportunity for engagement, therefore we should be thinking more along the lines of: ‘number of opportunities to engage’ is proportional to the ‘scope of the experience’. i.e. mobile should do more than desktop.

Prediction: Those delivering richer experiences on mobile will win.

So, there you have four trends we’re predicting as we head into 2014. Mobile is shaping new behaviours and new expectations. It’s not for the faint hearted and it’s not something you can ignore. Just go look at your traffic logs and see the range of devices and journeys people are doing.

What are your predictions for mobile as we head towards 2014?

The post Four Mobile UX Trends heading into 2014 appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

To read the article published in the December issue of Mobile Marketing Magazine you can go here.

Alternatively if you would like to read the full version of the article with case studies of ecommerce sites then you can go here Fashion M-retail

The Opportunity

The fashion retail industry is possibly better placed than any other to capitalise on the mobile experience provided by smartphone apps and mobile websites. The web has long provided the busy fashion consumer 24 hour shopping from the comfort of their PC, allowed them to easily locate stock in their size, negated the need for unpleasant changing room experiences, miles of walking and many spousal arguments.

According to IMGR’s e-retail index a total of £68bn was spent online in the UK in 2011, up 16% on 2010, and the biggest year on year growth was seen in the fashion industry. Clever fashion marketers have been busy employing such conveniences as ‘Click & Collect’ style services, improving delivery options and placing their full stock listings online. But it’s no longer simply enough to be optimising existing online strategy, the next challenge is already here, and it’s mobile.

A recent survey by Simpson Carpenter (May 2012) found that the last 12 months has seen a massive 65% increase in those shopping via their mobiles. The authors conclude that m-commerce activity (transacting on a mobile device) is no longer the reserve of a small group of early adopters and has now moved into the mainstream.

M-commerce; the new shopping frontier?

When you consider that fashion shopping is possibly one of the most stubborn bricks and mortar stalwarts, yet has achieved huge online penetration in recent times, it’s easy to join the dots and see that mobile is ideally placed to bridge the divide.

From the customer’s point of view, despite the wealth of freedoms shopping online gives them, there are the clear benefits of hitting the high street. Namely the practicalities of needing to try on clothes, see and feel them in the flesh, have them now etc., but above all, shopping will always remain, a very social and pleasurable leisure activity.

So imagine the potential to be found in the synthesis of these two channels. The best of both.

Shoppers are gaining an ever increasing familiarity with price checkers, promotional sites etc. and are blending their online usage with their high street activities. They want to be able to apply the conveniences they’ve grown accustomed to in desktop research (price checking, inspiration, locating stores and individual items etc) on the move. They also want convenience and choice, more than ever. They can access the internet in their pocket, or at home on an increasing number of devices, whether tablet or smart-phone, 3G or Wifi. Essentially they’re more demanding than ever and it’s the retailer of today’s challenge to meet these demands.

Mobile web is, and will increasingly be a great enabler to the mobile fashion consumer, therefore it should be a great enabler for the industry too.

Focus on Fashion

So what is that fashion shoppers uniquely want from m-commerce/services? How does an app feature become a sales driver?

What can it do for me?

As is the case with any industry and mobile, you have to ask yourself ‘What do fashion buyers want to be able to on their mobile?’. There’s certainly been a lot of good, bad and ugly in the early rush to ‘have an app’, though things are slowly improving. Whereas it was once common for retailers to throw a few new season collection images, coupled with a store locator into an app and claim they ‘have a mobile strategy’, users have quickly demanded more. Retailers are increasingly succumbing to the pressure to support full transactional capabilities (and, crucially, to make them more usable), they’re also increasingly expected to carry full product inventories and more besides.

Popular features

Exclusivity, scarcity, fast fashion; these are some of the most valuable attributes you could employ when creating a mobile brand experience. We’re talking ‘sneak peak’, ‘new in today’, ‘limited edition’ and ‘voucher code’. Essentially anything that brings the mobile user in out of the cold of the high street and provides something a little bit more than any other channel can, makes them feel a bit special and rewarded for having gone to the effort of downloading an app.

And let’s not forget social influences – we use fashion to project our identity, communicate to others who we are and what we identify with. Sharing every wardrobe decision with the world isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but you will have a potent source of free marketing in those that do.

Current popular features used in mobile retailer’s app arsenals include:

• Wishlists

• Sharing functions (Facebook, Twitter, BBM)

• Fast fashion (new trends updates)

• Stock-checkers / Stockist finders using GPS

• Sales alerts

• Barcode scanners

• Scrapbooking

And thinking outside the box

When you look past the major retailers you very quickly find a thriving app/mobile community focused directly on serving the wants and desires of even the most dedicated fashion followers. You can gain an understanding of what fashionista’s want from the popularity of the following categories of paid and free apps;

• Wardrobe Organisers (‘Stylebook’, ‘Myshoebox’ – help you catalogue and style your existing items)

• Style Inspiration (‘Chicfeed’, a stream of images pulled in from top blogs & magazine editorial)

• Shopping apps (‘Shopstyle’ – big inventory of stores, websites, stockists etc.)

• Style Advice (Glamour magazine’s ‘Ask a stylist’ for instant feedback on an outfit)

• Cataloguing (Designer Ralph Lauren has an app providing comprehensively archived slideshows of past collections)

• Virtual changing rooms (‘SmartDresser’ – choose a models pose and use it as a clothes horse)

• Sizing Aids (‘What size am I?’ – catalogues and compares the sizing of all UK retailers so that you know your measurement in any given store)

• Social Feedback (‘Pose’ – a bragging / social confirmation tool that allows you to get your friend’s, or a bunch of complete strangers, feedback on that metallic salmon jumpsuit before you step out in it.

• Crowdsourcing (Designers ask followers to vote for new lines/designs/colours, giving discounts for voters of winning items.)

• Co-creation (‘Stylestudio’ lets you design your own items from an inventory of customisable pre-sets)

Mobile Strategy for Fashion

When deciding on a mobile strategy for fashion, as with any industry you have to ask yourself what business goal should it achieve? Is it about raising brand awareness, driving traffic? Do you want to create something different, quirky, cool, potentially ‘viral’ that will create its own buzz and chatter? Or more humbly increasing revenue (sounds obvious doesn’t it?). It’s all about blending business goals, creating reasons for repeat engagement and the occasional show piece of functionality.

It’s all the same to them

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about one channel in isolation but marketers can never remind themselves enough that consumers view web, instore and mobile web experiences as all different faces of the same brand or retailer. Users will bring their knowledge of using your brand (whether in the store, or on your website) and apply it to what they expect your app or mobile site will allow them to do.

Seamless

Joined up integration of app, mobile and web experience, e.g. syncing your account and basket across all three, as done particularly well by Asos. What matters is the end to end customer experience, irrespective of which mode they begin engaging with you.

Fast Fashion

Nowhere is the opportunity greater than for the dedicated fashion follower who wants affordability and variety, a new outfit, bang on trend, without breaking the bank every time they hit the town. These users are ripe for exploitation. These users rely heavily on editorial and word of mouth to tell them what’s new and hot right now. Social media is uniquely placed to

Brand Loyal

And in all this talk of disposable fashion let’s not forget those that harbour more than a couple of brand loyalties. Brands can foster these relationships by providing apps that give followers up to the minute releases, how-to-wear editorial and stockist finders. Ralph Lauren has garnered much acclaim for it’s app that goes above and beyond to deliver a full back catalogue of it’s collections for

Wider web platform decisions

Mobile web vs Mobile Apps

There was a time where the app ‘revolution’ was proclaimed to be the end of mobile web and that this was the future of mobile connected services. Not so. As found by Keynote/Adobe back in 2010 ;

“For every shopping activity, including researching products and prices, reviews, promotions

and purchasing products, most respondents (61-81%) preferred browser to native app.”

The same report found that the preferred mode of connection (browser or app) was specific to the task being undertaken. Games, Social networking, music and maps were all media users preferred to consume using apps, but for all other activities users prefer browsers.

So it’s clear there’s no singular solution, and each business will need to look at not only their product area, but also what kind of media they want to engage users in. For example an m-commerce sales drive might be best tackled with a mobile optimised website but delivering fashion editorial and loyalty programmes lend themselves more to a native app.

Context of use

Gone are the days of mobile use being confined to the commute to work, users are increasingly likely to be using their phone instead of their deskop/laptop/even ipad at home. Clearly discussions of context have moved on from ‘they’ll be using it on the bus’. Someone visiting a job search website is more likely to be trying to upload their CV from a desktop than on the go, but the same user might want instant access to job adverts from their phone. So, to coin a phrase, it’s horses for courses, it depends on how your services fit into the realities of how and when users want to engage with you and what they might want to do differently on each of those occasions.

And an increasing minority are becoming mobile-only web users. It’s sobering to think that for a section of your targets, mobile might be their only means of engaging with you digitally.

Our verdict on the big names in mobile fashion as below:

River Island

The iOS app’s large main womenswear navigation listing mixes editorial (autumn preview and just arrived) and product categories (tops and dresses), making it hard to locate product specific sections. At the time of writing, the brand doesn’t offer an Android app or mobile optimised site.

H & M

iOS and Android apps are fashion editorial and not fully transactional. Users who ‘dig down’ for further details

are redirected to the full desktop website. Product information (codes, materials) is also missing, but the gift card balance checker is useful.

Next

A simple and comprehensive iOS app that focuses on the transactional experience and driving sales, although it could make better use of screen real estate when displaying product results. The Android app just redirects to teh mobile site – and the quick shop functionality is unusable.

New Look

Good fashion editorial content in the iOS app, but launches into the mobile site for most browsing and transactional activity. Mobile site looks different to the iOS and Android apps which may confuse consumers.

Zara

iPhone app makes good use of good quality images and utilises screen space well, but individual

items aren’t labelled – it’s unclear if the skirt or shirt is on sale in this image. Android app simply redirects to the main desktop site, which is not optimised for mobile devices.

Topshop

The mobile website asks users if they want to save a bookmark, creating a permanent ‘app-like’ link on their device homescreen. The iPhone app is also strong for those running latest iOS versions, while the Android app just connects to the mobile site.

The post Trend Setters – Fashion M-retail: App, Mobile Site or Both? appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

To look at the ways in which readers interact and view twitter feeds, we investigated using advanced eye tracking technology to determine where readers looked and to gain insight about how users interact with a Twitter feed. From these findings, we were able to uncover some tips on how to stand out with Christmas tweets.

To read this article in a pdf session you can go here Twitter festive branding

In summary:

• Using festive keywords and hashtags catches readers’ attention
• Readers are drawn to look at the first few words of a tweet, reading more if their attention is captured or they are interested.
• Readers tend not to read URLs
• Prompting people to join in discussions around Christmas can engage readers
• Putting a Christmassy spin on products (e.g. in the context of gifts and presents) opens up the customer base

Getting into the Christmas spirit

The festive spirit offers a great opportunity for boosting sales through promotion, but how can brands stand out above the crowd when competing for readers’ attention?

1. Interaction prompts

Links posted to Twitter are typically only seen by a fraction of the total follower base. In addition to this, any one link will probably only appeal to a proportion of these followers. For wide customer bases, followers may know this and not direct attention towards links. Rather than posting a link to an article or product and risk readers failing to engage with the content, prompting interaction from readers can increase interest and retweets as well as building relationships with the customer base.

Prompting interaction from readers

Particularly around the Christmas season, the opportunity to involve readers within your publicity soars. Opening up the floor for readers to interact with the brand can appeal to readers who might otherwise not have engaged or become interested in what is being offered. For example Argos’ hashtag ‘#argoschristmas’ is an environment for followers to discuss and share interest in seasonal offers and products.

2. Use hashtags

Readers are drawn to look at hashtags more than normal text

In addition, readers are typically drawn to hashtags more than plain text when looking at tweets. Using seasonal keywords within a tweet may attract readers’ attention, but hashtags are more likely to pique their interest. Similarly to this, offering a hashtag as a forum for readers to voice their opinions and exchange ideas (such as #argoschristmas) can encourage readers to get tweeting and discussing the brand.

Readers drawn to #xmas and keyword ‘Christmas’ in link

3. Marketing items as gifts:

At Christmas, there is a flurry of people wanting to pick out presents for their loved ones, and as such, retailers are given a huge opportunity to promote products to an expanded field of customers.

By promoting categories of products within the context of being potential presents, the tweet can capture the attention of readers who would not otherwise have been interested in the product. Additionally, this evades the issue of self-promotion, as the link is presented to readers as more of a helpful suggestion for a present than a push for sales.

Promoting products as gift ideas, readers drawn to ‘#gift’ hashtag

Relating products into seasonal contexts

Similar to promoting items as gifts, putting a Christmas spin on everyday products/services is another way to get readers interested in what is being offered without coming across as trying to push sales.

Furthermore, linking in with Christmas offers or discounts can get readers’ attention, for example special promotion codes or daily offers.

Users drawn to promotion code XMAS 11

This approach extends to tweeting about relevant new s or weather incidents, however Christmas presents a strong opportunity to sell products to readers in a way that they can relate to, for example:

Promoting daily seasonal special offers

• a dislike of Christmas shopping queues
• an enjoyment of seasonal foods
• desire to buy into the festive spirit.

4. Time sensitivity

Another way to get readers excited about tweets is to provide an element of time pressure. For example, reminding readers of the date that a sale ends or giving a countdown to the delivery cut-off time.

Reminding readers of the delivery cut-off or counting down to it. Readers are drawn to ‘#Christmas’ in the tweet

5. Make it accessible

Although Christmas offers a great opportunity to have fun and spread the word about the brand, bear in mind that not all customers will celebrate Christmas, so making sure that there is content available to these readers too is a great step towards building respect in the eyes of customers, as well as offering a break to the less festive members of the twitter readership in the most talked about season of the year.

The post Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tweet appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

This article can be downloaded by going to Isn’t it about time to take UX seriously

How respected is UX research?

In October 2012 the MRS published a review that stated that the UK professional research and evidence market is worth up to £3billion. The purpose of this study was to identify the size, scale, market value and impact of the ‘evidence’ market.

As well as traditional market research companies, seven other sectors were identified as contributing to the total market worth. It’s always been hard to put a figure on the size of the UX research market, especially within the UK. The MRS review talks about the contribution of ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ working in the ‘evidence market’. It sparks our debate of who is conducting UX research, how it is being done, and how to make this a respected part of the ‘evidence market’.

“It concludes that traditional definitions of ‘market research’ no longer hold true, with many more organisations and businesses undertaking research activities than had been realised.”

Guidelines and standards

There are plenty of professional standards and guidelines out there that the UX research professional can adhere to. But when we hear about the wide range of methodologies that are taking place in user research, we do wonder how many people have read the MRS or ESOMAR guidelines.

“Guidelines are not binding. Their aim is to promote professionalism in the conduct of research.”

Excuses, excuses…

There are plenty of reasons out there for different parties involved in projects to push back on user research:

• Cost

• Time

• Internal buy-in

We’re not interested in a race to the bottom, and that’s where reducing costs with cheap options ends up. There’s a cost to failure and we want the research that we propose and carry out to make a difference. We help clients save development time by getting involved as soon as possible, improve conversion and the user journey, bringing teams together to see things from the user’s perspective. Good UX research is incredibly good value for money.

Projects push and pull and those involved will always be nervous that the user research involvement will stall and interfere with the project delivery. As a user research company, we have to be flexible with our involvement and tailor our services to suit. Adapting the research deliverables and the methodology allows the research to run concurrently with other project streams.

There’s plenty of help out there on how to demonstrate the benefit of user research. From the UXPA’s website to internal case studies, there’s always an argument in favour. We try to focus our efforts on those that understand the benefits of UX. Non-believers sap a lot of energy and time.

80% of products fail in the first year of release (more like 85%)

Burnt believers

There are stakeholders that have been burned by previous bad experience of research poorly conducted.

• Poor methodology

• Poor execution of methodology

• Poor recruitment

This is where the biggest opportunity lies. After well thought out and well conducted user research we have seen many a client converted, even after only observing a few sessions.

Methodologies

In the following section we focus on a few methodologies where there are things to look out for. This is not a full overview of all UX research methodology, but a few examples.

Less focus on the focus groups

The concept of ‘Group think’ needs to be guarded against. A lot of emphasis is placed on the outputs from a group, and this can be misplaced. The idea of a focus group is that the discussion has a cascading and chaining effect. But this often means that the more introverted members of the group don’t have a say.

We are often approached to provide insight from real user sessions as focus group output is questioned by clients. If clients are not bought into the process, then they won’t be bought into the outcomes.

When is a focus group not a focus group? There can be misapplication of the focus group setting by using it for usability testing and web development rather than exploration.

One aspect of user research that we are passionate about is the matching and preparation of the methodology. We are constantly questioning and planning in order to match the client’s objectives to how we are going to conduct the research. Some traditional market researchers are adapting focus groups and turning them into group usability testing – often referred to as group surfs. This simply doesn’t emulate a natural environment enough and can lead to false findings.

Pop-up interruptions

Online surveys have a habit of appearing at the wrong time. Whether it’s right at the start when the user hasn’t interacted long enough with the website to give an opinion, or right at a conversion point of interacting with the navigation or about to click on a crucial call to action.

Remotely cheap

Remote user testing is defaulted to as the cheap, cheap, cheap option – but is it really? Along with our lab research we often add remote testing as a way of gathering more statistical significant numbers to a quantitative study. A huge amount of work goes into designing, reviewing and aligning the findings to what happened in the lab. This is time consuming and therefore not always cheap.

With remote testing you lose an element of control. This is often linked to the kind of person who wants to take part in these types of studies. It’s often the budding expert reviewer who wants to impose an opinion rather than naturally react.

The analysis relies on inference and self-reporting without the check of a user sitting beside a moderator.

What would you do for 75p a survey?

Again, it comes down to who and how you have recruited, but also the incentive when dealing with online panels. Ask yourself how much effort and brain power you’d use for something that’s going to be a relatively small gain.

Referring to our previous point of losing control of the study in the hands of the remote user, it can come down to how that person wants to be perceived on that day. Does what they say match into actual behaviour?

Users who do this on a regular basis tend to be quite tech savvy. They get better with practice, eliminating your ability to gather novice usage and initial reaction findings. They are good with browser cookies, can install user cameras and are generally happy with downloading software and allowing you to observe their browsing experience. You have to ask yourself if this is your target audience.

Recruitment

Recruit right, recruit once

With participant recruitment we’re always guarding against serial attendees. These people are on their best behaviour and want to become semi-professional at taking part in research. We’re not interested in this as we often teach people a lot about how they think. They also learn the kind of things that you are interested in, and the next time will set out to please you with what they think are the ‘right’ answers.

Don’t keep it in the family

Screening for participants should not include friend, family and colleagues. There is a familiarity that is hard to eliminate and a fear of offence that will lead to bug false findings.

In market research there are strong guidelines regarding testing with people that you know.

Testing your own work is hard. It’s difficult to remain objective and therefore produces user research outcomes that can be seen as trusted evidence.

MRS Code of Conduct: Qualitative exercises – B.40

“The issue of anonymity and recognition is a particular problem in business and employee research. If guarantees cannot be given then members must ensure that observers are fully introduced before the group/interview begins and respondents given a chance to withdraw.”

“Employee research has all the problems of conducting research in a small universe. Sample sizes in specialised areas may be very small to the point where employees themselves could be identified”.

SimpleUsability comment – when testing internally, colleagues may be worried about giving feedback to the team in case of offence.

Wrapping up

If you find yourself saying the following phrases:

• I don’t need to do research I know what my users need

• I’ll sketch up a prototype and then prove it’s better by testing

Stop and think. What effect are these thoughts on your project and what effect will this have on UX research being taking seriously?

We’ve written this piece with the aim of challenging how UX research is being carried out, rather than being detrimental about what others do. We ask you to keep an open mind when planning your user research. Research is about learning. Where in the past some user research was better than nothing, not having a go just isn’t good enough.

The post Isn’t it about time to take UX Research more seriously? appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

How do you maximize the cents/pence per tweet and the share/like worth of your social media efforts this Christmas? Whilst these kinds of metrics are still largely out of reach of the average digital marketer, there are several approaches you can take to maximize the monetisation of your social media/content strategy this year.

In this article we will discuss what we think works well to convert, why it should engage social media users and what themes you need to think about if you are still crafting and perfecting you plans for Xmas 2012.

This article can be downloaded as a pdf by going here; Wishing you a very social conversion

Monetising Social media

A recent study by Sociable Labs found that 38% of online shoppers have shared comments with friends on Facebook about products they’ve purchased. 62% read such posts, of which a whopping 75% clicked through to the retailer, where a further 53% ended up buying and the majority (81%) shared this purchase news! (March 2012 Sociable Labs: “Social Impact” study.) That’s some pretty impressive social conversion! Sadly reliable metrics of this nature are still in their infancy but they point at the sizeable ROI up for grabs in leveraging social media campaigns. So how to maximize the potential returns?

Crafting Social Journeys

When crafting a social media campaign you are essentially crafting a user journey, from discovery to engagement to sharing and/or purchase (ideally). What underpins the success of the campaign is its propensity to influence, both through how emotive and compelling the content is, its choice of platform, and the usability of sharing.

As usability professionals we’re constantly looking at ways to optimize these user journeys, both end to end, and across platforms and devices, looking for bumps or blockades along the way. One of the most helpful things to keep in mind when evaluating your own is where are you leading people, and where are you silohing them? Or does the trail go emotionally cold before they even get there? What onward routes do you expect them to take (share/like/pin/purchase) and which do you make it easy for them to take?

Influential Content = Digital Word of Mouth

The influence of word of mouth has been around since man gathered around campfires. Today we do more of it digitally than we realise, whether in active conversations or in subtler discreet ‘shares’ or ‘likes’. Whilst the latter may not feel much like an active conversation, we still exert a wide ranging influence on our audiences. In these simple acts we spark interest, invite comment, open a dialogue and pass on knowledge. And of course brands and retailers naturally want to be central to those discourses with the hope of generating purchases.

Choosing a channel

The plethora of possible social media outlets available to Marketers in 2012 simply makes the mind boggle. Where to begin? There’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest (one to watch), Instagram, Google +, Vimeo, Tumblr, not to mention the more familiar blog and inspiration articles that you could push Christmas 2012 campaigns through.

Then multiply these with the possible campaign ideas and you’re in a creative utopia. But how do you ensure your approach isn’t just good viral bait but positively impacts you bottom line?

Share-usability (make it easy!)

Sharing can either be spontaneous or passive; users may spontaneously choose to tick ‘Like’ or Retweet your blog piece or it may be passive by virtue of them engaging in a competition and creating content for your Facebook page, in their Pinterest boards or twitter stream etc. In the latter, followers of that user see you brand mentioned as a by-product of the original users activity (e.g. your brand gets into the newsfeeds of non-followers).

Share-usability needs to be optimal for spontaneous sharing. You are relying on that user a) being inspired enough to want to share it b) being able to find the tools to do so. If the applicable social media buttons aren’t in the right place at the right time then santa just won’t visit.

Other aspects to consider;

Share likelihood

Appealing, inspirational, inventive, compelling, delightful, funny, cute, witty. If your campaign isn’t at least ticking off one of these attributes then you might want to go back to the drawing board.

Trust

An important currency when inviting people to interact with your brand in some way. Existing followers will be readier to share on your behalf but new leads will be asking themselves ‘Will it result in mountains of spam?’, ‘What will be posted on my behalf?’. These internal questions will be barriers to sharing if you don’t address them upfront. Try to anticipate likely hesitations and counter them with a friendly message about how their data will (or won’t) be used.

Knowing me, knowing you

It’s important the target market feel that you know them and what makes them tick. Easier if you have a niche audience, bit trickier if you have a more universal appeal. Try to craft your strategy accordingly narrow or broad for maximum appeal.

Reward

Don’t be a Grinch, there’s got to be something in it for people these days. Online, folk are demanding, consider small giveaways for many or a small number of more impactful incentives for a handful of highly visible users. But even small gestures can go a long way, such as tailored updates on products or content the user is likely to be interested in.

Converse

Sometimes a reward is simply not necessary, starting a conversation is all you need to do, and the crowd will do the rest. Do you sell Spirits? Ask followers to submit their favourite festive tipple, cocktail recipe or hangover cure, include everyone in the chat but re-tweet loudest about the suggestions that involve your brand, e.g. Smirnoff starting the conversation below.

Campaigns crafted for conversion

Here are a couple of examples of social media campaigns/content we’ve spotted that focus on converting the customer into a transaction (including some with a pleasingly festive angle ):

Folksy

Frankly blog: Meet the Makers of the Exclusive Collection

What is it? Folksy’s blog, Frankly, is running a Christmas ’12 series of blog posts to complement their long running ‘Meet the Maker’ feature. Readers are offered a sneak peek into the lives and drivers of artisan producers, to showcase the collection of hand crafted festive products they’re pushing this year.

Likelihood to share? The highly crafty target audience is likely to relate to/find the maker’s stories inspiring, most of them tell a tale of small start-ups with family/home images, hence an emotional closeness between buyer and a seller who could be ‘just like them’. The inclusion of tangible individual products in each post encourages browsing of that item and subsequently the fuller Christmas range from linking to Folksy. Once ‘in’, the festive products are highly covetable…(this author wasted a good 30 minutes of ‘research’ time for this article, having been sucked into this particularly powerful conversion vortex)…ahem.

Sharing may be limited to followers that the reader knows have similar crafty interests but the universality of Christmas (and the traditions of crafts and holidays) will likely widen the net of influence.

Shareusability? A ‘Pin it’ option was mysteriously absent (for such a lifestyle brand) but Facebook and Twitter Links featured. However these were only positioned at the top of the page next to the blog piece title. These could have been replicated at the bottom alongside the comment option to encourage sharing once it’s been read.

Could do better? Folksy/Frankly could have included more explicit reference to Christmas in their title for the series. It’s left to website visitors to put the image of a Christmas based product (three wise men figurines) together with the more ambiguous title of ‘Exclusive Collection’, and the feature doesn’t provide cross links to the fuller blog piece from the homepage.

Good Food

‘Guess the Christmas Cover’ Twitter Competition

What is it? Good Food was tweeting 4 festive images over 4 days in the run up to their Christmas Edition publish date in late October 2012. They were asking followers to guess which of the 4 images was to be the magazine’s festive cover shot, for a chance to win a year’s magazine subscription.

Likelihood to share? I’ve got to be honest, as an appreciative follower of their regular tweets, I didn’t really ‘get’ this activity. Users aren’t provided with much to get excited about, given the winner could have been any one of several standard festive shots, of fairly pretty predictable Christmas foodstuffs. Also, existing subscribers (myself included) are already motivated to buy the subscription or already have if gifted to them (usually at birthdays and Christmas).

Shareusability? The competition was described in two succinct paragraphs but then followed a list of Terms and Conditions of biblical proportions! New targets may well be put off and existing followers are unlikely to want to ‘spam’ their own in this way. The campaign was also exclusive to Twitter platform with no means of cross-sharing to other media, e.g. Facebook.

Could do better? The core competition required little creative input from users themselves. The magazine editors had already chosen the cover and it was one of a selection of only four candidates. The campaign could have enlisted an active vote or users generated element to encourage more social activity.

Some more seasonal ideas to try

Make wishes come true

A great way of monetizing a social media effort is to create a ‘Wishlist’ competition. Encourage followers to create their dream wishlist full of your products and then post and circulate it, then prize draw to make someone’s wishlist ‘come true’ by gifting it to them.

This will monetise on several angles;

• It will engage followers into making a list, they are then emotionally closer to clicking ‘checkout’ and buying it for themselves anyway.
• Because they’ve thought about and imagined it they’re also more likely to put it on a genuine wishlist to friends or family members.
• As they share their lists, friends will pick up easy ideas on what to get their friend, taking the stress out of choosing something they will definitely like.
• From here the ‘snowball’ effect (sorry!) means the extended net of influence will hopefully convert those friends into making their own lists and considering a purchase.
• As an added bonus you’ll also pick up some free metrics on what are your most coveted product lines or categories that year, helping you to anticipate demand and craft further last minute marketing.

Co-creating using Pinterest

Pinterest really is one to watch in terms of peer influence. It’s great for inspiration, co-creation and creativity, all the hallmarks of a great social campaign. It’s only just bubbling beneath the surface in the UK so far but if the states are anything to go by (and they usually are) it could easily be the next big monetize-able social platform.

How to leverage it?

If you are a retailing brand, you could invite your followers to build a board on Pinterest and fill it with their most coveted items and then reward as in the wishlist suggestion above. But the real plus with Pinterest is the scope for user generated content. Why not crowd source your gift guides or Christmas editorial? Recruit fans to build themed boards of your products, and get them to label who they suit e.g. ‘Stocking fillers for boys’, ‘Eco-warrior’, ‘Bookworm’. In turn, this helps hapless shoppers looking for inspiration. And, as with wishlists, these generated ‘collections’ also provide free insights into how users group your products and what is most covetable.

The Influence net

By posting a board on Pinterest the user is by default sharing product ideas with their own followers (who may be numerous if they are themselves popular pinners), who may explore and ultimately purchase these items from your site. This influence will be extended to their Facebook following if they share Pin’s with Facebook, or if their collection is chosen as a winner. Of course the act of pinning brings the original pinner a step closer to just hitting ‘Buy’. It’s also worth noting that this activity remains in their board history as a reminder each time they log in and edit their boards (unlike facebook statuses and notifications, whose influence is far more short lived).

But don’t be too pushy

And if it’s less about conversion and more about brand awareness then here are a few top tips to make sure you don’t come across too pushy and retain some of that festive ‘just for giggles’ feel.

Build anticipation:

Don’t just start a few days before the holidays, capitalise on the fact that many people are counting down the days until their favourite time of the year. Whilst a partridge in a pear tree might be a little cheesy, if you can create a modern, exciting or amusing twist on it, whilst cleverly showcasing your brand, then it’s sure to do the rounds in the office. Excited Christmas elves will want to share it with other Christmas junkies and they will want to send it to the office Grinch to try to recruit them to their cause.

Bling your brand icon

Consider hijacking a common Christmas icon (star, sleigh, tree, mistletoe) and integrating it into your brand logo. If yours is an animal, why not give it a Santa hat? The cuter/quirkier the better. This can be as subtle or as overt as you like, or as suits your brand’s personality. Just remember to keep using it across all your social media channels, in your facebook image, twitter avatar etc. for the whole season.

Share traditions

Christmas is a highly ritualistic time of year, from how and when you put up the tree, to what cookies or tipple you leave Santa on Christmas Eve. It’s also a highly creative time, whether you’re busy with crafts, planning how to feed the five thousand or making your purse strings stretch further! Why not share your office traditions (or the ones that are publishable!) and then invite followers to do the same? If it’s clever, inventive or just fun it’s sure to get a few share’s and likes.

P.S. Incorporating a ‘meet our team wearing hideous Christmas jumpers’ element is also sure to draw your audience that bit closer.

Target influencers

Look at the existing range of influence in the social sphere and hijack it. Keep an eye out for influential bloggers, tweeters and other respected types from your product area, whether designers, popular journalists, thinkers or more humble folk. Check out (www.klout.com) for an indication of the most influential bloggers, Tweeters, those on Facebook and Pinterest or any other authoritative ‘Social’ voice in your product space. Found them? Now enlist them as your busy elves! (Think guest blogs, collections chosen by…etc.). Most will already be compiling their own thoughts and ideas for Christmas or looking for inspiration. Their combined following with yours = double the conversion.

In Seasonal Summary

We’ve discussed examples of the kind of social sharing that can be active, as well as more passive, where compelling content can drive but can also be co-created by the very campaign itself. Test the boundaries of where the net of influence can spread, maximize the potential of onward channels or devices.

When crafting your Christmas campaign this year, pay attention to joining up the user experience, just as you would on your website. Think about the journey you are taking them on, from where your targets are likely to make the initial discovery of your content, through engagement, purchase and crucially, onward influence. It comes down to how easy it is for users to engage, convert and share on so that others can convert. In this way you can ensure your social campaign is the gift that keeps on giving this year.

For further information on this article, our company or any other queries feel free to get in touch with Rozanne on Rozanne@simpleusability.com or on 01133 508 155

The post Wishing you a very social conversion – Improve conversion this Christmas through Social Media appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

We considered the implications of the new layout and assessed the opportunities it would present the brands. We found that:

• Banner images worked well at directing users to content and worked well as advertising space and promoting brand identity
• Promoted tweets worked well to reinforce and feature content
• Users disliked pages that felt too corporate

In the last week, Twitter launched the new profile page design which is open to all users, not just to brands, and features a header image (similar to the Facebook Timeline ‘Cover image’), an increase in size and quantity of the ‘Recent images’ on the profile page and a tweaked layout to the page.

This article is also avalable as a PDF for download: Twitter Brand Pages II pdf version

With the launch of this new update, we have returned to our question of ‘How will this affect brands and their use of Twitter?’

We observed users looking at the Staples and Office Depot Twitter profile pages; Staples with the new layout and Office Depot with the current brand page layout.

The new layout

The new layout of the profile page proved popular with users, who felt it was an improvement on the current design. From our previous research, we found that users were primarily drawn to banner image and promoted tweet, paying little attention to the recent images or the brand biography. The new layout moves the recent images higher up the page, increasing their visibility to users and the new header image draws users into the page more quickly and encourages them to engage with the biography and company information.

“The layout is a lot less interesting… the big image on the layout immediately draws you in.”

Users also liked the alignment of the new design as they felt the page flowed better. On the current layout users commented that they did not like how they had to make a diagonal movement from the brand name and profile picture to the banner image and then on the tweets. Users preferred the new alignment that meant they could read the content quickly and vertically.

“It’s nicer to look at, probably because it is grouped as a block, whereas the information on Office Depot was stretched out.”

The Staples Twitter page before the new update

The Staples Twitter page after the new update

“It just seemed to give you a better immediate impression of what the business was about and what their reason for using Twitter was.”

Standing out and fitting in

While the chance to change to the new layout is completely optional, brands will have to ensure that their pages effortlessly reflect their product or company. As standard user profiles on Twitter will now have many of the same features as brands do on the new design it will important for the brands to stand out against Joe Bloggs.

Opportunities with the header image

The new header image allows for a greater degree of creativity for brands to play with on their Twitter profile page. While the previous banner image worked well as advertising space or for directing users towards the top pinned tweet – as they were separate from and lower down the page than the profile picture.

The new header images can be used in a similar way to the Facebook cover photos. Due to the combined positioning of the profile and header images the interplay between the two pictures can also be used to create an integrated picture or the header image can be used as a background to compliment a different profile picture.

Users commented that they preferred the layout of new header image in comparison to the old header banner. Users felt that it gave the brand profile page a greater sense of identity and were more drawn to reading the bio and engaging with the top of the page compared to the current design.

Ryan Seacrest has used the new header image and his profile picture to create an integrated picture

More recent photos

The increase in size and the addition of two more recent images (from four previously to six) on the left column of the profile page means that brands can show off 33% more of what they have recently posted to users browsing their page. With more tweeted pictures to draw users in this can be a very good way for brands to advertise the products and services and entice users to browse their back catalogue of images – which we found to be effective on the previous design of the brand pages.

We found that users were more drawn to new layout of the recent images and were more likely to click on them to explore the content.

Users tended to miss the recent images on the current brand page

On the new design, users engaged with the recent photos more easily

“Seemed bigger, they seemed more prominent.”

“I think the thumbnails are larger than on the other ones.”

Readability and visibility

One drawback to the new header image is that the profile picture, user’s name, Twitter handle, verified badge, bio, location and URL are all overlaid and centre aligned over it. This can lead to the cover image being obscured and making it difficult for users to see what is beneath the text.

Similarly, the white text can become obscured by the choice of header image. With no options available to aid brands, image/text contrast needs to be considered when choosing the right header image. This could also lead brands to greatly reduce their bio text, which could lead to users unfamiliar with the brands struggling to understand who they are.

The positioning of the text obscures the image on Advertising Age’s profile page

Consistency across platforms

The profile image and header image remain consistent on mobile phones despite different ratios

Ensuring a consistency between desktop, tablet and mobile devices will also be key for brands, particularly as the size ratio between the profile picture and cover image changes between the different mediums. This will be particularly important if the profile picture is intended to be integrated with the header image and form a complete image.

In summary

Overall, users responded positively to the new layout and the header image, commenting that they preferred it to the current layout. Users liked the header image as they felt it drew them into the page more quickly.

Users also noticed and engaged with the recent photos more on the new design than they did on the current page layout, as well as feeling the page followed better, in general, due to the new layout.

As long as brands approach the new layout with the creativity that they did with the last iteration, and bear in mind the potential issues with cross platform sizing and text and image layout, there is no reason why the new layout will not succeed in the same way Facebook’s Timeline cover images sparked creativity amongst brands.

The post Twitter Brand Pages II: Brand Harder appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

In the episode that aired yesterday evening at 10pm on Channel 5, viewers saw some of the contestants take part in a challenge while wearing our cutting-edge eye tracking glasses. The HD-quality glasses monitored and recorded the eye movements of the housemates in the Eyes on the Prize task, as Big Brother challenged contestants to stare intently at a certain item they would like to win. With treats on offer including a takeaway, a private party and a tub of protein shake, each housemate was challenged to hold their gaze until the end of the task in order to claim the prize. However, diversions, such as a 17-foot-long snake and a burlesque dancer, were used in an attempt to distract contestants and avert their attention away from the prize.

Our eye tracking glasses were used to assess exactly if and when the housemates’ eyes moved away from the objects, and provided a glimpse of their point of view during the task. Our MD, Guy Redwood, and one of our usability practitioners, Emma Travis, were on hand to fit and adjust the glasses for use by the contestants.

Guy Redwood said: “We were the first UK company to use eye tracking glasses in a real-world environment, and, while this task was just a bit of fun, it does illustrate how unobtrusive the technology has become and the accuracy for the latest generation of glasses.”

“The eye tracking glasses pinpointed exactly where contestants were looking when undertaking the challenge: something which the human eye alone could not do, as the tiniest of sideward glances would very likely be missed.”

Famous for pushing the physical and mental capabilities of contestants to the limit, Big Brother is now in its 13th series. A producer at Big Brother said: “This task was a lot of fun and we think that both the housemates and viewers were excited by a very cool piece of technology. We’re delighted that SimpleUsability agreed to help us put the segment together.”

The post Big Brother is watching you: reality show uses SimpleUsability’s state-of-the art eye tracking glasses in task appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

This week has seen the creation of the Big Brother Lab, with the three most intelligent housemates cast as scientists and the rest humble lab rats.

Yesterday four of those lab rats were involved in a task called ‘Eyes on the Prize’, during which our eye tracking glasses monitored their eye movements while they were subjected to various distractions.

Whilst we can’t reveal any more until the show airs tonight, you can get an idea of what was involved (and a glimpse of lab coat wearing Emma and Guy) in the Luke S, Shievonne and Ashleigh videos from Day 15: http://www.channel5.com/bigbrother

The post SimpleUsability: Eye Tracking in the Big Brother House appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.

As part of SimpleUsability’s significant involvement with Northern User Experience (NUX) events, our Accessibility Consultant Clare Davidson gave a presentation entitled ‘Accessibility in Practice’. Clare presented alongside Barry Hill; Barry, a user of assisted technology, joined Clare to share his own experiences of website accessibility and provide evidential support as to how Clare’s talk reflected a real user’s experience.

Clare and Barry explained the legalities behind building an accessible website, and explored the social, technical and financial issues that demonstrate why accessibility is so fundamental for a website to succeed and achieve its full potential.

Exploring this further, Clare and Barry presented some powerful statistics reflecting the spending power of the disabled community; including the shocking figure that only 44% of businesses ensure that their products and services are accessible for disabled customers.

The post Accessibility in Action appeared first on Behavioural Research Consultancy.