Where was the shortcut?

Hello tiny humans,

I believe that most of Wonderland visitors find themselves wondering where a good instructions of use manual of my lands could be found. I understand their worries because I know that, in the end, we speak different languages (although we do not realize it until it is too late to walk back). To illustrate that point:

CC: All ways here you see, are the QUEEN’S WAYS!
A: But I’ve never met any queen.
CC: You haven’t? You haVEN’T? Oh, but you must! She’ll be mad about you, simply mad!
A: How can I find her?
CC: Well, some go this way, some go that way. But as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the shortcut.

Today I would like you to think about what we find easy and what we do not. For me, it was obvious that there was a shortcut to see the Queen right in the middle of the tree where I was standing. Alice simply could not read this signals. Why am I saying all this?

Usability means designing a process, object or logic based on the user’s psychology in order to make it more efficient to use (it takes less time to accomplish a particular task), easier to learn (operation can be learned by observing the object) and more satisfying to use. In a brand-saturated market, companies start realizing the benefits of researching and developing their products with user-oriented methods (instead of technology-oriented methods). In the user-centered design paradigm, the product is designed with its targeted users in mind at all times. They might even take part in the design team.

Jakob Nielsen stated: “Studies of user behavior on the Web find a low tolerance for difficult designs or slow sites. People don’t want to wait. And they don’t want to learn how to use a home page. There’s no such thing as a training class or a manual for a Web site. People have to be able to grasp the functioning of the site immediately after scanning the home page—for a few seconds at most.” This sums up perfectly the performance all Web sites should pledge.

Regarding eCommerce websites, the meaning of web usability is usually narrowed down to efficiency: providing shorter, clearer and easier path for users to buy and/or performing other transactions becomes the main point.

Personally, there lies the problem. This way of thinking should be minimum requirements, not a way to for companies to differentiate themselves from competitors. This is kind of disappointing, specially when lots of tools are available for companies to use. Eye tracking, evaluation methods (parallel design, cognitive modeling methods, GOMS, Human Processor Model, etc.), ISO models, tree testing or activity analysis among others illustrate my point.

In conclusion, whenever you find yourselves dealing with the design of a product, service or process, make sure that all these questions have an upheld answer ASAP:

• Who are the users, what do they know, and what can they learn?
• What do users want or need to do?
• What is the general background of the users?
• What is the context in which the user is working?
• What has to be left to the machine?

From Wonderland with Love,

The Cheshire Cat

What Rabbit?

Hello tiny humans,

I would like to remind you the day I first met Alice. She was lost in Wonderland, searching the White Rabbit, wondering about what way to go…

CC: Oh, by the way, if you’d really like to know, he went that way.
A: Who did?
CC: The White Rabbit.
A: He did?
CC: He did what?
A: Went that way.
CC: Who did?
A: The White Rabbit.
CC: What rabbit?
A: But didn’t you just say – I mean – Oh, dear.
CC: Can you stand on your head?
A: Oh!

Have you ever noticed some tourists presence, frozen in the middle of the Borne streets (a touristic area of Barcelona) looking to all directions with a map in their hands and without any idea of what way to go? Well this is a quite common feeling among the (few) visitors that we receive in Wonderland, since we are not really famous for our hospitality.

I thought that in your world that never happened, or at least when you are supposed to understand the needs, behaviors and manias of the people and, furthermore, to be able to take profit (in an economic way) of that knowledge. I am going to make myself clearer: if managers know that their clients are looking for something specific (something they have even told us out loud) why do not they value this information?

Getting to the point, it is a common knowledge that in the Internet, all e-Products can be classified in one of these groups:

• Search Products. Amazon would be a fantastic example. Based on objective criteria (price, delivery, number of references, devolution policies, etc.), customers can compare different companies. Where does the difference between Amazon, Fnac and Play.com lie? Devolution ease, price and delivery respectively.
• Experience products. They might be difficult to deal with since they are based on the experience of consumption of the product. How can we deliver the experience of trying on new clothing in the Internet? Pictures are not enough. Madrid Fashion Week found a way by offering multimedia sources (videos and sound) to see the pieces of clothing in movement.
• Information Products. I mean those that can be purchased and downloaded by the Internet. I-Tunes illustrates this concept: music, videos, games and other applications can be easily bought and downloaded.

Knowing what kinds of products we are dealing with is essential in order to keep our competitiveness in the market and to offer the right website with the appropriate features.

Anyway, any website, regardless of which kind of product it is offering, must be clear and logic, easy to read and friendly user. So think about the dialogue I reminded you at the beginning of this post and imagine that I was a corporate website and Alice was a visitor looking for a product called… let me think… oh yes… the White Rabbit. If this product was among my product range I should be able to rapidly offer information about it (price, features, delivery and purchase information and instructions of use among others). What if The White Rabbit was not part of my portfolio? In that case, what I would never do would be saying something like: “No results were found.” It was like me saying “What rabbit?” to Alice. It would be, at least, inappropriate. The reason is that visitors would feel like I said: “Ha ha ha! I’m afraid I can’t be any help. Go search somewhere else!”

That is why it is really useful to generate alternative searches in case of the output of looking for “The White Rabbit” was “No results were found”. Saying “Did you mean ‘The White Rabbi’?” or “Perhaps you would be interested in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Pet Care for Beginners’” is highly appreciated by customers, specially by those who have not a long experience looking for information or purchasing through the Internet.

So, to sum up, never say “What Rabbit?”

From Wonderland with Love,

The Cheshire Cat

From Wonderland with Love…

Hello tiny humans,

The purpose of this blog is to have fun while compiling all Cheshire Cat’s teachings and express what he would say about e-Marketing practices if he was given the opportunity. Every post will start from one of his memorable quotes and gather together some pieces of e-Marketing knowledge.

Is there anything else to say?

NOTHING WHATEVER!

I hope you enjoy this creation!

The Cheshire Cat