Last Sunday afternoon after realizing I didn’t have soil to fill the beds I was replanting for Spring, I made a quick run for Home Depot. While standing in line, I noticed that the cash registers had changed. They seemed more compact and (seeming) well-designed. At least in the way one might marvel at the genius mise en place organization of a chef’s kitchen, an airplane bathroom, a food truck, or a Murphy bed/ entertainment center combo (yes they exist, I know someone who has one). It was as if it was a mobile cash wrap unit with wheels ready to go remote with the onset of a seasonal rush. I asked the cashier if they were new. He said yes, with a smirk. I asked if he liked them. He said, “not really… bad design in my opinion” he continued. I asked what he meant. He went on to explain that the count had been designed extremely low. I laughed as I rushed out the door and and said, “Of course it is!!! Who would EVER ask the only people who use the thing day in and day out?” He laughed, we both waved good bye and continued to help the next customer.
User Experience is Brand Experience
It may seem like an odd comparison, but my interaction came during a time that I have become hyper-focused on the user experience as it relates to all aspects of their interactions. Be it an advertisement they see, a pitch they hear, the ticketing process, the seats they sit in at a musical performance, a product they have delivered, an app they download, the instructions they must follow. Correction: the entire brand/user experience has always been an obsession of mine but I’m currently most interested in how one piece of the experience informs the other.
Your Core User Has the Keys to the Kingdom
To be honest, I am better at facilitating the feedback loop for other people than myself, but I’m guessing I’m that’s true of most people. Fear of critique is real! Feedback can be hard to hear. But in the case of Home Depot, it seems like they would have researched this a bit further when considering a product roll-out at a company that has over 2,000 stores and easily 4+ of said cash wrap in each store. This salesperson was by no means a tall man either! And although this does not have a direct impact on me (I would never have known had he not told me), he was evangelizing in a way that not only engaged me but continued on to engage the next person in the negativity! Not the kind of virility brands are looking for these days. Now, I realize this may be a strange segue considering the intent of this article.
Maximize Core User Feedback to Enhance the User Experience
1.) Surveys are a great way to gauge user likes and dislikes and there are a thousand ideas around user experience surveys that I could suggest, but that is a separate blog post.
2.) Focus groups are an interesting way to get real-time, off-the-cuff feedback in a public forum. I like focus groups because users have a lot of answers and in in general are willing to give an opinion.
3.) Online testing and screen sharing provides great insight into the way a user interacts with website and applications.
4.) Litmus testing (ok, not actual Litmus) can be a great way to gauge interest and understand whether audiences see value in what you are doing and understand the purpose.
5.) Have a gatekeeper: who will control the process of how and when feedback is integrated. For large or distributed teams, also ask yourself if that process is documented? And if not, should it be?
User-centered Approaches Can Be Super Effective at On Boarding Evangelists
We see the power of this concept at work online all of the time. Zappos has done an excellent job of taking a customer/user centered approach. We see the same tactic online where customers first make a negative review about a product online and comeback to rave about how the company dealt with them later. When users feel heard and taken care of they want to talk about it. On the flip side, when users don’t feel heard, they may also want to talk about it. Ahem…Home Depot.
Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Feedback?
When using an audience/ core user-centered approach to development whether that be messaging or product development, it is important to keep your wits about you when deciding to integrate feedback. I’ve seen this derail a project in a way that some projects can never comeback from. Ask yourself: Do multiple users have the same feedback? Have I had this same thought in the past or heard similar sentiments from within the core team? Most importantly, do we think their is value in adding this in or is it muddying the waters? Do we have a version protocol where we can revert back to other versions easily?
