User Experience: Just Because it’s Pretty Doesn’t Mean it Works

We talk a lot about creating digital customer experiences here at Delvinia. It’s what we do. Understanding the customer is the first step in any project. And, once we’ve collected those insights, we have to apply that knowledge through the design process.

That’s Andrea Reck’s job. She’s our Senior User Experience Lead. I recently sat down with her to chat about what that means and what she views as essential elements in user experience design. Here’s what she had to say.

“It’s like a puzzle,”  Andrea says. “I take all of the pieces and organize them on the page where it makes sense. I always try to take a step back as if I was going to the site for the first time. I ask myself; why am I here, what do I want to do and how do I want to get there?”

Is your website working for you?

Although Andrea says there is no cookie cutter approach to user experience design, she follows certain principles in her work. Here are a few:

The process needs to be intuitive. You have to design a site so it takes the thinking out of it and empowers the user to let them know they’re on the right path.

When it comes to the home page, I’m a minimalist. Don’t put everything and the kitchen sink on there. The home page is a gateway that should lead users to relevant areas of the site.

The site navigation is very important. Depending how deep the site is, I look for breadcrumbs; it’s just one more way to make the user’s life easier. You don’t want a user to rely on the back button. If that’s the only way for a user to recover, that’s wrong. Give them multiple options. Know where you are, where you came from and how to get back there.

Don’t put your user in a dead end. Always give them a place to go. If they scroll down, give them a way to get back to the top of the page. Give them a call to action. Keep them moving.

Keep it simple

Don’t overwhelm your users. Too much animation and interaction can be overwhelming.

Make sure each page has its purpose and its place.

Users scan. They don’t read. Avoid large blocks of text. Use bullet points. Make the information easy to digest.

Anything important shouldn’t be more than a few clicks away. For example, a user shouldn’t have to go five pages deep to make a transaction. If it’s important, either keep it global (on every page) or have a minimum amount of clicks.

As much as each page is its own beast, consistency matters. Within a few clicks users should get a sense and feel of how the site works.

Building it Cool: Designing for Mobile and the Web

Over the past few weeks our interactive team has been busy testing a new mobile app (which we developed for a client and will be announcing shortly) on a plethora of devices that give us access to different platforms, including Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 7 smartphones as well as the iPad, Samsung Galaxy tablet and Playbook.

Moving forward, we’ll be looking at testing all of our sites on these platforms as part of our due diligence.

But we’re also starting to prototype solutions. We’re expanding our capability to design and are beginning to build interfaces that naturally to go a mobile tablet.

When you design for a website, you expect a user to use a mouse to scroll, or point and click. The experience is different when you design for a mobile device. Users use their fingers to navigate and interact with a page. The thing is, we don’t need to build two sites to address that. We can do it with one design.

It’s a bit of a mind shift for designers but that’s where we’re going. We’re asking ourselves; how do you design a user interface that accommodates these different devices naturally?

The form factor of how a user accesses the Internet strongly influences their experience. For smaller devices, sites need to be simpler. Usability has to be precise. But playbooks and tablets have good-sized screens that allow for a different experience. We want to build one site, where it knows you’re accessing it from a tablet, a smartphone or a desktop.

Techniques like responsive design allow for resizing for different form factors to happen through CSS. However these designs are often simple in nature. We’re looking at what are the considerations to build engaging user experiences with one interface leveraged between a desktop and a tablet and then your handset.

The devices we have are an awesome opportunity for us. We can start prototyping. The idea for us is to make the web experience cool, regardless of where you’re looking at it. It’s often the case when you build a site, then you have to make it mobile. But then you’re not building it cool. You’re not building it sexy like that. You’re just chopping it down.

We have to put our mobile hats on. Can we influence the user experience for tablets and mobile so the web experience is just as cool?

We’re starting to brainstorm some concepts. The first step it to get the thinking and the process nailed internally. The next step is designing a product we can showcase to our clients; a product that will showcase the value of our design skill.

Two Delvinia Projects Win International Business Awards

Two websites enhanced by Delvinia’s design process have won International Stevie Awards in the 2011 International Business Awards. The creative refresh of the Canadian Opera Company’s website, www.coc.ca, won in the not-for-profit category and the redesign of Manulife Financial’s www.coverme.com won in the insurance category.

In both cases, Delvinia took a collaborative, customer-centric approach towards the projects, using its proprietary data and researching methods to understand its client’s customer behaviours and then developing new websites with a focus on richer visuals, interactivity and content.

“We’re here to help our clients respond to the opportunities that digital technologies bring to enhancing customer experiences,” says Delvinia CEO Adam Froman. “Digital platforms can create deeper connections between companies and their consumers. And, when you begin by listening to the voice of your customer, it makes for more rewarding experiences and greater results.”

When the Canadian Opera Company launched its new brand in early 2011, the organization called on Delvinia to complete a creative refresh of its website, which Delvinia initially designed in 2009. Based on the collection of more than two years of transactional data and behavioural insights from Delvinia’s proprietary AskingCanadians™ online research community, Delvinia redesigned the site to incorporate strategic improvements—like prominent links to purchase tickets and online subscriptions—rooted in customer behaviour.

Manulife Financial engaged Delvinia to redesign coverme.com in an effort to improve the customer experience provided through the company’s direct-to-consumer website. Delvinia designed a customer-centric experience while maintaining a product-oriented focus geared towards helping potential customers choose the appropriate insurance coverage. The strategy resulted in an increase in the number of online applications and requests for brochures and ultimately, increased conversions via the Internet. As the Internet has become an increasingly more significant channel for Manulife’s direct-to-consumer business, the enhancements continue to have an impact.

“We took a collaborative approach in both of these cases and we’re thrilled that the International Business Awards has recognized our work with the Canadian Opera Company and Manulife Financial by selecting these projects as Stevie Award winners,” says Delvinia President Steve Mast.

Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 3,000 entries received from organizations and individuals in more than 40 nations. Honorees were determined through two rounds of judging by close to 200 professionals worldwide.

“Entries to the International Business Awards grew by more than 80 per cent this year, and that illustrates the increasing importance of the IBAs worldwide,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs. “We congratulate all of the honorees, and we look forward to recognizing them for their achievements at our gala event in Abu Dhabi on 11 October.”

For more information, please see our Canadian Opera Company and Manulife Financial case studies.