UX SNACKS
Welcome to UX snacks bakery. Here you will taste one bite readings of UX:
Insights, jokes, quotations, links, epic situations, daily routines, etc. Snacks have been constantly baked, so come back here anytime you feel hungry :)
№1 UX SNACK. Conceptual usability?
‘’We want a site like Prada. Prada has high conversions”. Sometimes ecommercers forget that, as Peep Laya- the optimisation specialist, tells:
‘’Hight Competitor conversion rate might be cause not because of website but also:
- better traffic sources,
- more targeted ads,
- better client relationships,
- established qualified market leaders.
Firstly because, when established designers launch a collection, there is a mob of people waiting at their door step to buy their products. The traffic they receive on their website is extremely qualified and relevant’’.
You can ignore eshop visual fundamentals: patterns, buttons, good copy only if you are… Balenciaga, or at least Kim Kardashian’s husband ( AKA Kanye) (https://www.balenciaga.com), (https://yeezysupply.com/)
№2 UX SNACK. Business need us more than we need business.
Once my friend showed me his new site of games they’ve been selling.
I opened the catalog, looked at those games. There was a list of pictures and names.
— Well?? — he asked.
— What? What should I do? — I replied.
— Hm, well, look at them.
— You don’t want me to look only, do you? You want me to buy / write for request.
— YES, exactly !!
— So why don’t you ask me directly?
Truth is, user will click around if wants the item, but we can reduce his cognitive load and speed him up to download/ purchase / donate if motivate directly. Do not leave a page without CTA, textual or graphical one.
№3 UX SNACK. Perception Models
The closer a designer is to user, the more accurate design solutions he can design. Whether its skeuomorphic or flat design. The better you hide the complexity of back end, the more relative your design solutions become to user’s primitive mind.
When designing ATM machine, you don’t ask user which side of card he’d like to scan first, or guess where the info of balance is held — magnet stripe or somewhere else, do you? This is a matter of developer, not user. So we, designers, should keep a good balance between those two.
№4 UX SNACK. Usability is numerical.
If you google usability testings, you might find dozens of usability testing methods. If you don’t know where to start, this trinity should be your starting point. When testing alternative design solutions, filter them through these dashboards:
— Effectiveness — are users able to reach their goals with this design solution? (If yes, continue testing with efficiency)
— Efficiency (in terms of time) — how fast users are able to reach their goals?
— Satisfaction — were users satisfied while reaching their goals? Did they enjoyed using your design solution? Would they recommend your product for friends at the end?
№5 UX SNACK. UX for business
Cognitive sequence:
— Benefit for customer-> benefit for business:
— User will purchase a Premium because you make their life easier.
— User can find things easier with well structured info architecture->fasten purchasing.
— Good UX can resolve sales obstacles (e.g. delivery&return)
— User won’t need as much help and support, they will use your well organise site instead. Thus, won’t feel frustrated.
—Customer retention is as much important as engagement. If they have a good user experience, they will come back.
— Good UX Increase market shares, mouth — to — mouth marketing. People love sharing good things.
Only treated purchaser can be effective. And this ux’er’s task.
№6 UX SNACK. Nobody likes Newsletter / Registrations
‘’Sign up to get updates’’. You mean spam, don’t you? If not, shout out concrete, tangible benefits for customer.
№7 UX SNACK. Verb + benefit + Urgent time/place
-Sign up to get 50 % now!
Not bad. But what if we refine your special proposals based on:
a) value proposition; b) social proof; c) question- answer?
№8 UX SNACK. Heuristic: recognise and recover
Never leave a user with empty, yet worse, error page. Guide him with this formula:
- Page status: what’s happened? ( ‘’This page is not found / empty)
2. CTA: guidance ( ‘’Please go to/ Try…)
№9 UX SNACK. Minimalism: simplicity or complexity?
‘’Minimalist style doesn’t always lead to product simplicity.
Minimal product UIs often carry hidden complexity.
Icons without text labels are difficult to understand, non-standard gestures provide no obvious affordance, the minimalist hamburger menu was proven many times to perform poorly.
“Less buttons, switches, and options do not make something simple.”
‘’I have seen fashion designers and start-ups twisting their website for design agency to build a minimalist ecommerce design without realizing the impact it can have on their conversion rate’’
Read more:
http://ilovefashionretail.com/user-interface/the-problem- with-minimalism-in-fashion-ecommerce-website-design
“what’s out of sight, is out of mind” .
№10 UX SNACK. Page load reduction at it’s finest.
Micro ux is not news. It has 3 main goals: Cheer the user (stick in mind), guide user and reduce user’s frustrations in failure moments.
Johny Cupcakes is the only website where I’d wish page reload last longer :)
Enjoy the tiny loads:
https://johnnycupcakes.com/collections/all
More about powerful Micro Ux read here:
https://blog.prototypr.io/improve-ecommerce-conversions-with-delightful-micro-moments-be21039eac70
№11 UX SNACK. Fire your boss. Gently.
My lovely friend and colleague Simonas showed me once this: https://fireyourboss.liltool.com/ generate different kinds of explanations!
Experienced well :)
№12 UX SNACK. Classics.
Paradox of choices. More options create less choices. Not more.
#Progressive disclosure #Red routes #MVP#Hicks Law
№13 SNACK. Usability has nothing to do with beauty
Usability sometimes has nothing to do with beauty.
№14 UX SNACK. Analytics aren’t enough.
A/B tests, surveys, polls, focus groups… Quantitive research methods aren’t enough for research. They might cover only the numerical data about the user — demographics, devices used, crossed channels. But never the most important data — reasons, motivations, technical knowledge, never the different use context which might dramatically change the way you design. It’s just not enough. Think of interviews/site visits to cover those most important data:
№15 UX SNACK. QOTD. Comparisons.
What you get is more important than what is that.
What you get compared to other is more important than what you get alone.
№16 UX SNACK. It just had to become real life.
My past few years activities marched me here step by step: the role of Instructor. In parallel with UX jobs I’ve been constantly spending my free time reading, exploring, experimenting, writing, then summarising, sharing, delivering in many different ways: short clips, online classes, blogs… I knew this day when the investment (in terms of time and money) to knowledge will become a well organized and intense course, which will no longer be biased, subjective, but scientifically proven by usability ISO standards.
I want this blog to keep the snack idea, not a dinner meal, thus won’t continue. Let’s keep in touch to dig deeper :) Or read full syllabus here:
https://www.academyclass.com/courses/ux-design-course-london/
Universe fall in love with stubborn hearts.
‘’The investment in knowledge pays the best interest ‘’— a cool guy Benji Franklin once told
Start your UX journey in www.uxkursas.lt
№17 UX SNACK. Price triangles
Price triangles communicate 3 things: old price, current ( new) price and savings in terms of amount of money, not percentages.
The idea is to show concrete, tangible amount of savings.
№18 UX SNACK. Observation/contextual inquiry
Jokes come from ridiculous situations, don’t they?
Once a student of mine told she‘d rather use camera and microphone.
You, researcher, have to be immersed, empathetic, focused, not judging, treating participant as an expert of his situation, system — I replied.
Not a salesman drown in parfume and smoking a cigar while filming the participant. Otherwise you risk he will hesitate his imperfect manners, honest answers. You want your participant be biased, subjective and natural. Cameras and microphones are handcuffs.
A good practice is to use a voice recorder, as they can record participant’s emotions, clarify the answers in terms of his tone. Just leave it on a table and forget about it. Make sure your participant forgets about it sooner than you :)
№19 UX SNACK. It’s you, researcher,
A good researcher is close to psychopath:
№20 UX SNACK: For ux newcomes
In every begining of learnign something new, engaged and entertained outsources should pop into your hands. Otherwise learning won’t be so exciting. Joel and his fast ux crashing course just blew my mind few years ago. I love him, his attitude and his writting syle. If you are at the very beggining of your UX journey, I might suggest take speedy warming up courses here: http://thehipperelement.com/post/75476711614/ux-crash-course-31-fundamentals
You can also follow his blog:
Meet Joel and the Hipper Element :http://thehipperelement.com/
THE END OF A FIRST PART
Wait for updates, I’ve been baking new snacks :>
How were the first snacks, did you enjoyed? Share your thoughts/ suggestions bellow in comments.
#ux #user experience #usability #ecommerce #conversions
