That said, have you ever walked up to a door and pushed (or pulled) — and the door didn’t budge? I’m guessing yes. This poor user experience is the result of a poorly designed door.

The reason I bring this up is the other day I was entering a building after an appointment and I encountered some really good doors!

Before we go any further, let’s quickly define user experience so we’re all on the same page …

User experience is the positive, negative or neutral experience you have online or in the real world (what I like to call the analog world). It’s as simple as that!

From the instant I looked at them, I could tell these doors were well designed because I didn’t have to think about how to use them.

To enter the building, the vertical bars made it clear that the door needed to be pulled to be opened …

To leave the building, the horizontal bars clearly communicated they were to be pushed …

Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but if both sides of the door had ONLY horizontal bars or ONLY vertical bars, then the clarity of how to use the door is lost.

What this has to do with web design …

Well, a lot, actually.

When someone arrives on your website, you want things to be as clear and easy to understand as possible. Is it easy to find your products or services? How about ways to get in touch? Do you have one or two calls-to-action on your homepage, or do you have dozens like this one?

If you’re interested in geeky stuff like this, check out The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman. It’s chock-full of examples of products that have positive and negative user experiences.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post Analog User Experience: The (Sometimes) Simple Act of Opening a Door appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

This was a question I wound up asking myself during my last shopping excursion.

When I went to pick up a package of hot dogs, I noticed that there were only seven. Inspecting a few other brands, I noticed the same.

This may sound like a trivial observation, but when you’re part of a family of four (plus our pesky cat), you’re kind of depending on having two hot dogs per person.

Somebody had to decide to make this change — but why?

Did customer feedback tell a tale of one too many hot dogs? Or, did the price of producing hot dogs go up (at least for the more premium offerings), causing these companies to cut out some of the product instead of increasing the price? Or was there simply a desire for more profit per pack?

No matter the reason, my user experience (UX) was poor. And I can’t be the only one.

The reason why I’m talking about it here is because this analog user experience raises a question that is relevant to web design and your website.

How this Relates to Your Website & Your Business

Addressing Customer Needs
Are you addressing your customers’ needs with your products and services? Or are you trying to fit them into a box that’s convenient for you? A great example of this is the Apple Watch, which limits your band colors to how Apple wants to pair them up. Using the Sport model as an example, if you want a black watch with a black band, no problem. If you want a silver watch with a black band (a popular and classic combo), you’re out of luck. But you can pay $50 and get a black band as an accessory. This is good for Apple, and their bottom line, but bad for their customer’s UX.

Are You Addressing Integrations?
These days, it’s becoming more and more easy to integrate apps on our computers and mobile devices. Companies like WordPress, Slack, Meister Task, Mail Chimp an many others understand that their customers have a need for apps created by different vendors to work together. In the case of the missing hot dog, how does a 7-pack of franks work with my 8-pack of buns? It used to work seamlessly, but now there’s a gap. And that gap means lost money to the customer. In this case, you’re now paying for an extra bun. Plus you’re still paying for eight hot dogs, which means the value proposition of the product has actually gone down.

The Role of Packaging
Just like hot dogs, your website is packaged. The way it looks and functions makes a difference. If you’ve got a site that’s non-responsive and non-mobile friendly, both Google and your visitors are going to notice.

A good analogy here is the blister pack. Remember those? The plastic packages that are near impossible to open without inflicting bodily injury? Don’t let your website be a blister pack. Make it responsive and mobile friendly. Even better, make it easy to use with a clear navigational hierarchy — and make it attractive!

Once you’ve done all this, don’t make the visitor think (another UX best practice) about what they need to do next. Give them a clear, compelling call-to-action — most likely a button — toward the top of the page so it’s easy to take the next step. Now, instead of a blister pack, your website is a well designed, easy-open package.

At first glance, these may seem like trivial things to focus on. But they’re not. Every single piece of your product, service, or web design moves someone toward a positive or negative user experience. One “little” problem may be the tipping point that makes someone disengage.

I hope these user experience tips help!

The post Analog User Experience: The Case of the Missing Hot Dog appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Little did I know that amidst all the traffic, noise and hustle, I’d find one truly excellent analog user experience (AUX) from a gentleman named Juan who owned the food cart on the corner.

Being a friendly New Yorker myself, I started having conversations with Juan each day, which he seemed to appreciate as much as I did. Because I was so impressed, I felt I needed to share …

The Details of My Analog User Experience

• From the moment I approached Juan’s food cart, he was friendly and approachable — even though he was busy with a line of people, he made me feel like a friend.
• Juan and his wife took our order each day and cooked everything up fresh, right in front of us.
• Even though they were cooped up in a tiny food cart, there was a very positive vibe coming from this small business — it was obvious they loved what they did, and they loved each other, which made me WANT to spend my money there.
• The food was great! Fresh, hot and made to order.
• The price? $3 for each bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a kaiser roll.
• He gave us free stuff — even though there was nothing in it for him. Juan and his wife seemed so appreciative to have our brief conversations that they started giving us free treats each day. Honestly, I was very impressed to see such a good-hearted gesture.
• I looked forward to seeing Juan and his wife each morning.

How this Relates to Your Website & Your Business

Approachability
Is your website or your storefront as approachable as Juan’s? It doesn’t matter if it’s a food cart, or a Ferrari dealership. Friendly service goes a long way in building trust and making customers feel at home.

Finding the Right Solution for Each Client
From a global view, Juan listened to what my needs were and delivered exactly what I asked for. He didn’t try to up sell, supersize or add extra dollars to his pocket by pushing me to buy more. In a way, this is a simplistic view of delivering custom solutions. For many of us, solutions are much more nuanced and complicated than: “egg over easy, with bacon and cheese on a kaiser roll,” but Juan had the service concept mastered — specifically, what does the customer need, and how can I provide the best solution?

Exceeding Expectations
From delivering an excellent meal, to free treats and better service than many fancy restaurants, Juan exceeded my expectations.

A word on free: There’s an excellent example here of giving something of value for nothing. I’m not saying you should give away free products or services, but there is something every business can give away for free with no strings attached — valuable content. Whether it’s a blog, webinar, workshop or infographic, delivering useful information to clients and potential clients can go a long way in building trust, raising credibility and positioning you as an authority in your industry. And in today’s content marketing age, it’s also a necessity if you want to grow your business.

Price
The one thing I had trouble wrapping my head around was why Juan charged so little for a fresh meal. My wife, Kara, had pointed out that Juan’s Food Cart had a lot of local competition surrounding him and the price point was probably where he needed to be to remain a relevant choice to his customers.

This can be debated both ways, though, as better service can often warrant higher prices — because the perceived value of the product is heightened by the service that surrounds it. Of course, if you’ve done your homework and clearly defined your customer demographic, you should have a good idea of where your price “tops off” before it becomes unacceptable to customers. Juan seemed like a smart guy, so I’m not questioning his business tactics. On the contrary, taking his lead and discovering the right price for your products or services is always a good idea.

Thanks for visiting Cuppa SEO! If you’re ever on 43rd St. and 9th Avenue in New York, be sure to stop by Juan’s Food Cart for breakfast.

The post My Family Road Trip & the Analog User Experience, Part 4: Juan’s Food Cart appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

On the first leg of our road trip home from New York, we got hungry in Ohio.

And although one of Cuppa SEO’s web designers knows Ohio like the back of his hand (he’s from there), we had no idea where to eat. But with the help of a Google search, wefound a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Waffle House in close proximity to each other.

Figuring the food might be a little healthier, we chose the Waffle House. And although it was an interesting analog user experience (AUX), it was not a pleasant one.

Upon arriving at the parking lot, everything seemed fine … until we entered the restaurant, which was freezing! It literally must have been between 30-40 degrees inside.

We spoke with the waitress about it, and she explained that during the employee orientation process she learned that the directive from leadership was to “get people in and out in 20 minutes or less,” because they “didn’t want people getting comfortable and hanging around.” And since employees aren’t allowed to adjust the temperature, many of them wear three layers of clothing to work each day.

Other things that made this a poor analog user experience included the fact that they got my younger son’s order wrong, and the incessant chatter from the wait staff about their personal lives for all patrons to hear.

What’s interesting is the leadership team also felt it was important to post the sign you see above, “Welcome to the Waffle House Experience,” which states their goal is to deliver a great experience where everyone is treated with “courtesy, fairness and respect.” Maybe their customer demographic is penguins?

The philosophy on the Waffle House collateral told a very different story than the actual customer experience of both the internal and external customer.

How this Relates to Your Website & Your Business Overall

The worst part of our experience wasn’t the cold, but the fact that the Waffle House made it all about them.

It wasn’t about the customer experience, the best crispy bacon in town or the waitress that gave just the right amount of attention. It was a transaction, one which had no meaning other than monetary gain.

It was all about volume. Making the most profit possible, which was so prevalent that there was a purposeful desire to cause discomfort by “freezing out” the customers.

To avoid giving customers a “Waffle House Experience,” it’s important for all of us to ask the following questions about our website AND our in-person interactions …

• Is my website about my customer, or is it about me? If it’s not customer facing, it needs to change.
• Are we addressing customer pain points and needs, or telling them how great we are?
• Are we showing customers how our product or service can be a benefit to them? Or are we just asking them to buy?
• What can I do to make it so people want to hang around longer on my website? Do I have a single, clear call to action for them to follow on each page? Is the content on my pages, and on my blog, chock-full of relevant information that’s actually helpful?
• Are we developing relationships with customers?
• And to the above point, are my employees following a customer-centric philosophy, or are they me-centric? Commission structures make it very difficult for employees to look at a customer as a whole person, as opposed to a sale. One of the greatest customer-facing philosophies I’ve ever seen, and been a part of, was at Apple. Why? Because when a customer entered an Apple store, it was never about how much you could sell — it was about understanding who they were, what they needed and then offering the very best solution possible. 

Whether your business is trying to make its $50 million annual revenue quota, or simply trying to make sure there’s enough income to pay the bills and your team, it can be very easy to start perceiving people as things that need to be moved through a funnel.

And although the funnel analogy is excellent for analyzing your processes, once people are no longer looked at as individuals, your company runs the risk of becoming me-centric. Avoid this narcissistic trap by always making it about your customer. They’ll appreciate it, they’ll tell their friends and colleagues — and most importantly they’ll never freeze their butts off in your office or retail store!

The post My Family Road Trip & the Analog User Experience, Part 3: The Waffle House appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Lucky’s was actually the reason we were in Cleveland to begin with, as we were on a Guy Fieiri (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives) road trip as we made our way to New York.

As you may have guessed, I’ll be talking about the analog user experience (AUX) that my boys and I had while visiting the cafe (my wife had flown to NY a few days earlier, so it was just us boys).

Lucky’s had a lot going for it.

Here’s a partial list, put together by myself and my sons, Max and Joss, that details our analog user experience:

• Before we even walked in, the aesthetic of the building & the outside dining area were impressive & inviting.
• Inside, the beautiful aesthetic continued, with a clean, fresh & rustic design that was warm & homey — from color palette to furniture & overall decor — well designed.
• A treats counter with delicious-looking goodies.
• The wait staff was friendly, informative, authentic & compassionate (I have some dietary restrictions that they were extremely willing to cater to without any hassle).
• The food was made from scratch, literally — no shipping in bread or jam, or the goodies in the treats counter … they make it all themselves (and it was really good)!
• Lucky’s has great relationships in the Cleveland community, partnering with farmers, butchers, etc, who provide them with local ingredients.
• The menu was minimalist, yet mouth watering — making it clear and easy to determine what my options were.
• The food was awesome — fresh, delicious & beautifully plated.

*Note: that’s the waitress in the middle photo, not my wife.

My son Joss gave Lucky’s Cafe a 5 out of 5 for analog user experience. Although I think next time, he’d rather fly than drive to get there.

How this Relates to Your Website

In each installment of our analog user experience series we’ll look at ways our real-world experiences relate to the online user experience, in an effort to help you assess where your website is at.

Aesthetic
The exterior of Lucky’s is like the homepage on your website. Before anybody sees what’s inside, there’s a good chance they’ll land on your homepage first, and it needs to impress. The same can be said about your subpages, which is like the inside of Lucky’s. If your subpages are confusing, bland or hard to navigate your user experience score will plummet.

Content
The food at Lucky’s was made by them from scratch. The same needs to be true of your website content. It needs to be original, created from scratch by you (or a professional writer like me) so it’s unique and relevant. Of course it should also be optimized with SEO in every nook-and-cranny.

The freshness factor heavily comes into play with your blog, which is the easiest way to continually integrate fresh content into your website. In a way, it’s like the treat counter at Lucky’s because fresh content is as appealing to Google’s algorithm as fresh pastries are to human tastebuds.

Conversion
To achieve high conversion on your website, your call to action needs to be clear. Notice that I said “call to action,” not “calls to action.” Too often, websites offer way too many calls to action to customers, when they should only be providing one or two. Lucky’s menu is the perfect metaphorical example of a successful call to action. It’s clear, easy to understand and it wasn’t eight pages long like the menus we’ve all had to fumble through at a diner. When we offer only one or two calls to action, we wind up providing a better user experience, and in turn have a greater chance of having the customer take that action.

In other words, avoid this …

And if you’re ever in Cleveland, OH, be sure to visit Lucky’s Cafe!

The post My Family Road Trip & the Analog User Experience, Part 2: Lucky’s Cafe appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

You might be wondering why a company that specializes in web design, blogging and search engine optimization would be talking about analog user experience. The reason is simple: the core principal of both analog and digital user experience is the same …

… to give each person who visits the very best experience possible.

In this series, we’ll be exploring mini-case studies in AUX that can be applied to your business and your website.

Let’s begin with the first hotel we stayed at on our way to NYC — the Hilton Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio.

On the trip to NY, it was just me and the boys (my wife flew out ahead of us) and we were exhausted from a long day of driving.

When we arrived at the hotel, I was informed that I’d be billed $16 for on-stie parking. Not a big deal, but a surprise all the same.

Our room contained many unique attributes that I had not experienced in a hotel before, including:
– A huge hairball on the bathroom floor
– A rickety toilet that teetered side to side
– A rusty toilet paper holder that was half detached from the wall
– An ancient looking shower that was built with absolutely NO design sense

In addition, none of the vending machines had water in them and the jacuzzi (which my kids love for some reason) was not clean.

Overall, my 9-year old son Joss gave this hotel 1.5 out of 5 stars.

The hotel’s branding clearly states, “welcome to the Hilton Garden Inn, home of the EXCELLENT stay. Excellence drives us!”

There was nothing excellent about our stay, other than the relief we felt after we left the hotel. The user experience was horrible.

How this Relates to Your Website

Is your website suffering from the same kinds of issues this hotel presented? Do you have broken links or missing images? Maybe the information on your site is outdated, or your website is suffering from an old design that’s no longer appealing to the eye. Or, maybe your navigation is confusing. Issues like these could cause a poor user experience, and in turn cost your company revenue.

Even if your site is functioning properly, it doesn’t mean your users like it. At the end of the day, the hotel room still performed it’s function, but it did so in a way that made us never want to go there again.

Make sure your website isn’t being perceived as a yucky hair ball. Instead, make it something appealing that people WANT to visit again.

The post My Family Road Trip & the Analog User Experience (AUX), Part 1 appeared first on Cuppa SEO.