Signals of Noise

This post is part of a series where I develop a concept of adding “memory” to e-commerce sites to improve the experience of customers with the site. [Part 1, Part 2]

While I am at discussing the usefulness of adding some memory to e-commerce sites, I thought I might as well take a stab at creating some wireframes on how the feature should be implemented. (The first two sketches were created using Penultimate on my iPad while the low fidelity wireframe was created with Mockingbird.

The first sketch is a suggested generic layout for a e-commerce site. Typically most e-commerce sites display the best selling or new addition sections right at the top. Without exception, even if the current user is logged in and the site has information about the user. Ideally (caveat this is my interpretation and obviously must be tested before being accepted in practice) the sections that make most sense to the user, the personalized sections on recommendations and user specific activity. This is what I have attempted to do here.

This is the sketch for the specific section in question here. Mostly self-explanatory so I will save myself some typing :) And if it is self-explanatory then I suppose the design works as well!

And finally the low fidelity wireframe built with Mockingbird.

How does this look?

This post is part of a series where I develop a concept of adding “memory” to e-commerce sites to improve the experience of customers with the site. [Part 1, Part 3]

At its most basic this could be implemented as a list of last n items that were explored by me on the last p visits. (n should ideally be a small number and p could be a reasonable historical period that would make sense for the customer. Going back too far back might not be useful as the possibility of the need for that item having expired would be higher.) This serves just as a simple reminder and a kind of a bookmark for easy access to the products.

Once past this hurdle there is some really significant value that can be created by making this memory intelligent. There are many possibilities here and I will only be scratching the surface with the ideas that follow. If I had more time, and a mandate to do this on an official basis, I could dream up more ways. So let’s see what can be done.

In the simple solution I suggested going back only a reasonable time back in history to get the customer’s products of interest. But that is a bad generalization. Especially for high value purchases. When I bought my camera I researched for almost 2 months to get all necessary information about camera bodies and additional lenses before deciding on what to purchase. So in case of showing recently viewed products this is something that needs to be kept in mind. So there is a trade-off between what category of product to show in this list between time since first view, last viewed date and relative value of the product.

I know I am being fairly subjective here, but then this is really a brain dump. So, there you go.

Further signals that can be used to build this list could include “changes” to the product. Of course the product itself doesn’t change but the information available about the product can easily change and be tracked. May be additional reviews have been posted, a friend might have bought it (social integration in e-commerce is another idea ripe in my mind and I will write about it in a few weeks), it may have been the darling of public social conversations recently or the it might have won an award. There can be scores of such signals that can be used to optimize the way this information is presented to the customer.

The challenge is obviously to identify the correct signals for this task. Furthermore the some signals are likely to work better with specific classes of products while there may not be any such valuable signal for some classes of products (e.g. a pendrive). The choices made at this signal identification stage will determine the complexity of implementation. Also to be ensured is that there is always a suitable fallback available in case the customer has not viewed any products recently or has only browsed those classes of products for which no signal is available.

Leave a comment to let me know what you think of the idea. E-commerce has so much to offer beyond just the recommendations being served up right now. It could really do with some intelligent memory for the time being. A socially intelligent memory will be even better.

This post is part of a series where I develop a concept of adding “memory” to e-commerce sites to improve the experience of customers with the site. [Part 2, Part 3]

What do you do when you get back to work in the morning? Yes, the first thing is to get the menace of email out of the way. But then there are two other broad categories into which the daily routine can be divided. One, is a set of new tasks that need to start on that day or needs your attention on that day. Two, and more importantly perhaps, is a continuation of what you were doing the previous evening before you left. You need to complete the incomplete tasks at hand. This where our memory serves us well. We explicitly remember that there are somethings that we need to complete before proceeding with other things.

How I hope the same was true with web applications too. And especially for e-commerce. It will also help answer that all important e-commerce question: How do increase customer loyalty? Let me explain.

When I go over to a e-commerce site (e.g. flipkart.com) to research a product (books, lenses, camera accessories, etc.) I do not necessarily buy it with my first visit. If it is something specific I will read reviews on the site, or in case there are none go off to a search engine to get that information. If I am only certain of the class of product (e.g. a wide angle lens with Nikon mount) I might compare the product specifications, reviews and then may be continue the research elsewhere on the web. Fairly straightforward. Nothing what others won’t be doing.

Here is where I feel a little bit of memory would serve both the e-commerce sites as well as the customers well. On Flipkart for example I can see a list of recently viewed products when I am on a product page. But not on the home page when I land there. So if I am returning to the site to do further research or even buy a product I have to do a search again or at best access it quickly from my wishlist if I have added it there (which is also not very convenient if it is as long as my Flipkart wishlist).

Not only is this an extra step to get to my goal, it is also a missed opportunity for the site to remind me that I was looking at something the last time I was there that I have not yet made a decision on yet (as far as they know since I might have picked it up from somewhere else for whatever reason). So how should this memory thing work for e-commerce?

Just stop here and think about it. I will be back with my thoughts tomorrow in part 2 of this series.

This is a rare video on the inner workings of the Foxconn factory where iPads are assembled. This doesn’t in the least look like the horror place that reports suggest. This is possibly how any factory would be like. But then in China everything is censored. So this could also be the edited version meant for mass consumption.

This is the second post in a series of posts I am doing on the fundamental need and principles of user experience. (part 1)

Before we jump into user experience lets first look at what ‘Experience‘ means. Why? Knowing what experience means before diving into user experience will help us deliver better results and also hasten the learning curve.

So what is experience? The dictionary definition goes such.

Experience (noun)
1. A particular instance of personally encountering or undergoing something
2. The totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood and remembered.

Experience is also
…the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion and imagination…

The key words here are thought, perception, memory, emotion and imagination. If you think about it, it is one or more of these that really shapes our experiences.

• Our perception of an experience varies as everyone has their unique way of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
• A memory of a past expereicen is against what we always judge our present experiences.
• Before we actually experience something we imagine how that experience is likely to be.
• The emotional response to an experience is what will ultimately determine if the experience was good or bad.

Experience is associated with sensory stimuli – visual, audio, touch, taste. An awesome experience results when this stimulus is in response to something you have previously read or heard about. It is like seeing the Kailash Temple at Ellora for the first time.

Experience is subjective. Different people will perceive similar things differently and different things similarly. For example, the sitar, guitar and the cello are all string instruments but not everyone who likes one may like the other.

Experience is small things. Like the curved back of the iPad inviting you to pick it up. A good experience is almost always made up of many small little things. So it is important to identify these small things and features and ensure they add up to deliver the big picture.

We remember both good and bad experiences. But with very different outcomes! We want to re-live, repeat the good experiences, suggest it to others. It is exactly the opposite for bad experiences: we will never repeat those and never recommend it to others. Quite possibly we may even try to dissuade others. We don’t particularly like or dislike the average experiences. They are generally completely forgotten once over. Any doubts where we want to be?

Anyone anywhere building products know and talk about the important role user experience plays. According to Forrester research:

- More customers will be willing to purchase. On average, companies that provide a superior experience have 14.4% more customers who are willing to consider them for another purchase than companies in the same industry that offer a poor customer experience.

- More customers will resist doing business with competitors. Compared with companies that offer a poor experience, companies that offer the best experience in their industries have 15.8% fewer customers who are likely to consider doing business with a competitor.

- More customers will recommend you. Companies with the highest experience scores have 16.6% more customers who are likely to recommend their products or services compared with their lowest-scoring competitors.

[the numbers are slightly old, but they may only be more convincing today.]

Clearly user experience is an aspect of product development that you can only ignore at your own peril.

I am not an expert with user experience. But I have had prior experience at Siemens doing workshops to redesign user interfaces to provide users with superior experiences. And in my current role as product manager it is far more important than it ever was. Besides, my adventures with photography has kind of got me more interested in the subtler aspects of good design.

As I already said, I am not an expert with user experience. But I am learning. And here I will try and share what I pick up, point out resources that can be of help to anyone interested in this field. I can’t promise to be very sequential with this but I will try.

I will start with the next post and we will first of all look at what is experience.

There is a very interesting observation about “Hardware Companies Will Have To Quit The Tablet Market In 2012“. The basic premise of the argument being content providers can undercut on hardware price and make it up via content sales. Which means Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are perfectly poised while the HPs and Dells of the world will struggle.

Which leaves me wondering about Android and Windows 8 tablets. Neither Google nor Microsoft makes hardware. But they have content. Will it mean that they will also have to get into the hardware game? Or at least start sharing some of their content revenue with their hardware partners?

Interesting times ahead.

[image: IntelFreePress]

The iPhone 4S seems to be headed to India. Aircel has this page up on their website where they say they will start accepting pre-bookings from November 18th. This is the first indication I have seen of the 4S coming to India. Is Apple becoming a little more friendly with India? Wouldn’t be surprised considering Tim Cook’s point about Apple owning just 5% of the entire handset market. If they need to make inroads, India will play a big role. If this is going to happen in the next month, at least we won’t be waiting for the year or so we had to for the iPhone 4.

More significantly though this might lead to further drops in the iPhone 4 and 3GS prices! That will be awesome. Meanwhile over at Airtel’s site I noticed a subtle Rs. 1000 increase in the prices of both models. May be they also know something and want to make a little more before slashing prices.

[Source]

Guy Kawasaki wrote a blog post on what he learned from Steve Jobs during his days at Apple. He lists a dozen learning about experts, customers, design and products. But the one on experts is the true gem. (Yes, there is a smirk on my face!)

Experts are clueless

Experts—journalists, analysts, consultants, bankers, and gurus can’t “do” so they “advise.” They can tell you what is wrong with your product, but they cannot make a great one. They can tell you how to sell something, but they cannot sell it themselves. They can tell you how to create great teams, but they only manage a secretary. For example, the experts told us that the two biggest shortcomings of Macintosh in the mid 1980s was the lack of a daisy-wheel printer driver and Lotus 1-2-3; another advice gem from the experts was to buy Compaq. Hear what experts say, but don’t always listen to them.

(Yes, there is a smirk on my face!)

The iCloud website is live with a link to setting up iCloud on iOS devices. Maybe I see it because I access it from my iPad. The link gives a 404 right now, but should be live soon.