Category: Design & Messaging

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Design & Messaging Featured Process Design

How UI/UX Investments Turn Into ROI

User Experience

For most businesses, having the right answer to the client’s problems is the key to success. The most successful companies in the world today are using design to lead clients into finding their firm as, not just the right, but the easy answer to their concerns—we’ll get to this in a second. Despite the success of these companies, a lot of executives are still reluctant to invest in good UI/UX design to improve their performance and rev-up profitability, and their reluctance is understandable.

At the surface, investing in improved user experience may seem unnecessary. You may think that you can put that amount into other aspects of your business, like marketing or research. While those departments still deserve your attention, a fair amount of understanding and evidence may convince you and your stockholders to invest in improving the overall experience of your customers whenever they interact with your product or brand digitally.

The End-Goals of UI/UX Design

Whether it’s about building up your brand’s user experience from scratch or redesigning your platform, UI/UX design primarily has four end-goals.

  1. Usability or ease of navigation and the platform’s discoverability
  2. Consistency within interactions and design
  3. Workflow or the efficiency of user flow and interaction design
  4. Brand Perception or the amount of confidence, trust, and the perception of quality users have with your brand.

Whenever your clients are interacting with your brand online through your company website or your app, improving Usability means organizing your information architecture in a way that makes sense to users.

Improvements in usability results in fewer customer support costs. Your company’s ROI will come in the form of the amount of money saved over time. Good UI/UX designers could conduct A/B tests to determine how your customers think whenever they’re interacting with your brand.

A good example would be the Bank of America’s redesign project. They decided to improve their online enrollment application for online banking. The end-goal of their UI/UX team is to use yield (or the number of customers completing the online enrollment process) as the primary metric.

They tested various design solutions and eventually ended up with a successful strategy. When they launched the new registration form, the yield nearly doubled. It became easier for customers to sign-up, and the company ended up with more clients.

Consistency across company divisions helped General Electric Co. save an estimated $30 million after investing in a common software platform for the company. They built processes and tools that helped support the company’s UX practices.

They made sure that their software user experience matched their reputation for hardware engineering. Today, GE is quietly the 14th largest software developer by revenue.

Efficient design helped increase Workflow productivity for Cathay Pacific when they worked with a design consultancy to create Travel Desk, a one-stop online portal for staff travel.

Travel Desk helped reduce the call-center volume and made employee services more efficient. Plus, it helped increase productivity for the ground staff, reducing the time it requires to process listings and employee travel benefits.

Continental Office, a furniture company, increased its website traffic by 103% and its new contacts by 645% when they decided to refresh Brand Perception through engaging user experience.

Their UI/UX team integrated buyer personas with relevant content marketing to provide a more immersive user experience. This project started as a simple need to update their 6-year-old website. It ended up spiking their numbers in a positive way year-over-year.

You can cause the same trend for your company when you decide to invest in good user experiences. The ROI may come in the form of savings, renewed brand recognition, productivity increase, and so much more.

UI/UX is not just about creating designs that work. Inevitably, the result of investing in user experiences is to build your company’s credibility with your customers. When a brand cares about its users, it builds customer loyalty, which then drives word-of-mouth referrals.

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Design & Messaging

Top 10 Great Products and Services to Watch in 2020

A decade has past to learn from, and we have a decade to be inspired. The top products to look forward to in 2020 have taken years to get here. Not only have the companies behind them ideated, but executed, and delivered products into the marketplace.

If you’re wondering where the future is. It’s here, It’s just not evenly distributed yet.

These companies have harnessed Specific AI, Automation, Cloud-Based Micro-Service Architecture & Across-Device, Over-the-Air, SDKs & APIs, and some have aggressively targeted critical social situations that need new solutions. 

To make the Top 10 List, the following products need to fulfill one or several of the criteria below. These product designs have to be:

  • Bleeding edge + useful to our lives
  • Intelligent & holistically considerate thinking
  • A platform for community growth

Wit that being said, let’s look at the top 10 product designs in 2020

1. Icon's Vulcan II

Download & Print your House at Half the Cost

TRUE SCORE
Overall 96%
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Icon is introducing 3D Printing to the housing market, and has been making a real impact on cost of construction so far. Critically impoverished and homeless have been dignified with solid construction and elegant design. As our world continues to automate we may find more of the world homeless.

Icon’s Vulcan II is capable of printing upwards of 2,000 sq. ft. and you can download & print your house at half the cost. Lower cost in quicker time means less resources needed to produce a house, which in some cases may receive push back from contractors; however this product increases value to a homeowner – which is good for business profit margins.

Icon’s Vulcan II debuted in 2018 and is ready to ride the wave of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Icon scores high for bringing technology to the market to help those that need it most.

ICON Vulcan II

2. Tesla's CyberTruck

A Platform for Automotive

TSLA Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 93%

The Tesla Cybertruck is a breakout product. 

Tesla’s Cybertruck product impresses upon the mind, that it embodies everything a car should be. Impact Resistant, Goes Anywhere, Wicked-Fast, Useful and Efficient. Car designs have been stagnant for decades. The Tesla design team accelerated through acceptable design limits, cutting through legacy brands. 

Unlike other brands, Tesla is not just a car, it’s also a platform. Tesla runs its own power network across the country, which is almost its own social network. As consumers are pressured to shift away from gas engines to hybrid or pure electric options – the company with a nationwide recharging network is ready for a shared services model.

Unfortunately by pushing bleeding edge with AI, consumers have mis-understood the limitations of specific AI (i.e. trusting the AI too much and falling asleep at the wheel… And Crashing), however since a Tesla is pretty much an iPhone-on-Wheels it receives over-the-air software updates as needed to adapt faster.

Tesla has a platform and can scale into other categories such as shipping and increase its collective intelligence by continually improving and its AI. Tesla gets high scores for brand acceleration, however at some point it we’d like to see Tesla expand into lower price-point markets.

Tesla Cybertruck

 

3. Boston Dynamics' Spot

Industry’s New Best Friend

TRUE SCORE
Overall 91%

Right around Mid September of last year Boston Dynamics spiked interest in their latest industrial application called Spot. There are a few technologies that tickle a little fear, like Boston Dynamics Spot Platform. Netflix’s Black Mirror Mini-Series Episode: Metalhead explores the result of weaponizing highly mobile autonomous robots. 

While entertainment shows us a world filled with killbots; the real world is filling up with actual killbots…

AI Powered weapons platforms are networked and loaded with on-board sensors and weapons systems that are, fast and accurate.

Source: DefenseOne

Perhaps because of its canine-like posture and name. Spot aligns with the archetype of mans best friend (the dog). This domesticated robot fits very well within the industrial environment, and its backbone platform for hardware and software makes it ideal for adapting to business needs.

This product scores very high as it provides a bleeding edge platform for utility. However currently there appears to be very little related to deploying this platform within other domains of society.

Boston Dynamics

4. Google's Sycamore Chip

Ushering the New Era of Computing Power

GOOGL Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 91%

Google has delivered value for so many for consumers and businesses. With cash on hand over $100+ Billion, and over 100,000 employees, Google has plenty of room to explore, and Google’s Sycamore Chip may become the new tool for academic researchers and companies to find applications to solve critical issues.

The dreams are high and the first results are in. The Sycamore Chip is FAST, but not in traditional ways – In some ways it can produce a result in 200 seconds vs. a traditional supercomputer that may take 10,000 years. However some of the latest super computers coming out of NASA’s Oak Ridge National Lab may still give the Sycamore Chip a run for its money.

The Google Sycamore Chip scores high for breaking through to a new realm of computing, however its still early and like most things in the early days, are error prone and not ready to be packaged up and shipped to your doorstep. It may take an entire decade for companies and research scientists to create applications; but if and when those applications find a market fit, watch out!

Google AI Blog

5. Amazon's Echo with Alexia

The Power of Presence

AMZN Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 98%

Even though since 2018 Google Home has had more sales per month than Amazon Echo, Amazon still has a 2.55 to 1 ratio of household share. Amazon is becoming ubiquitous providing its audience many ways to interact with the brand; and some I dare say would find it a challenge to not have Amazon in their life.

The benefit of being a technology company first is your ability to bleed into almost any domain you’d like. Amazon Echo engulfs many formerly disparate services such as voice search, music, shopping, personal assistance and home security.

The Echo has become a staple in over 40m households, and its continual growth and adoption may provide a challenge for Google as it relates to Voice Search, as Voice so far has had a tendency to provide 1 result, where as the conventional search results page returns 10 to 100,000,000s of results.

Amazon's 3rd Generation Echo

6. Beyond Meat

Goodbye Conventional Meat. Hello Alternative.

BYND Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 99%

The United Nations and the World Bank are telling us that by 2040 conventional meat supply will drop by 33% however food demand will increase between ~30% to ~60%. So what should we eat? Alternative meat? Beyond Meat goes beyond the stigma of non muscle-tissue food sources by providing something that tastes better and costs less.

Not only has Beyond Meat built a great product, they’ve been accepted by the marketplace with several successful initiatives with McDonalds, Carls Jr and Dunkin.

From a Brand perspective, Beyond Meat has had a stellar track record of staying top of mind over competitors Impossible Meat and Redefine Meat. As environmental pressures grow related to cattle methane and meat production costs Beyond Meat should have a steady market to eat into.

Beyond Meat

7. Netflix

The Storyteller of the Decade

NFLX Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 98%

Netflix made the right decision to switch to a cloud-based micro-services architecture to handle its growing its list of subscriber pushing beyond 160M active accounts. Serving up content across Gaming Consoles, OTT, Smartphone, Desktop and TV means the Netflix brand is accessible everywhere you are. 

 With approximately ~33% of consumers cancelling their cable TV in 2018 alone Netflix has done a superb job building original appealing content for their subscription service.

Taking place of your DVD library Netflix has a smattering of great titles, and a ton of “meh” sequels, and a continual stream of new cross-over content (i.e. from the gaming industry including Castlevania and the Witcher). Book-to-movie titles such as Birdbox resulted in 45M views it’s first weekend.

Netflix has been incredibly sensitive to what makes a series popular such as the psychological technological horror series Black Mirror which melds the advent of technology with the frailty of humanity. 

 

8. Minecraft by Mojang

Rated E for Everyone. Literally Everyone!

MSFT Quotes by TradingView
TRUE SCORE
Overall 98%

Minecraft’s procedurally generated open world is a canvas for fun, creativity and a way to make a real-life income. The team at Mojang has delivered a single brand experience across multiple devices further reinforcing their Better Together mantra with cross-platform collaborative play. A community of gamers and hobbyists create together without the restrictions of device silos. 

A game that can attract everyone from toddlers, youtube influencers and award winning architects has done something right. Similar to Lego, Minecraft has become a social norm and may continue to be so, even while numerous copycats attempt to draft off Mojang’s success. 

While Minecraft doesn’t necessarily develop “bleeding edge” technology, Mojang has successfully inverted technical capabilities to suite the needs of communal creation and monetization which by all accounts is a stellar achievement.

Minecraft by Mojang

9. Yang2020 and the #YangGang

Wholly Different. Caring & Truthful.

TRUE SCORE
Overall 98%

Andrew Yang is a by-product of American culture. As an entrepreneur he traveled across the country to discover the pulse of Americans, using data to find the reasons why so many are struggling to keep hope alive. As a result Yang packaged up a concept called “Humanity First” & “Not Left, Not Right. Forward”

In terms of audience interest, he punches heavier than his weight. 

His team uses technology well, and appear adept and experienced. However its the message that is cutting through, being adopted and shared because it resonates with long-asleep values that every human shares. 

This is a cognitive product that has been packaged very well. 

www.yang2020.com

10. Carbon-Scrubbing Artificial Trees

The $6 Trillion Dollar Silver Bullet

TRUE SCORE
Overall 94%

This product has been around for a while, and the tests look good. Apparently we can solve our entire carbon issue with a form of sequestration. 

This shag looking carpet is a type of resin that extracts CO2 from the atmosphere 1,000 x better than a tree, which is good, because a forest is incapable of handling our industrial strength emissions, so why not have industrial-strength artificial trees. 

Too much Yin, not enough Yang? Nature works in cycles, and we should too.

The good thing is carbon can be converted back into liquid fuel (gasoline, diesel, methanol, dimethyl ether or alcohol), or used for concrete construction in 3D Printers for housing, or stored back in the ground with the dinosaurs.

In terms of cost we’re looking at ~$20,000 to manufacture each Artificial Tree. And we need 100,000,000 to capture the carbon we currently produce. And we’d need another 100,000,000 to remove the carbon currently in the atmosphere. Add in an additional $10,000 for installation. Manufacturing 200,000,000 Units would require automation to produce in a timely manner. Desserts may be the best location for large-scale installation. It would take 50 years to get back to balance. 

What a great legacy we would leave, if we invested in our future.

Northwestern U 

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Deploy & Go-to-Market Design & Messaging Development & DevOps

How to Build an App that is Relevant in 2020

IoT Consumer Kitchenware

As a consultant, I’ve learned to start off asking “Why” vs. “How” as this helps prepare for the long journey of what you will be building. First let’s start off with the first few questions I believe need to be answered first.

What is an App?

For beginners, an “App” or Application helps you preform a task on a device such as smartphone, tablet, watch, laptop, desktop and even tv. An App can exist  within a micro-services environment where it can access shared data and services. Netflix has many Apps across your Smartphones, TVs and  Gaming Consoles powered by a cloud-based micro-services architecture. An app should be perfectly tailored for the environment for which it is  used.

How much will it cost?

For starters, COST is only one factor out of three to consider. The other are PRICE and VALUE. Price is how much the market is willing to pay, and value is how much void you fill in someones life. A better question is to ask much margin can I expect? And how can I optimize to increase my margins overtime? The key to optimizing the ratios for a cash positive business is a little industry secret called Design Thinking… Good design thinking impacts:

  1. the quality of your product,
  2. the ease by which you develop and adapt,
  3. the features and methods of customer engagement

Empathy is Important

Understanding how to fulfill the needs of your user is the most important thing to focus on. Everything stems from that. Start with empathy. Put yourself in the shoes of the recipient of your product.

  • Why would they include you in their lives?
  • How would you introduce yourself?
  • What voids do you fill?
  • What are you asking in return?

This user centric approach helps you take an empathic view to you discover the voids to fill, and the value you can deliver which helps define price, which invariably helps you determine your margins over cost.

So once you know the void and the approaches you’d like to take, the next question is how technically feasible is it and how much does it cost. 

Think Progress not Perfection

If you want a realistic picture of what it takes to build a great app or product, take a look at the Top 10 Product Designs of 2020 to get a sense of how they break from the pack and focus on what is valuable to their communities. Checkout the Top 10 Products in 2020

Conclusion

If you’re a startup thinking about building an app; take a step back and think about the larger business you may be building. If you’re a manager within a medium to larger organization think of an app within an eco-system of shared services so you can progress your company towards omni-channel customer engagement.

Clear design thinking will help answer the why, what and how and taking as step back to clarify your thoughts may save you enormous overhead during the development process as well as help you avoid serious mis-targeting of your audience and business model.

To build an app that is relevant in 2020 you have to have a holistic and contemporary engagement method. It’s all about attention, not just features.

If you’re interested Take the Online Test, and we’ll send you a score.

Also don’t forget to signup for the upcoming COURSE on Product Design

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Deploy & Go-to-Market Design & Messaging

Can Crypto Tokenization save your Customer Loyalty Program?

I wanted to share some of our insights on emerging work innovating and enhancing new customer loyalty programs through tokenization and data analytics. Our work in this field falls in line with our Data Management and Analytics platform, Synaptik.co. Tokenization of customer loyalty programs not only creates an ecosystem to increase your customer life time value but also allows you to keep and know more information on transactions and behaviors creating your own first party platform. Singapore Airlines has been an innovator in this space and we illustrate this in the piece.

https://medium.com/@joe_sticca/can-crypto-tokenization-save-your-customer-loyalty-program-1884fc77b3f3

Joe Sticca
COO
Joe.Sticca@TrueInteraction.com