experience matters

Engagement is the mantra in marketing. Impressions are passé. And word of mouth is an emerging aspect in marketing that we’re only beginning to understand. But engagement – how actively a customer uses and engages with a program or site component – is something we embrace as a key measure of success. The challenge in the past was that between client stakeholders, customer research, competitive assessments, and our own team insight and ideation process, we had a laundry list of features and function that could be implemented. Which were the top priorities? And how could we determine “tie-breakers” on the features and functionality as well as the likely timing to implement?

About three years back, we began to apply more discipline to the application of design personas. Interestingly, that regimen can apply to measures of engagement as well. We now regularly use simple scoring methodologies to prioritize the features, functions, and program elements that are most likely to connect with the highest value customers. It’s a relatively straight forward process once design personas are developed. And the process ensures that customer needs are kept front-and-center when making feature / function decisions. Finally the scoring methodology meets with high client and team buy-in.

We start with design personas and build out likely scenarios to support the customer goals in each persona. Then we map the content and functionality required to support the customer goals. With multiple personas, our team working with the client will score the value of each element against each persona. Some personas may require deeper product content. Others may want mobile applications. Still others may want enhanced product demonstration video or rich media details. The point is that we are thinking about the features and functions from the customer point-of-view. That evaluation when paired with business goals and estimates of level of effort help us to make smarter prioritizations. But more importantly, they help to make sure the experience is engaging and fulfilling for the target consumer.

We score the features and functions against three key criteria: value to the customer; value to the business or brand; and level of effort required. This scoring gives us a matrix of functionality that we can plot and prioritize for initial and future releases. We can discuss those priorities with client stakeholders and evaluate the costs versus effort to build and maintain them. The exercise forms the foundation for roadmaps in customer experience and technology. And they help us make informed decisions versus competitive offerings. But most importantly, the process gives us a view into the priorities that are important to the representative personas, and how well the experience is likely to engage those customers.

So how well has this methodology worked? On a recent commerce redesign, we saw significant increases in product engagement through ratings, reviews, and community postings. But we also saw improved conversion from core personas when placing rich media product tours on product detail pages. Similarly, on an automotive client, scoring of features and functionality told us that model selectors would help new brand customers to understand the breadth of the product line – represented by a particular persona – and drive a higher likelihood of engagement. That feature became a key driver of engagement and leads to retailers. While these are very different industries and scenarios, both were based on a scoring methodology that allowed us to show value and engagement to the customer as a key predictor of program success.

Last 5 posts by Neil Clemmons

• Take Note! 7 iPad Implications for Digital Marketers – April 15th, 2010
• Getting Googley – June 25th, 2008
• Alignment: Pulling together to deliver better experiences – May 22nd, 2008
• Amazon launches SMS shopping, extends brand utility – April 2nd, 2008
• Eyes Wide Shut: Filtering Signal from Noise – March 14th, 2008

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