Ux News & Articles

The most important thing is that a link is clearly understood to be a link. That way, when you scan the page you can immediately identify the links.

In 2011, we saw the category of Customer Experience Management  (CXM) enter the scene. No longer was the web only about information sharing; we watched it explode to include an intricate set of social connections and mobile apps.

In 2012, we will likely see Customer Experience Management evolve into a deeper and more sophisticated engagement with any user engaging the riveting technology advancements in the online world of social, mobile or web apps.

Social media may have started out as a place for people to connect, converse and collaborate, but for the savvy marketer, it quickly evolved into an untapped treasure trove of potential customers.

For the enterprise, social media offers an even bigger opportunity in 2012 as it makes its way into productivity applications where users will desire the same friendly, accessible interface in their daily tasks. The experience for the savvy business user will look to social media as a common ground.

Why shouldn’t an employee’s training certifications be as easy to identify as their hobbies on Facebook? With advancements in gamification and leaderboards, healthy competition for stickers, badges and awards could find their way into the workplace.

2011 also saw the emergence of "B.Y.O.D" -- IT had to make a decision on which devices they would support. Just as social media is more than a marketing channel (it is becoming a way of life), mobile goes beyond the apps.

Marketers who dipped their toe into the mobile waters in 2011, will continue be able to take advantage of the "always on" customer in 2012. Mobile marketing has an opportunity to expand into value-add apps that prove both productive and engaging for all information seekers – on any screen, anytime, anywhere.

Companies like Emergency Medicine Physicians (EMP) have modified the user experience to provide one-click access to popular content across many different mobile devices. EMP measures the length of time each doctor spends on the site as an increase in productivity. Doctors can tailor their one pane of glass to include their favorite "apps" and the browser and mobile experience are transparent. EMP’s goal was to simplify for empowerment.

If this resonates with you, check out the EMP case study here.

2012 offers a multi-channel experience that engages each user to his or her fullest potential. Success in Customer Experience Management depends on the ability of the organization to place a sophisticated understanding of the customer at the heart of every business interaction.

Stay tuned here as the story evolves.

We need to move to an evidence-based model of understanding people's needs based on what they actually do, not what they say they do.

Web and mobile e-commerce sites are noticeably deficient in their efforts to build the kind of product familiarity that customers obtain when they view the product in a store. When customers are in stores, they not only touch and hold products, they use fuzzy logic processes to become more familiar with them.

Social Business came up in conversation at one of the press events I attended this week, but instead of the usual it-is-the-best-thing-ever tone, I found myself in the midst of a group questioning why so many people still have an aversion to it. Specifically, we wondered why software modeled after Facebook is still worrying so many professionals when the benefits are exceedingly obvious. 

Every few years or so we like to revisit our growing lists of tools and recommendations to offer an updated perspective. It’s been two years since we updated our wireframing tools, but thanks to your comments and suggestions, we give you four more tools to help you with your wireframing, information architecture and interaction design needs.

In part four of this series (see part 1, part 2 and part 3) I look at the process of eliminating duplicate items from the list of top website tasks.

This year CMSWire closely examined the different ways companies are approaching web engagement management (WEM). From the iPhone to the iPad to mobile browsers, applications and beyond one thing became clear: engagement environments extend far beyond the desktop. As well, organizations had more to compete with in order to win the attention, never mind the hearts and minds, of their audience. Here’s a review of the key WEM ideas and lessons learned in 2010.

The challenge of management is not just measurement. It's measuring the right things.

A primary rule of web management is: 'Do as I do, not as I say'. So why do we ask people to say what they're doing during usability tests?

Having multiple audiences on your Web site is a challenge for the entire Web team, including content strategists. How do you determine the varying needs of your multiple audiences and solve their content challenges? Here's my approach.

Whenever you get people to vote on a list of tasks, clear trends will quickly emerge.

The top task identification approach helps you separate the chocolates from the salads and discover what customers really want when they come to your website.

As web managers struggle to improve their websites, it's increasingly clear that standard tools and practices are failing the cause. Here are 3 important guidelines that will pay dividends -- re-shaping how you approach web optimization.

The assumption that users must be able to access all content with a maximum of 3 clicks is simply false, and we have the data to prove it.