Posts in Customer experience

7 Reasons to conduct usability testing

In one of my previous posts, 6 Dimensions to measure usability, I explained what is usability and why it’s important to measure. 

But… 

More often than not, the budget wouldn’t allow it or the project timeline is just too tight. 

Usability testing then is put in a second priority. Worse, it could be forgotten.

… and so, I have decided to share with you 7 reasons you should conduct usability testing.

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6 Dimensions to measure usability

Usability is one of the user experience design disciplines. Other disciplines include visual design, information architecture, and interaction design. 

Ignore it, and good luck having users “use” your product, whether that is a website, a mobile app, a system, or a device. 

What is usability?

In simple words, usability is how easy it is to use an interactive device, system, or website. 

When you decide to design a product, you are trying to solve your customer’s problem. You want to provide your customer with a functional product that is easy to use, and therefore useful.

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3 Product design principles that work for every customer

Emotions drive our decisions. 

They shape our pains, our joyful moments. If they are good, we keep using the same products or services, and if they are not, we simply stop and walk away.

There is no doubt that customer (or “user”) research is an essential activity to design products and services that truly meet your customer needs. 

We want to understand the challenges that our customers face in order to design products and services that deem helpful to them. 

If we don’t understand what jobs they are trying to do, what challenges they are facing, and what contributes to a better day for them, then what are we doing?

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What is experience design? Service design? What is the difference?

What is experience design? Service design? What is the difference? And what does your boyfriend has to do with it?

I will tell you.

You say experience design, they think of user experience (UX). They think about designing a new app, a new website. 

You say service design, they think the same, but that’s not it. 

A lot of people ask what is experience design, what is service design, and how are they different? 

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Discover how to use the power of memory to keep your customers coming back

Elevate your customers’ ‘state’ of mind and you will keep them coming back.

One of the 4 steps of the FAST method mentioned by Jim Kwik to remember ANYTHING is the “State” step, which is basically your state of mind when you are ‘learning’.

How are you feeling? Are you bored? Are you excited? Are you surprised? Are you amused?

I wanted to contemplate at that step - that “State” one, and how we can use it to enhance the memorability of customers to a specific experience… 

… and so I stopped for a moment and tried to remember which restaurants I have been to that delivered an elevated emotional state - that made my experience so memorable and kept it always on top of mind. 

Hmm…

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Do food ordering apps help gain or lose customers?

I guess when it comes to ordering food, we don’t want to think much. All we want is to get our food as soon as possible, like right now, at this exact moment, especially when we are hungry. 

Before online food ordering apps or websites, we used to order by calling a phone number, and so the popular chains started to create a shorter version of that number so it’s more memorable to its customers. 

Now, I, like many others rely on food ordering apps. In fact, I don’t want to come near the phone at any point for my order. I am a millennial and I guess it became part of how our generation likes to order food. We weren’t brought up using the app, but we sure as hell got used to it. 

So here is a food ordering story from today…

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Exceptional customer experience starts with the discovery – Ingredients restaurant

Exceptional customer experience starts with the discovery
Exceptional customer experience is relative to what the customer’s baseline and expectations are. 

The same exact experience could be truly exceptional to one customer, while more or less average to another customer who might have different previous experiences. 

And, so the same applies to me as a customer. I have dined in restaurants a lot in the past few years, and some of my outings, especially when it’s a big group, could end-up in a buffet. I know that buffets are even more popular during the month of Ramadan, where practically everyone gets to eat at the same exact time. 
This week, I was part of a work workshop, which also happened to be in a Hotel, Anantara Eastern Mangroves Abu Dhabi. 

We had lunch there in a place called Ingredients, and the restaurant offered a buffet lunch.

My experience was a bit different than the buffets I have been used to. I was at some point surprised, pleasantly surprised, and so I want to walk you through my thought process, as a customer for my restaurant customer experience with Ingredients.

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My restaurant experience with Poke & Co

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post in neuromarketing blog about the restaurant experience, and how you can use consumer behavior principles and embed them within this experience to get the best out of it as a restaurant owner. 

Read: Customer experience tweaks that boost restaurant results

… and so today, I have decided to go through the steps of the restaurant experience as a customer in one of my very favorite restaurants here in Dubai, which is Poke & Co.

Step 1: Discovery - Word-of-mouth
It started off contemplating with my team at work on our options for lunch. It was too hot for us to go out and grab something, and so one of my work friends suggested we order from Poke & Co. 

I was like, “What is that?”

My friend told me it’s sushi in a bowl.

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My way back to Times Square – [Black Friday Part 5]

Before I know it I am holding tons of bags and waiting for my bus back to Port Authority in Times Square.

I find myself with a few bags and started chatting with the girl standing behind me in the queue. She bought socks, which she regretted.

“Buyer’s remorse? How about me? I bought all of this stuff I don’t really need, except maybe one sunglasses,” I thought to myself.

I told her, “I wasn’t really planning on buying anything, but here I am.” I try to justify my purchases.

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