Posted by arlene

There are two vital dimensions required to satisfy the e-customer. The service must have an electronic structure that is usable and the process that supports it must have standards of delivery that make it enjoyable.

The e-customer will not find your service useful if it is not usable. He interacts with your service through a screen that is littlish (PC), tiny (PDA), or itty bitty (mobile phone). The smaller a space is, the more expertly it must be designed.

That’s where the interaction is structured. Sure we’re going to work together to get beyond its constraints but it is still a key part of the game. And conceptually the screen will endure even when other communications methods become mainstream.

Typically it starts off as a rectangular space. It is often referred to as real estate when e-customer experience designers are deciding on the fixed purposes of each square inch or centimetre. Tell your designers to keep within the dimensions provided — to avoid excessive scrolling. Make sure you focus on using depth, not width or length.

As the saying goes, ‘too many clicks spoil the browse’. It should be possible to find what you want and read, use or buy it with a minimum of effort.

The amazon.com model of selling millions of potential books to a potential e-customer and then trying to sell additional products will become too complicated unless a better way is found of simplifying the choices to an individual.

Search engines are useful, but when faced with so many potential choices the e-customer can become paralyzed. Like an immensely long menu in a new restaurant it is hard even to know where to begin to start. The customer looks for the familiar. He gravitates towards the set menus and the chef’s special. Both are familiar concepts that may contain unfamiliar food.

Such devices allow us to use familiar structures to experiment with new things until we find new favourites. These can be ordered by name in the future. The electronic channel equivalent will be needed where choices are so numerous. Consider placing a ‘we recommend’ banner at the start of your web service to allow people to try something out without searching.

So what is wrong with the idea that electronic services should organize themselves around the e-customer and what the e-customer will be doing? Nothing really but it must be very difficult for some designers to work out. If the system is not usable it will not be used.

A change in viewpoint, perspective, attitude is needed. The technology exists now but is seldom used to its full potential to answer the decades-old ergonomics question: How do we make this easier to use? Despite this expertise, uncomfortable chairs are still produced, cars are still built with the switches in the wrong places, and websites still take too long to load and have no search facilities.

Why? Because they are often designed by engineers not ergonomists. We need a new profession of e-customer experience designer. A combination of marketing, behavioural science, HCI, ergonomics and design skills. One individual able to get into the shoes of the e-customer and design for him.

We need devices that have been created for people with the e-customer in mind from the start — like the Nokia 8810. Think like Frank Nuovo, Chief Designer at Nokia Mobile Phones.

Designers would be advised to do far more story-boarding — dreaming up services that create a sense of solidity, and encompass the pleasure of well-designed materials. The e-customer understands the difference between class and dross. He will enjoy the finer points of design even if he can’t say exactly what they are.

Don’t think that high usability will excuse inattention to service delivery. The e-customer wants both. He is already unimpressed with the difference between his (very high) expectations for acknowledgement and response times and the (very low) service standards of many businesses. The e-customer expects an acknowledgement within one hour but only 12% currently have that privilege. Most have to wait 24 hours regardless of how urgent the request. Try an experiment for yourself. Send out ten e-mails with the word ‘urgent’ and see how long it takes to receive a reply.

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