Best Practice in UX - Ideal Airlines

Airline websites are well known for being a User Experience (UX) nightmare. Those hard-to-navigate menus, 'best offer' pop-ups and terrible colourschemes are enough to put anyone off air travel. This clever agency has shown the way to change all that, with their fantastic concept video.

None of the suggestions are ground-breaking, but when well-executed with good design they would make booking a flight an altogether more enjoyable experience. Well played.

Top 5 Tips : Twitter Analytics

It seems Twitter are finally rolling out analytics to us mere mortals, after being available to verified accounts for some time. Although it they're currently only available in the U.S. some U.K. users can navigate there too, via the "Twitter Ads" option on the dropdown. It's only a matter of time before we can all use them, so you need to brush up on the basics.

So, how to use Twitter analytics? Here's 5 tips to get you started:

1. Don't get too obsessed with stats!
Twitter is, and always will be, about personal connections. Of course we all have a narcissistic interest in how many people are listening to us, but paying too much attention to 'what makes a popular tweet' will mean we end up sounding like an empty, self-serving, brand. Or worse, the PR agency of a brand.

2. Decide what you want to learn from the analytics

If you're just a curious individual that's fine (but be careful of tip 1). If you're a business owner, do you want to find out how to reach more customers? How to get more interaction? Or how to keep people tuned in? It's easy to spend hours looking at analytics and not actually come out with any useful conclusions.

3. Pay attention to 'unfollows'
Trace what you tweeted when your unfollows spiked. If you're building a following it will be useful to know what turns people off. But again, don't get obsessed with not tweeting the "wrong" thing: genuine, honest tweeters will always gain more followers than they lose.

3. Look for patterns
Do certain types of tweets get more RTs and fewer favourites? Are your pictures more popular than vines, or vice versa? Is there a particular hashtag that has worked well for you?

4. Dig Deeper

Twitter's analytcis interface is well designed and easy to use, but to get full value from it for your business account you need to click that 'export' button. You can get a full list of all your tweets, with Retweet, Favourite and Reply numbers next to them. Let the number crunching commence!

5. Look 'around' the figures

A high volume of replies or RT's isn't always a good thing. If you see an unusual spike remember to go and look at the tweet itself and get a feel of the sentiment surrounding it. It could be that this particular post was shared for the wrong reasons or that the replies are asking for more information - all things that can be turned into a positive by an adept Social Media Manager.

“Interesting”, you might say, “but how is this related to digital”? Well the video  may appear to be about direct marketing but it raises some very pertinent questions for digital marketers too!

In the clip above, Target has achieved every marketers’ dream – being able to predict what the consumer would like to buy and when – in fact they've done this so accurately that it has actually worked against them in this case.

Digital marketers like to do this too and they have even more powerful tools at their fingertips. When a company sends a mass email out, unlike more traditional advertising and marketing methods, the company is able to track exactly which customer responded to which offers via click-through data.

They can observe the individual’s behaviour on their website: which pages they responded to, purcased from or shared via social networks; where on the site they spent the most time; and which page they finally left the website from.

Although most companies wouldn’t do this level of granular analysis on individual behaviours, companies with large volumes of traffic can begin (at the very least) to guage which campaigns are working, what messages work for which demographics and at what point they will buy, and to adapt their campaigns accordingly.

The recently released Sitecore 6 CMS allows website owners to tailor the content that is displayed according to previous activity - a powerful tool meaning those interested in a certain topic (i.e on a page or blog post about pets) can then be shown pet offers or taken to the pet offer page. This means websites can be much more targetted (if you forgive the pun!) and we will begin to see more and more companies using amassed historical user data to promote products which are increasingly relevant to the individual viewing the site.

Could it be...a good example of a QR code? I'm as shocked as you are.

I'm normally pretty skeptical of QR codes. It's one of those digital fads which seems to have come out of nowhere, yet been embraced over-enthusiasticly by any company that wishes to appear cool and up-to-date.

The problem is, most companies don't seem to have grasped the basic requirements:

1. People need to be able to scan them with a phone
2. People will need internet access to connect to the page you are sending them to

This makes them wholly unsuitable for, say, an advert on the underground which regularly disappears behind a train, or a motorway hoarding. Some uses just seem absurd. There's no way I'm getting my phone out to scan a bananna (more of these ones on wtfqrcodes.com)!

The QR code above, however, makes a bit more sense. The bit of card which allows me to remove a tabag already has a practical use, is branded on the other side, and therefore has a small square space which would otherwise be blank. Whilst you could try to write something on there, or stick a URL or Twitter handle, I think a QR code isn't a bad call really. If making a cuppa at home, you probably have time to investigate or if you have a takeaway tea like I did from Waitrose, it's an interesting 2 minute activity while drinking it (yes I still did feel a little silly scanning my tea, but pretended I was texting and hoped no-one noticed!).

The link goes through to a page about their tea selection, which is fine, but for me it would have been more appealing if it had some sort of gamification element, such as an offer, or hidden page that only the teabag QR code took me to. Nevertheless, I think Twinings should still be applauded as a case study for a good practical use of the QR code, where so many others are failing miserably to do so.

MeatPack 'Hijack' campaign - location-based win, or near miss?

So (as per tradition) I've resolved to blog more in 2013 - setting up Seeningreenwich last year meant Digilance has suffered a little!

First post of the 2013 is inspired by this article on Econsultancy, which spotted a location-based campaign by a Guatemalan shoe store Meat Pack. The idea behind it is that you download an add-on to its existing loyalty app called ‘Hijack’ which then rewards customers by giving them an innovative way to earn a discount.



As the Econsultacy write up puts it:

"Every time one of the ‘Sneakerheads’ entered competitor store the GPS function showed them a countdown timer and an offer for money off shoes.

The discount started at 99% off and reduced by 1% for every second that passed. The timer stopped when the user reached a Meat Pack store.

More than 600 shoppers were hijacked from the competitors within a week, with one of them getting 89% off his new trainers." 

Brilliant idea. Tempt customers away at the point of purchase, with a better offer from your rival store. The countdown timer not only means there's a sense of urgency, but introduces gamification, making the experience fun.

But there's one big problem. The app is an add-on for people who already have the loyalty app. This means they are already loyal shoppers and would have bought from Meat Pack anyway. What's to say that he die-hard "sneakerheads" have not got wind of this discount and gone to a rival store purely so they can then race back to meat pack and get a discount? (If you can't imagine this happening, just picture the scene if apple had run a similar promotion - half the offices in Old Street would be empty as employees raced between Currys and the Apple store, anxiously looking at thier iPhones...).

Ideally for maximum 'conversion', Meat Pack should instead try to target people who are not already loyal customers. There's not an obvious way to do this - even push notifications would require an app - but perhaps if they created an app that less obviously branded and just for the 'Sneaker Fan' it would be a way to get the all-important new customer. Check-ins are another opportunity and if they could somehow harness the Facebook or Foursquare check-in and run the promotion to target these, I think they'd be on to a winner. In conclusion - great idea but not quite there yet!

HTC One

HTC have just announced their new baby, and it's not called Edge, or Zeta as previously thought, but perhaps uninspiringly dubbed the 'HTC One'. The specs and design are anything but uninspiring however (if the rumours are true), and I'm really excited about this ground breaking quad core. I'll let you see for yourself:



Specs include:

• 8-megapixel camera
• 4.7-inc LCD display
• 1080p video recorder - with the ability to take photos whilst capturing HD video (!).
• HTC Sense 4 UI
• Tegra 3 quad-core processor 

According to Techcunch there are 3 versions - The 'One X' on AT & T, the 'One S' (similar specs but on T mobile) and the lower end 'One V' with no front facing camera, 3.7 inch screen, and 'unibody' design.

Social Media Tips 1 - Some LinkedIn Pros and Cons

Pros Professional information. Of all the social networks, LinkedIn is the most focussed on professional interests.	Cons Smaller Audience. Although LinkedIn has a huge user base, it is still not as popular as Facebook or Twitter.
Aids offline networking. After a networking events you can add people you've met on LinkedIn, reinforcing the relationship. Some people even have LinkedIn details on their business cards.	Lacks a personal touch. Online 'introductions' lack the depth of a personal meeting, and some people may prefer not to be put in touch without having met first.
Creates a forum for expertise. Taking part in LinkedIn discussions is a good way to demonstrate individual expertise.	Not as suitable for B2C/leisure&lifestyle As a more formal/professional environment, users are less susceptible to marketing and advertising concerning leisure time products and services.
Highly targeted professional advertising. People on LinkedIn are already in work mode so it's more acceptable to advertise B2B products. Adverts can be targeted by age, gender, seniority, job title and even company.	Not as fun! No farmville to see here people...move along now. As the most professional of the networks, LinkedIn lacks appeal for those who want  entertainment.
Competitor Intelligence Despite a general tightening of employee social media policies sensitive information can sometimes be gathered from CV's on LinkedIn.	Charge for some services  Some 'extra' services such as Jobseeker Premium, ask for a subscription fee.
Analytics Company page admins get data on visitors by industry, title, function and company, page views over time, clicks on jobs, clicks on employee Profiles, and clicks on job "Apply" buttons.

When to tweet and post - are you missing your market?

Social media marketing is still a dark art. Some do it well, some do it badly, and some are opposed to the very idea. For those trying to hone their social media marketing technique, there is a lot of guidance out there on what to tweet and post. What there hasn't been much focus on is when to do so.

The infographic below from Argyle Social got me thinking...

According to their research, B2C Facebook campaigns get better engagement at the weekends. When you think about it, that's not surprising - the majority of consumers are at work themselves during the week, no?

Does this mean Facebook marketing needs to embrace the weekends? Just as retail has seen the opportunities in staying open at the weekend, should marketers be tweeting and facebooking their way into a Tuesday-Sunday working week? If that's when the audience is most receptive, then perhaps they should.

But we need to be careful abut generalising. Does this apply to all sectors, not just retail? Should recruiters, for example, try to market new positions online at the weekend? This strategy might not apply here, as people are perhaps not thinking in a work mindset and would show less interest. Also, from a recruiting perspective, is it a case of quality over quantity? The people who are responding at the weekend are perhaps more conscientious workers. Would you put someone forward for a job if they were on Facebook replying to an advert at 10am on a workday? 

Additionally, the B2B data shown above may not be as straightforward as it seems. Many people have different work and personal accounts, and who is to say that the same individual that B2B's are trying to sell to during the working week, isn't more receptive from a personal account at the weekend?

Analysing when to post is great, but only if you're very clear on your target market and what they will be doing at that time. You need to ensure the audience is there, willing to engage, and engaging in the right capacity. This may mean not only adopting weekend and evening posting, but also adopting a different strategy for posts and tweets published at this time, compared to those posted during the working week.