Hello students,
Jeffrey's article 5 Universal Principles for Successful eCommerce-sites will launch us into further discussion on creating an environment of trust and (hopefully) engagement with customers. As you continue the product development and design process for your online stores, read and reflect on Jeffrey's follow-up article below. Using your assignment details as a guide, I encourage you to reach out to this designer and author to 'dig deeper' into social networking and how it benefits customers. - Lisa McMichael
Social Networking: Creating Engagement With Your Customer
by Jeffrey Olson, Sr. Art Director HSN.com
As we saw in the Smashing Magazine post, it’s not as black and white to simply have the knowledge and tools to create a functioning eCommerce site. There are factors to consider that include usability, creative design, writing, psychology, analytics and branding. When we employ these factors and balance them correctly, we create a user experience that persuades our visitors to trust and engage.
One big player as of late that helps drive home this element of engagement is social networking/marketing. In 2009 HSN.com has taken this relatively new trend and put some serious resources behind using sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even created an iPhone Application which we’ve wrapped together in a focused objective which we call, “HSN: Where You Are.” We have been using YouTube and Facebook for a while but recognized that we needed to be more focused on reaching out to our customers and engaging her not only in our home, but the other places she frequents. By doing this we allow her to engage with us on her terms and not just what we want her to see.
You may have noticed that I refer to our customers as “her.” This is because our biggest demographic is predominantly female. It may seem odd, but it really helps when trying to identify with our customers. If we referred to our customers as “them” it’s almost as we’ve defined “them” as not “us.”
The effort put forth to stay on top of a social networking initiative is minimal compared to the volumes it speaks to customers in regards to their trust. It allows us to stay that much closer to her and hear her needs and wants.
Now take a moment to go visit HSN.com and look at the “HSN: Where You Are” section in the footer and visit some of the sites like our Facebook and Twitter profiles to see how we are interacting socially with our customers. Now, what do you think? Are we effective at creating trust, engagement and an experience with or customers?
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Lisa McMichael
Instructor Art Institute of Tampa
About Me
- Lisa McMichael
- I am an adjunct Instructor at the Art Institute of Tampa teaching courses in User-centered Design, e-Commerce Site Design, marketing and in various Web site design and strategy courses.
15 comments:
Hi Jeffrey,
First off I'd like to thank you for taking time to assist us in our E-commerce learning process. I feel that receiving this information when we first enter the E-commerce field will better help us develop our thoughts and skills in E-commerce design rather than later.
First off - the iPhone app:
I think it is a great addition to any company and adds a better UX. Although, it does take a large and trusted company in order to pull off a shopping experience in an application, or at least that is how I see it. For instance, if Joe's Electronics had a store app I don't know how much I would trust my information within this application. But since HSN is a very well developed company there is only positive things coming out of having a mobile version of your store.
But I also wonder why only on the iPhone? It really frustrates me when I see companies creating very useful apps solely for the iPhone. It seems wrong to the customers as well as hurtful to the company. I have the Andriod G1, which has the same capabilities and app store features as the iPhone (and my boyfriend has a BlackBerry Storm) yet companies are not developing apps for these systems (sometimes) and I just don't understand why you would ignore that market.
Facebook has come a long, long way in the past few months and from a corporation stance, has surpassed MySpace in marketing (MySpace is directed more towards entertainment and music). I agree that any business, no matter how small or large, should have some sort of presence on Facebook. HSN provides sneak peaks on upcoming sales which is great! It's always nice as a customer to feel like you're being "treated to something extra." Also, I have seen other companies such as Razer provide special giveaways to fans of their facebook, which, in my opinion, is the greatest and most enticing way to be involved with your customer and give them what they want. For instance: Razer just hit 60,000 fans and thus made a post saying they had these 6 products to giveaway to people who commented on that post. But the catch was that you had to have you profile picture be the Razer logo - and thus they were getting marketing out to people that aren't even fans of their page. I've had 3-5 people ask me what/why my profile picture is what it is, and that is powerful.
I think the concepts I just discussed also apply to twitter, as facebook and twitter coincide together very well.
I do believe that your overall presence is very strong and engaging. My only complaint is the iPhone only concept, and I am interested in knowing why apps were not developed on other mobile systems.
Thanks again for your time,
Tabitha K.
Jeffrey,
I was pretty impressed with the efforts HSN has made to reach out to its customers via social media. I have to admit, I'm not a big HSN shopper, and the idea of someone logging onto Youtube to watch a commercial still kind of confuses me.
I was amused, however, when I sorted the clips by "most viewed" and the video that was ranked first (with 1.7+ million views) was the one where the host breaks the television while showing how to use the Nintendo Wii they were selling.
It was interesting to me for two reasons, the first being that it showed HSN had a sense of humor about itself by not taking down the video. Secondly, it seemed to bridge the gap between an actual, straightforward commercial (which it was intended to be) and a "viral" campaign that many companies try to facilitate.
I have an iphone, so I was able to try out the HSN app. I appreciated how intuitive it was and could see how the features such as the ability to view HSN live, see the last 15 items, or dial HSN directly from inside the app would be useful.
By using all of these outlets, HSN has made itself very accessible to its customers. To answer your question about whether HSN has created trust, engagement and an experience with their customers, I would have to say "absolutely!" I think what really amazes me about this is the nature of HSN. Primarily, they are a television channel that airs only commercials. By using social media, you have made people active participants in the sales process. Your customer has to actively download the app onto her iphone, or choose to become a fan of HSN on facebook, or navigate to the HSN channel on Youtube. That is definitely a unique kind of trust when your potential customer invites you into her life for the sole purpose of trying to sell her something. Nicely done!
Toby Dossin
Tabitha, in response to your question about why so many people focus on developing iPhone apps; it's a simple numbers game.
This article shows that iphones are responsible for 66% of all mobile web surfing. All the other mobile OS's range from just over 9% to less than 3%. So if you had to make an app for a mobile device, you could spend time and resources developing 5 different versions of it and serve not even 1/3 of the mobile web market, -or- develop one app for the iPhone that would instantly be available to 2/3 of the market.
I'm not saying that people should only develop for the iPhone, but until another platform can gain significant share in the market, that's unfortunately going to be where most companies focus their efforts.
Hi Tabitha,
The answer to your iPhone add question is a two-parter.
First, as an e-retailer, it makes the most sense to start with the iPhone as a mobile platform because of their market share and the huge marketing push Apple does for the iPhone.
Blackberry and Android are excellent devices. Right now iPhone still holds the title for market growth and this is why iPhone development is so huge right now, and in my opinion will be over the next year at least.
The other part of the answer is that we haven't abandoned other mobile platforms at all. In fact we made sure that in our development we used technologies that were cross-compatible with other devices. Specifically the Blackberry and Android.
Our iPhone app is essentially just a website wrapped in an iPhone app "wrapper" sort of an in-app web browser if you would. All the "neat effects" and such are just CSS3 transitions currently not supported in all browser but are on iPhones Safari mobile. So the simple answer is we just haven't gotten to it yet. :)
The funny part is that our iPhone app at first inception was never meant to be a shopping app. It was just going to be the shake2shop game and that's it.
We are currently in the process of adding a in-app checkout to the app which will probably come out q2 of next year.
Thanks!
Jeff
I need to add that these are my personal and professional opinions and not necessarily those of HSN. :)
Tobi, (Chickenhead) <-- cute!
I can remember many moons ago when I was just a young'n, I bought a first edition Venom comic book from QVC. (Oh the horror!) I was flipping around the channels and saw them talking to the artist. I was so intrigued by the fact that I could buy this signed, limited edition comic book that was being "pitched" to me from the show host and the artist himself. Complete with certificate of authenticity. :)
Now I hadn't bought anything from a shopping channel since then. That is until I started working for HSN and I get a discount. :)
Anyway, I think what captivates our shoppers is just that. They can watch a program about fashion or jewelry and get engaged with the actual designer, or some other expert. It's not some sales guy in a store trying to sell you something you don't need. Knowing full well, you probably have more knowledge than the guy selling it to you.
We try to reflect that persona on to the web as well. Offering video content, blogs, and other engaging social content where we can interact with out customers on that same sort of level.
-these are my personal and professional opinions and not necessarily those of HSN-
@Toby
I see what you are saying about the marketshare - but it does not excuse a company from discluding customers!
And Jeff, I appreciate the fact that you guys are working on it, and only so much can be done at any given time.
Back to Toby's post..
The youtube concept really is great - the "blooper" video. I know I have seen videos before, such as HSN-type programs trying to sell a scooter and the guy riding it around wiped out! Stuff like that, showing imperfections, really does help bring the consumer closer to the company. It does help us to realize that they aren't "just another salesman"
Tabitha and Toby - excellent thread with Jeff on HSN.com's use of social media. Now, what plans do you have for using SM to create trust and engagement with customers of your online store? Would a video app be appropriate or to progressive for your target audience. Tabitha: would video drive techies to your store to buy more 'gear' and fun stuff? Are they likely to become more active participants?
Lastly, does HSN.com have an edge using SM because of the designers/creatives/artists who bring so much personality and credibility to the online store?
In class today we will continue to discuss Jeff's feedback and your ideas.
David and Nithin - please drop a line...we're interested in your take too.
/Lisa
Lisa,
I think because my site targets a very specific market (vintage toys) that there is a great potential for the users to communicate with each other using social media.
Collecting can be a very social activity, people attend toy shows, or participate in online toy forums, or correspond in other ways with people who share their interest. For this reason, I think any kind of application that makes it easier to share items with other members would be great. Basically there is already an established community and making it easier for them to share items and communicate with others would be beneficial to the site and to collectors.
Hey Jeff,
I read and was intrigued by your article about the principles for successful E-Commerce sites and incorporating social networking into them. I found it to be a great idea to use to help consumers share items they are shopping for with their friends and families. Also in my opinion a great tool for UX and to bring traffic to a E-Commerce site.
Furthermore, I also agree that security when purchasing items is a big deal to me. It is the one main focus as I am in the beginning works of creating my own E-Commerce site. I also have a question, and maybe it has been answered but how do you feel about using CMS sites such as Drupal or Joolma for E-Commerce shopping? I was considering using Drupal since they have a iPhone feature module you can use since that was another area I wanted to step into. Also Drupal has Ubercart for their E-Commerce Application. I demoed it and it looks pretty neat. I just wanted your take on this before I proceed any further.
In conclusion I will follow your principles as I stated above as intriguing and beneficial for web designers who are beginners at creating E-Commerce sites.
Cheers,
David M
Lisa,
I believe that video, at the company’s current stage, is a little too much to expect; at least in a wide variety. It wouldn’t hurt to create a commercial for youtube, just to get the name out there. Also, implementation of SM for the site would be extremely beneficial. My target market definitely uses SM and often. It would be used as a self-working marketing tool as well as a way to broadcast new products, hot deals and special promotions to our fans.
HSN definitely gives themselves a competitive edge by implementing SM. It brings the customers closer to the “action” and allows them to feel like they have some sort of control and “inside eye” into the company.
Tabitha
Hi Jeffrey,
Love the article bud, it has a great focus on building for the UX. I strongly believe that good design is not just what builds the UX but the, as i call it, "the flow" of functionality is a key element. I am pretty sufficient in javascript and the UX based framework jQuery. What scares me is the fact which you talked about with weight of the page. I want to build cool functionality but I am afraid of the weight it holds on the content load. Some good techniques I found so far is using a shared resource like the google api page. A large group of designer are using this api page to read their framework. This allows the browser which has already loaded this page into cache load for other pages. Ajax also has come such a long way that sometimes I load scripts dynamically depending on user feedback. Im a going in the right path? Any other techniques you might recommend?
Nithin Meppurathu
Web Developer/Designer/uX_slave
David M,
I love OpenSource platforms. Ive used Mambo/Joomla, Drupal, Xoops, and now WordPress for my personal blog. All of which are awesome tools.
As far as using one for an eComemrce website.. If it's good enough for the White House, it should be solid enough for any application. Whitegouse.gov uses Drupal as its framework.
That said, if you're comfortable enough with the package and can ensure security, and speed. There's no reason why these platforms can't be used.
-these are my personal and professional opinions and not necessarily those of HSN-
Nithin,
I wasn't trying to say avoid using jQuery (or any other library) as a matter of fact HSN uses a couple API's at load time. Scriptaculous, (I don't know why they don't use jQuery?) and some other runtime api which escapes me right now.
Fortunately you can test the balance between page weight and engagement by your sites "bounce rate". I personally don't think just having jQuery load at first arrival is a big deal at all.
You can always test into it. But if you notice your visitors leaving the site from the home page chances are they don't want to wait.
I think I was mostly talking about page load times in excess of 5 seconds. Which seems to be about the going rate of time a person will wait for a page to load before they move on.
-these are my personal and professional opinions and not necessarily those of HSN-
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