I am currently a member of the Entrepreneurs Organization and it never ceases to amaze me how much I get out of being a part of their network. One of the small perks is receiving Octane Magazine which is chock full of interesting and informative articles relative to all facets of business. Recently my new LinkedIn friend Angela Randall (from EO Houston) wrote a great article about user experience that I felt obligated to share (with her permission of course). She says some pretty basic and very smart things we sometimes lose sight of and I think it makes for a quick and interesting read. Enjoy!

Want to know what really ruins a web site’s user experience?

Bending over backwards in an attempt to please each customer. Many eager Business owners conclude that the only way to satisfy a customer is to cater to his every whim. The result is ambiguous, be-everything-to-everybody customer experiences. Product teams try to incorporate every feature ever requested, while service teams try to be so flexible in their offerings that it’s no longer clear what the company specializes in. Of course, this ends up being counter-productive.

1. Reduce the amount of choices:
Choices give customers the illusion of being in control, but they’re actually a cognitive burden. having to decide between too many choices becomes work. Here’s an example: A design-it-yourself shades and blinds company couldn’t figure out why so few customers chose their feature-rich product line, when their competitors offered far fewer customization options online. After investigating, we found that the sheer number of available options overwhelmed and intimidated potential customers, making the competitor’s simpler experience more manageable. Removing the least-used options and hidings others under “Advanced Features” on their Web site helped the company streamline its offerings.

2. Tell your customers what to do:
Seriously order them about. When I tell my clients this, they look at me funny. Thing is, most people know what to do in a store, but on the Web, it’s not always obvious how to take the next step. Don’t expect customers to hunt around on your site for a phone number or e-mail. that’s too much work. instead, take the work out of navigating by using clear calls to action like “Learn more,” “Request a free evaluation” and “Buy now.” One of our client, a continuing education provider, didn’t understand why people weren’t signing up for their coursed. We added a prominent “Register now” button to the course-description page. Problem solved.

3. Observe, don’t listen to your customers:
What customers want and what they say they want are two different things. the only way to learn the truth is to watch their behavior. Basic analytics software will tell you you which of your site’s pages people visit most and how long they spend there. there are also more sophisticated tools that track user’ movements to give you an idea of what people are reading on your site, and where they’re getting stuck in forms. ultimately, sitting next to customer performing prescribed tasks on your Web site or application is the best way to discover reasons why users call customer support instead of searching the documentation, or why so many of them quite on the las step of the process.

For example, an African national oil company had built an oil-trading application that was intended to track US$160 billion worth of oil annually…but nobody used it. Since the users had meticulously described their workflow, the developers assumed the problem must be technical– “We need more servers!” User testing revealed, however, that the users’ workflow wasn’t really sequential as they had described. instead, they saved up all their orders for entry in a single batch at the end of the day. After modifying the interface to facilitate batch, adaption skyrocketed.

Of course, we would never advocate treating customers with anything less than dignity and respect. but we realize that an entrepreneur’s primary role is to be a steward, not a butler. We don’t pander…we lead. Customers will follow.

By Charlie Van Vechten

Do you remember the TV show “The Odd Couple”? Well, in a nutshell, that is me and my business partner. In a lot of ways, we are polar opposites. He says I’m anal and meticulous, I say he’s messy and impulsive. But you know what… It works. It’s just the sort of madness that has made our company surprisingly successful… even in this tough economy.

You see, we are each other’s “anti-selves.” Although we both envisioned starting a client-centered design firm that produces great results, that’s where most of our similarities end. We don’t walk, talk, or approach our business the same way; to look at us, you’d think we wouldn’t even be able to agree on what to have for lunch. Knowing how oil and water mix, it would be easy to think Jacob Tyler Creative Group should be a disaster. But ours runs like a well-oiled machine.

To see why, you just have to understand that we don’t work well despite our differences but because of them. It might be a stretch to say we complete each other… but we sure do complement our respective talents. Les likes to meet with prospective clients and draw in new business, all at a thousand miles a minute; I tend to be reserved and collected, and work like a dog to keep the agency running smoothly and make sure everyone is happy along the way. Spreadsheets and numbers speak to me, where as Les loves the thrill of the chase. One of us works calmly, weighs decisions, and is patient, the other gets wildly excited, goes with his gut, and wants it “now”.

Somewhere in that mixture, we’re doing better work than ever. Separately, we ran businesses that were doing alright. Together, our creativity and client list are going through the roof. Plus, both of us are completely reinvigorated… It’s like we are constantly challenging each other and in the end… We win, and so do our clients. Just when they think we’re ready to fight like cats and dogs, we do – but in a creative, constructive way. By motivating, challenging, and occasionally, even encouraging one another, we become far more valuable to our clients and employees than we ever were on our own.

Surprisingly, we end up agreeing on almost everything.

Is it possible your company would be better run as a partnership, and with someone who sees the world a bit differently than you do? We would like to offer a handful of tips for finding the anti-self partner that takes your business to the next level:

Find your anti-self. This is the simplest step, and yet it’s the hardest. That’s because we tend to surround ourselves with men and women who look, think, and act like us most of the time – from our friends to our employees. Think outside the box a bit, though, and you might remember a friendly face from an association conference… or even a competitor who does great work.

Think peanut butter and chocolate, not lemon juice and ice cream. Of course, you can take the whole idea of contrasting personalities too far. It doesn’t make sense to join forces with someone you don’t respect, or even outright resent. One of the interesting things about our partnership is that we almost always reach the same decision – even if we have to take drastically different paths to get to that point. What we have learned to take from that is that, deep down, both of us value and respect the same things and especially each other.

Divide and conquer… It’s funny how many creative shops we see that are run by two print designers, or a pair of internet marketing types. It’s probably that way in most businesses and most industries; it only makes sense that a pair of similar professionals will “naturally” come together … but this is one natural tendency you’ll want to avoid. That’s because another word to describe the situation would be redundant. Two or more people with the same skills and the same methodology will end up duplicating work, or worse, stepping on each other’s toes.

By choosing to partner with someone who brought a different skill set to the table – Les had a strong background in web work, while most of my business had been built on print design – each of us gained something. That leads to better work and a broader perspective, but it also helps smooth out differences in opinion. Since one of us is an authority in a different area, we’re forced to rely on each other’s best judgments when making tough calls.

Some sharing is good. Jacob Tyler is a partnership in every sense of the word. While we do divide up specific tasks, the overall strategic vision is formed together, as are questions revolving around employment, major investments, changes in client relationships, and so on.

Going into business with your anti-partner might seem like a crazy thing to do; it certainly did to us – right up until we found out how well it worked. If you think your company could use another perspective, why not brainstorm and try to find another personality who could be the best partner you never knew you were looking for?

If you have not heard already, MDC Partners Agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky is lending a hand to the Carrot industry to launch a $25 million campaign to position baby carrots in “sleek, junk food packaging” in order to boost sales and interests in healthy snacking in the U.S.

Though fighting the obesity epidemic that is plaguing the United States’ youth is a genuine enough underlying goal in this whole effort, I’m not sure it’s taking the most direct route. I mean come on, what about the fact that carrots are also an excellent source of beta-carotene, the key ingredient not only in it’s nutritional value and orange color, but also one of the substances most easily converted to vitamin A, raising the effectiveness of the light-sensitive area of the retina and improving eye sight….Zzzzzzz

Here, a recent TV spot was released by the Agency that depicts a gorgeous female model, cradling the beta-carotene filled sticks making them sexy, futuristic and attractive. Let us know how you’re feeling about the carrot ads, because I for one am very intrigued. If CP+B pulls this one off they’ll have conquered the same challenge Goodby, Silverstein & Partners did with their “Got Milk” campaign.

As a follow up to our respect for Old Spice’s most recent campaign featuring Isaiah Mustafa, we’ve taken interest in (along with everyone else in the industry) where Weiden and Kennedy’s creative design forces will take the brand next. Problem is, after watching this 30 second spot featuring Baltimore Ravens’ Linebacker Ray Lewis, the only feeling you’re left with is the residual sensation from scratching one’s head. Of course it’s not made to replicate the initial Isaiah Old Spice spots but has Weiden and Kennedy “jumped the shark” with this concept? Our personal suggestion… don’t fix it if it ain’t broke! They had some mileage left on the Mustafa treads. What do you think?