Posted by Kris Colvin | Oct 4th, 2009

A Case for Employee Social Media Training

Companies, listen up. If you’re not already factoring social media training into your human resources list of employee initiation rites, you’re making a huge mistake. I’m not talking about making a bunch of strict guidelines. You can do as much or as little as you feel you must, given your customers, public or private holding status, your industry, etc. But unfortunately, especially for a lot of...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Jan 4th, 2009

Communicate, Inform, Address Users When Things Go Wrong Online

I love Twitter. An unabashed Twitter addict, friends and clients have figured out they can reach me faster there than by phone or email. I love Twitter so much, I have begun designing apps that utilize the api, which are not yet released. I preface this piece with this bit of info, because it pains me to have to bash the good people there in any way, but there is a big problem going on, that might hold lessons for...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Oct 1st, 2008

Customer Perceptions Before Buying: Little Things Add Up

Two similar things happened today that have led me to write this post. This morning, about 9:40 am, I found a car I wanted to inquire about at the Carmax site. They have a handy, giant, green button that says “Send Us an Email”, so I did. I got a response back that said “Carmax is closed, but we will contact you on our next business day. Our business hours are 9-9 Mon-Sat, and 11-7 Sun. During...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Aug 4th, 2008

Bad Customer Service, or Corporate Theft, from RCA/Thomson?

My family has unwittingly joined a horde of Seriously Unhappy Consumers of RCA televisions and other products. As a user experience evanglist who often extends her reach into customer service departments and processes, I find myself wondering… just where IS the fine line between poor, inept, inadequate customer service, and intentional theft by a large corporation who has brand equity (though apparently, not...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Jul 12th, 2008

Are Recommendations Engines Circumventing User-Focused Design?

A dangerous trend is making users of ecommerce sites and software unwitting victims in the quest for more revenue. Though money certainly does make the world go ‘round, and the strong flow of money aids the greater good, the latest features being demanded by marketing departments (not necessarily users) are “Recommenders” designed to keep visitors on a site, spending their hard-earned dollars. User experience...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Jul 7th, 2008

User Experience Activities for Ecommerce & Software

In an effort to better communicate what I do for clients, I’ve created two PDF documents that describe the various user experience activities that take place on an ecommerce or software design project. This was actually a bit harder than it looks – I began with the intention of creating a UE process, but the truth is, these activities can be done at various times throughout the life of a project, so...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Jul 1st, 2008

The Universal Experience: A Roadmap for Brands, Users & Customers

At least three distinct, but related components must work together to create a great user experience… the “brand experience” and the “customer experience” are phrases that may be less used than the term “user experience” but they are indelibly intertwined and must be designed together. A user experience specialist must therefore be able to look at the universal experience...

Posted by Kris Colvin | Jun 13th, 2008

Celltop User Experience Disappoints at Least One Alltel User

For those that don’t know, “Celltop” is a suite of mobile widgets designed by the amazing Frog Design especially for Alltel, who is my service provider at the moment. Celltop works on certain phones only, and there are about 10 free widgets out of the box, with others available for purchase. An interesting idea, in theory. When I first saw the concept, with its slick looking interface, I wanted to...

Posted by Kris Colvin | May 22nd, 2008

Why don’t retailers care about customer experience?

Call me a cranky usability person tonight – I don’t care. My gripe is about the tiniest of customer experience issues: the icky, sticky, price stickers often found in the most unusable positions on tangible goods like kitchen appliances and gifts such as photo frames. I purchased a wonderful new steaming pot to serve my husband fresh vegetables, with summer and the beckon of farm-fresh veggies found at...

Posted by Kris Colvin | May 22nd, 2008

Why don’t retailers care about customer experience?

Call me a cranky usability person tonight – I don’t care. My gripe is about the tiniest of customer experience issues: the icky, sticky, price stickers often found in the most unusable positions on tangible goods like kitchen appliances and gifts such as photo frames. I purchased a wonderful new steaming pot to serve my husband fresh vegetables, with summer and the beckon of farm-fresh veggies found at...