Internet Librarian 2008: Designing the Digital Experience

Internet Librarian 2008: Designing the Digital Experience
David Lee King

David began his talk by discussing the experience economy.  In an experience economy, a company uses tangible goods and intangible services as a way to engage with the customer.  As people move beyond goods, they move into buying experiences.  What is experience design?  "An approach to creating successful experiences for people in any medium" - Nathan Shedroff.  Digital experiences online are increasingly important for libraries.  David talked about the American Girl  Place in Chicago - where you can shop, get your American Girl's hair done, go to tea time, etc.  Likewise, the American Girl website is hugely interactive and lets people do things beyond simple product consumption.  He also pointed to the Harley Davidson website which has an "Experience" section for HD owners.  David gives us three paths to designing an effective digital experience.

Structural Path: The structural path lets you improve a website's ease of use.  A well designed experience should stay out of the user's way.  The goal is to have the customer focused on their own needs and desires, instead of focused on the site itself.  He pointed to Jesse James Garrett's Elements of User Experience.  You start with strategy, move to scope, structure, skeleton, and surface.  He then discussed David Armano's Approach to Creating Experience. He also talked about 37signals' eBook (free) called Getting Real.  Be passionate about what you build.  We need to look at our websites with a critical eye, look at what makes people stumble, and correcting those peoblems.  Figure out some goals for the site.  And don't make the user think about the structure - let them do their tasks.

Community Path: Provide a memorable experience online with community.  A town hall meeting is a good example of a community experience.  He listed Amazon's customer reviews as a digital community experience.  That part of Amazon is community-driven and run.  Community experiences inclucde real conversations (blog comments, IM services, Twitter, an online forum), connections with others (social networking sites, friending/contacting on IM or other sites), invitations (passive like simply posting content and active like requesting info or opinions from people), participation (responses to invitations, comments, etc.), sense of familiarity (keeping track of people via Flickr, social networks, etc.), telling our stories (adding and creating content).  Twitter is a good example of a community path to experience. 

Customer Path: As an example, hotels have started focusing on making their beds more comfortable.  SportClips haircutters' recognized that there were no just-for-guys hair salons and focus on men who like sports (stylists don't chat with the customers, the facility is sport-themed, you can watch sports on tv, etc.).  Digitally that can be like the Webkinz site - if you buy one, you get a code thet lets you into a virtual world with your virtual pet.  Starbucks has a coffee taste matcher, information about coffee tasting, grinding methods, etc.  All these sites extend the experience of the physical with the virtual.  Libraries can have online book clubs (asynchronous), allow for as much interaction between customers as possiblee, The sites aren't about the product itself - but about the experience.  Extend your physical presence nto the digital space.

How do we improe our virtual spaces?  Use customer journey mapping - mapping out touch-points that customers use and improving those experiences.  Improve the ordinary too - for example, WD-40  permanently affixing the red straw so it wouldn't  get lost easily.  Compare your  site to sites in other industries.  Figure out what websites your customers are using and try to match or beat those experiences. 

Connect the customer to the organization.  Connect the customer to the product.  Connect the customer to the library's online resources, to the "extras" on your site.  And connect the customer to other customers. Create an experience stage (he cites Pike Place Market's fish place as an example).  Our websites, brochures, and all customer contact is our time on the expeience game.  How many reference librarians on our staff know how to properly interact on the web?  And work on conversation.  Read books on marketing - not library marketing, marketing-marketing.  Conversations are a major way to market now.  Posting to Flickr is a visual conversation starter, as are blog posts, etc.  We also need to work hard on organizational change.  We need to think about websites differently, focusing on the paths and experience in the site.  Don't think about the content, but the experience that the content can provide.  In the end the patrons benefit, and as David said, "that's what we're here for."

IL2008