I use a lot of personal experiences in the real world because they are much easier to explain than what’s on a screen, and I like pointing out that even in that world, User Experience is a hard thing to perfect. So, for now, I’m going to use a recent purchase of a home theater to illustrate some of the finer points of User Experience.

If you have an online store, whatever you are selling represents your brand

So I found myself with a few more hard-earned extra dollars, and schelped my way down to Best Buy. I looked through some home theater systems, and found one that I thought I would like, a Yamaha system. I bought it, stuffed it in my car (it barely fit), and tried unsuccessfully for hours to set up the system.

I’m not an electronics geek (and please don’t assume so, just because I wrote a blog). It’s like being a doctor — you’re at a party, you say something about being into technology, and pretty soon, everyone is walking up to you telling you about about their broken cupholder on their computer. I have the same problems everyone else does, and did so with this system.

Not only were the instructions too long, but it was just a hard to use product, and I imagine there’s some MBA in some office somewhere at Yamaha thinking, “You know, if we make this hard enough, Best Buy can make some extra money off of Geek Squad.” These same MBAs compute all kinds of numbers regarding return rates, and they fully expect a certain amount to be returned because they are just hard to use.

From a product management perspective, I would think it would be cheaper to make a product that would be easy to use because there would be a lower return rate — Apple gets this, and to a certain extent Microsoft does, because their consumer products are not too bad to install — but what do I know? Best Buy doesn’t care, because in reality, returned product is the responsibility of the manufacturer and not the retailer.

Because I bought it at Best Buy, my though process is, “Yo, Best Buy sells lousy products that are hard to use.” I know this isn’t the case, but I decided just to return the system, because I wanted an easier system to use. If I couldn’t install it, how am I going to be able to change it?

Your policies can be your own worst enemy

So I schelped back to Best Buy (a different one, because the first one was closed early on a Sunday), removing the system from my car (did I mention it weighed over 50 pounds?), and got to the return desk. I had a new system picked out, and was so close to buying a new system when their customer support manager came over and said to me, “Yo, you have to take it back, because there isn’t a remote control with the returned system.”

“You mean I have to stuff this thing in the car again and come back to get a refund and/or exchange?”

“Yes, because our policy is that we don’t want anything happening to the system. If it were to happen, we don’t want it to be our responsibility.”

The store policy is I couldn’t leave it there because they didn’t want to be responsible for what could happen in their store.

(Read that again, just so you get the full effect.)

Customers don’t care about policy — they just want to be happy that their dollars are well spent, so if you implement policies regarding returns that make it hard to return merchandise, or your systems make the users jump through a bunch of hoops, they will not become return customers.

I left the Best Buy and drove directly to Target down the street and picked up a Bose Home Theater system that was more expensive, had less features, and took me exactly 10 minutes to set up without a hitch.

Because of their policy, Best Buy lost a customer on a higher margin sale and I was willing to forgive them for the previous misstep of having a product on their floor that was hard to use. This is because not allowing me to return a $5 remote control a day later.

Whatever you do, don’t make your customer feel stupid

So that now I am perfectly content with my new Home Theater System, I returned to Best Buy to get my money back. Hell, it’s nearly $400 with taxes, and I just wanted this box out of my back seat.

I get there, I have everything I need to return it, and the cashier makes the dreaded call to the Home Theater department for a consult.

The sales expert walks over, looks at the system, looks at me, and says, “If we set this up, and if it works, will you take this back with you?”

“No, I just want to return the system, I spent too much time on it already.”

“But if we set this up…”

“You don’t understand, I don’t want the system. It’s too hard. I just want to return it.”

End of conversation.

The point: if a customer is unhappy with a product or a website, you’ve lost them. You can’t get them back with this approach, because it just makes them feel stupid. Customers want to buy a product and me done with it; if it turns into a long, drawn out experience that requires too much support, that’s a product they will never be happy with.

Approximately 24 years after Apple got it with the Macintosh and many of their other products, AdWeek surmises in an article that User Experience is a reflection on the brand, as Viaspire points out. (A manager of mine with one of those fancy MBA titles pointed this out to me in 1998, so I know it’s not some new thing, but back then, User Experience wasn’t a term until Jesse James Garrett could make money off of it).

Well, duh.

Not to further point out the obvious, but whenever a company touches a customer, it’s a reflection on the brand, whether it be through a website, a commercial, or the actual product. Phenominal User Experiences with the correct amount of Marketing bring profitability (read: Apple’s record quarter of Mac Sales, Amazon’s success as a retailer, eBay’s branding as the world’s largest garage sale).

Again, it’s not just a technology thing — the company has to live and breathe it.

It’s all a reflection of the brand.

I was asked the question where a new information architect could get started to learn about the field and I explained that there are experiences all around us that enable all of us to learn. It could be anything from buying speakers for your television to how to book an airline ticket: all of us is uniquely qualified to start as one if we’ve used a computer, and all it takes is just observing how users think and use technology to improve what we have today.

After that explanation, during which her eyes glazed over, the response was, “How about just telling me what books to read.”

Here are five books I like a lot.

Note that none of them (well, one) is written by one of the user experience experts that are most often cited in blogs. There are many authors out there that present equally valid points that should get equal time, and I found these books to be extremely useful and valuable. Most of the books describe the patterns and theory of information architecture and user experience, but a couple of them go into detail about the tools we use to communicate, and how we fit into the software development and web design process.

The last five books I would read if I wanted to learn about information architecture

Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping

By Paco Underhill, Why We Buy is a great read on the observational study of why people shop, how they shop, and what they buy. Most importantly, it sets the stage for triggers for the motivations of completing an action, which is the basis of all interactive interactions.

This book is not too scientific, but honestly, you can look other places for that; what we’re seeing through the eyes of Paco is the emotions of browsing and shopping in the real world.

Don’t Make Me Think

By Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think is the cut-and-dry version of information architecture and the best methods of web navigation. Covered in 216 pages are enough screen shots, design patterns and quick points that just about anyone can get started on building their own websites or improving them dramatically.

What I like most about this book is that Steve doesn’t talk down to the reader like some other specialists, he informs the reader in a very comfortable, friendly tone.

Designing Interfaces

By Jenifer Tidwell, Designing Interfaces most importantly shows exactly what is most important about designing software and web sites: that all applications should follow a very well defined set of a patterns so the user interactions follow exactly what the user expects.

Jenifer’s book goes into excruciating detail of what interface widgets to use when, and why the widget should be used, how to use them, and examples of how the widgets were used in other applications.

Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow The Works

By Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler, Web ReDesign works through not only examples of wireframes, site maps, and how to quote projects, but looks at the project management process of web development. What I like best is that the book shows exactly how Information Architects, Web Designers, Programmers and the client fit together in an orchestra of what happens before, during and after a site launch.

Kelly and Emily also do a masterful job of including other expert voices and opinions like Christina Wodtke and Lynda Weinman about what it takes to launch a successful and user-friendly website.

Grids for the Internet & Other Digital Media

By Veruschka Götz, Grids is a out-of-print but very valuable publication that goes into amazing detail about the usage of grids for interactive applications (not just the Internet but also for multimedia applications and print design).

The book also covers the lost art of typography, how it should be used in websites, and usage of type on a grid. Even if you aren’t a designer, you’ll appreciate the clear and concise examples displayed in a very modern fashion of this title.

From NYTimes Via Good Experience:

Netflix, the DVD-by-mail service, largely ceased shipping DVDs to its 8.4 million subscribers for three days this week. The company vaguely blames a technology glitch.

Yet, as a result of the mess — which was resolved earlier Friday — customers are now applauding the company’s honesty. Its stock, as of now, is up on the week, not down. Just imagine if McDonald’s stopped serving burgers for three days.

So what are the lessons for other companies, and for people who follow Netflix’s business?

That saying you’re sorry is okay. Read on…

Other sites that agree:

• Electric Venom
• Hacking Netflix

User experience isn’t just a one time thing — everytime you use an application or website, they get to know the brand for better or for worse. Bad customer service can also affect user experience.

When something really bad happens (say, your site goes down for hours or days like eBay, Amazon, and MySpace have all experienced), there are three simple rules to follow.

Say you’re sorry

The last thing a customer wants to hear is that it isn’t your fault, especially when it is. Google, one of the largest email providers in the world, had issues with Gmail the other day — and said they were sorry. Like it or not, email for many of us is a very personal experience, and the Gmail Product team acknowledged that.

I had an issue with United Airlines (and Expedia) over a mis-booked ticket. United did a really good job making my life easier and rebooking the ticket so there wasn’t an issue.

Say it in public

Some companies are completely open about some of the issues they are having. Dreamhost had a billing issue earlier this year, and they posted about what happened, and how they were going to fix it. Because of their honesty and candor, I personally like them as one of the better companies out there (and so do many of their companies). Their blog is amazing for company news, and that makes me a happy customer.

MySpace does it all the time. We all know it’s not the most stable platform, but it’s gotten much better over the last few years, and even when there are issues, they publish notices notifying users about the issues with the system, and that it will be fixed soon. MySpace is a bit different because of the informal nature of how they speak to their audience, but they do speak to their audience in language their audience understands, and not some obscure error message.

Say how you’re going to fix it

What Google didn’t do very well was explain what the issue was, which is ironic, because many of the Google users are very technically savvy, and know when they’re being given a line, or something else is being used as an excuse.

All end users want is to be told, “this is how we’re going to make your life easier.” They don’t want excuses of how the weather affected their flight, or why their credit card number was being resold to Indonesians and Romanians. They just don’t want to happen again. You might not be able to prevent it again, but you can take steps to lessen the chance.

From a press release, or actually a study:

The recent publication of a new benchmark report by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company Application Performance Management: The Lifecycle Approach Brings IT and Business Together, further signals the increasing need for real end user experience solutions. Aberdeen’s latest findings show that 50 percent of revenue loss is a result of poor Application Performance. In addition, the enterprises surveyed by Aberdeen clearly ranked the ability to identify end user problems as the top priority for any Application Performance Management initiative.

…

“Best-in-Class organizations are taking an additional critical step and are measuring application performance not only from the perspective of their data center components, but also from the end user perspective. These organizations are ensuring that improvements in application availability, response times and usability translate into improved employee satisfaction and productivity, and ultimately, improved customer satisfaction, mitigation of lost revenue opportunities, and avoid damages to brand image,” said Bojan Simic, research analyst at Aberdeen.

This goes under — duh.

Of course poor user experience can result from a website, web application, or software application that’s slow, has incoherent error messages or just plain breaks. Users don’t know the difference between what’s a bug and what’s not, or why the application is performing slowly.

So, repeat after me:

The first rule of user experience is that the application should actually work.

I wonder how much they are charging for that report. I need to start writing white papers.

To my surprise, United Airlines is working with on the airline ticket issue. They understood my frustration, and want to resolve it because it is something that falls through the cracks. What they don’t know is this trip is for my friend’s 40th birthday. The irony of this is that my friend’s name is so rare, I don’t see how anyone can claim that we’re changing it to someone else.

If this goes through, I will tell everyone I know about the wonderful customer experience I had with United Airlines. Now they are going to work with Air Canada to change this. At least I didn’t spend $5,000 for a ticket like someone else did on Delta.

Companies don’t reach out to customers enough, and it even happens in the line of work that I do — we promise the customer X and the customer receives Y. It’s truly becoming a world where companies are taking the tact of “this is what you are going to get.” Seth Godin has a post on this regarding voice systems titled, “Should you fire the voice mail guy?” I now deal with them all the time when booking travel, and always have issues with them because I have a slight speech impedement.

Customers desperately want a great customer experience, so much so that word of mouth sites are very successful (i.e. Yelp).

Another story I relayed to a client: there have been studies done that when dealing with a website, the last thing people want to do is pick up the phone (or, can you spot a phone number anywhere on eBay or Azamon for customer service). They don’t want to send an email. What they really want to do is find an answer right then.

Additionally, people forget that internal customers are just as important as external customers. Read on over at Signal vs. Noise. When running an intranet, the less people bug you for a document and the more they can find on their own, not only does it make them happier with their job satisfaction, it saves the company or organization money and makes the more productive.

Case in point: When I was a product manager at Escrow.com, we added reams of frequently asked questions, rewrote every single email so it was easy to understand, and guess what? Not only did customer touches drop 33 percent (customer touches defined as an email or phone call into the call center), but walk-up business to the site went up 25 percent per month, to the point where Escrow.com is now a profitable business.

Happy customers mean more customers. More customers mean more happy customers. You know what I mean?

I flew Virgin America on the advice of a friend, and it was the best decision I’ve made in a while.

Everything was a great customer experience — I was able to upgrade my seats easily through their customer service department, the flights were great, they were on time, the food was off the charts (okay, it was First Class, but I’ve flown First Class before, and they never had anything like what they served), and best of all…

I forgot I was on a plane. I hate flying not because I don’t think it’s unsafe (I think it’s very safe), but because the experience is such a nightmare. Crowded seats, limited entertainment options, the feeling that I’m just wasting a few hours of my life, none of that was happening here.

On top of it, the media entertainment system is great. I had actually seen it years ago before they launched the airline through a friend, so I had a good idea of what they were doing, but still, it was really easy to use, and provided some great options without me having to reach for a credit card. They got it.

Thank you, Virgin America, and I’m not just saying this because you can follow their twitter feed, either. I will fly you again, and tell all my friends.

This past weekend, I was in San Francisco for a client meeting, conference and some pre-sales work. As usual, I had forgotten to buy some music I wanted to listen to over the weekend, and my MacBook (the personal computer with all the music) was 400 miles away.

What did I do? Did what any self-respecting iPod Touch user would do: bought the music anyways through WiFi. It took me less than two minutes to go through the purchase process, truly an impulse buy that all music vendors aspire to.

Something so simple as buying music through thin air is another reason why Apple is so far ahead of the pack: the iPod experience connected to iTunes are clearly such a superior experience that other vendors are going to have a hard time catching up.

In other words, Apple has figured out how to sell out how to sell the razors and razorblades — clearly how usability and a superior user experience leads to a better bottom line.

We could use the Nielsen Norman group definition…

“User Experience” encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. True user experience goes far beyond giving customers what they say they want, or providing checklist features. In order to achieve high-quality user experience in a company’s offerings there must be a seamless merging of the services of multiple disciplines, including engineering, marketing, graphical and industrial design, and interface design.

…because, well, they get paid a lot of money.

But, I like to keep things simple. This is what User Experience means to me:

For quite a while, I drove a BMW Z4. It’s a nice car, but most amazing is the placement of the cupholders: they’re right underneath the left and right air conditioning and heating vents, and when you pressed on them, they would pop out. Among all the other things that the car had — a lot of power, a stereo that would increase in volume when the car was going faster, seat warmers, and a power top, excellent handling — it was the little things like the cup holders that made it an excellent user experience. In the time I drove that car (for several years), I never spilled a drink.

The Z4 was in the shop for a while, and I rented a Chevy Aveo for almost three months. Among other things about the car (other than the running joke that a friend of mine came up with a different name for it every time he talked about it) I didn’t like, the cup holders were in the middle, between the seats. I spilled drinks in that car five times. The were a lot of things I didn’t like about the car (poor handling, uncomfortable seating, brakes that were similar to what Fred Flinstone had to do), but what stuck out most was the cup holders.

That’s what user experience means to me — you never know what the end users are going to complain about or like about your product, but you do know that everything they see is something that could be criticized as a poor user experience. It could be that the product crashes every five minutes, or that help text was poorly written, or that it takes ten steps to go through something that should take five, it’s the complete experience. It should even be to the level that users don’t know they want a feature, but it works just as they expect it to.

User Experience specialists act as holistic evaluators and product managers that recognize any that could limit the effectiveness of the product. In that sense, User Experience architects act as gatekeepers, working with all teams (Development, Quality Assurance and Marketing) to make sure what goes out the door is an excellent product.