So what is it that you’re selling?

So what is it that you’re selling?

How UX can help you communicate your product at the early stage of your startup.

Anna Lankauf, UX Strategist

July, 2015

7-38-55 rule

7%

38%

55% WORDS

VOICE TONE

BODY POSTURE, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, GESTURES

Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114

When someone communicates their feelings and attitudes, what a receiver of the message gets is in:

• 7% words

• 38% body posture, facial expressions and gestures

• 55% voice tone

Non-verbal communication wins!

7%

93%

WORDS

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114

A message receiver focuses in 93% on non-verbal communication.

You’d better be consistant!

Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114

I am very sad.

This tendency is very strong. Especially, when the words communicate something inconsistant with non-verbal expression. People focus more on what you do, rather than what you say.

Internet is social!

We are a very innovative company

We communicate feelings and attitudes on the Internet too!

When we see an incosistant message like this one, there is no doubt, we would believe the picture rather than the words.

Simon Sinek’s reason why companies succeed

HOW?

WHAT?

$ WHY?

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?

Simon Sinek believes that companies succeed, because they communicate WHY they do what they do, rather than just stay focused on WHAT.

This is great for very recognizable brands like Apple or Nike.

If you are a startup, nobody knows you, and you have to answer all of these three questions What?, How? and Why?. They are equally important.

BJ Fogg’s Behavioural Model

mo

tiva

tio

n

ability

trigger

high

high low

low

Behaviour is the function of 3 variables:

1. Motivation

2. Ability

3. Trigger

The easier it is for a user to buy, the less motivated he needs to be in order to do it.

People who don’t know what your product is, can’t be motivated to get it, so you have to make it the easiest for them to buy it.

Landing page is the first contact with your product

PEOPLE SPEND ONLY 30 SECONDS ON

EXPLORING YOUR LANDING PAGE.

IF THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, THEY LEAVE.

Common mistakes - Loads of text

People don’t read on the Internet, they just scan the text in a search for very specific information:

WHAT?

HOW?

WHY?

If there is a lot of text, they can’t find it quickly.

Common mistakes - What is the product? + no CTA

The first impression is the most important. If you don’t explain what your product is in plain English, you make your user search for the answer about ’What is the product?’

Phrases like ’collaborative community’ are too complicated. You should use simpler words, like ’together’ instead.

http://brainly.co/

Common mistakes - What is the product? + no CTA

There are two types of triggers:

1. Intrinsic (I feel I’m thirsty)

2. Extrinsic (I see a sign ’Grab a coffee’)

Since your users probably don’t know your product, they don’t realize they have a need for it (no intrinsic trigger), you have to create extrinsic trigger for them.

No trigger means no Call-To-Action.

http://themakermafia.com/

Common mistakes - Fireworks

Fireworks are all functionalities and interactions on your website which weren’t meant to accomplish the main aim -> sell / share / sign up etc.

Go to the https://www.gavick.com/

and look how much fuss there is around the cookie policy. It seems to be more important than CTAs and it definitely draws a lot of attention, which might have been used to sell the product instead.

https://www.gavick.com/

Common mistakes – Too many forms

The less form fields there are to fill out, the easier it is to submit.

Don’t ask for information that is not crucial to achieve your goal. Ask only for the must-have information e.g e-mail (to contact your user).

Don’t ask for usernames, unless this is a business-specific information to gather. Email can be a username.

http://www.pearltrees.com/ http://ethn.io/

All of these mistakes influence the MAT indicators m

oti

vati

on

ability

trigger

high

high low

low

Motivation

Ability

Trigger

How to do it better? – One sentence pitch

’My product [product name] is a [what?] which helps [who?] with [what?] using [your secret sauce].’

Create your one sentence pitch and put it everywhere you can (business cards, website, presentations, pitches).

Use simple words, as if you were explaining your business to your grandmother!

How to do it better? – Use visuals

Pictures, videos, icons, gifs etc. are always better than words.

All visuals have to be about your business: product, team, mission etc. Don’t put a picture with your cat just to have fun.

https://squerb.com/ https://popapp.in/

How to do it better? – Put your product out there!

If it’s possible, let your users try what your product is straight on the website.

The less forms they need to submit, or buttons to click to actually see the product and its functionality, the better.

https://redpen.io/

How to do it better? – Parallax

If you have to explain complex issues or show a few steps of the process – parallax is very helpful.

Users just have to scroll the page to get the information – easy and sleek.

http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil

Go and do it now!

1. Define what action you want to get from your users (buy, leave contact info, sign up, share etc.) = MAIN AIM,

2. Answer What?, How? and Why? questions and communicate it on your landing page,

3. Look for UX mistakes that may decrease motivation, ability and trigger indicators and fix them,

4. Make your communication consistant and simple,

5. SELL YOUR PRODUCT!

Don’t worry!

The first draft is always crap!

Show it to your users to find out what

can be done better.

Questions? Need help? Anna Lankauf

[email protected]

www.divante.co