April Newsletter
April Fools!
Well, nothing here is a joke as I am just not good at that. News is still horrible from Europe and it makes me think a lot about the advantages I have.
Just to share that I spent most of March in the US visiting family but also working a few interviews which I share here. “Tapetenweschel” is the German word for a change of scenery which always lifts my creative mind. This time was no different. I have been struggling a bit in defining “what I do” when folks ask (or honestly when I ask myself).
While online communications is my gig, I have wanted to get away from the large corporate (we got money and people to do all that) business and take my experiences to smaller mid-size, public, non-profit type organizations where money is a problem and gaining expereince in Doing Digital Right is not something they can prioritze. Well, that’s where I come in. I have been speaking to many people and businesses over the last year to see what their challenges are and some to learn from what they are doing to address them. I am taking my Digital.Done.Right. platform into the education/consulting world where I document, investigate, learn and of course share of what I find. Be that the good, bad or ugly.
Thank you for joining me on this journey and a journey it will be. My New Normal podcast will be switching things up at times from only interviews to also reviews, deeper dives into platforms or techniques I feel need to be shared. If you see anything here which you think an organization or company near you might benefit from then pass it forward or send me their details and I will reach out to them.
Happy April to you all!
your digital sherpa,
/Andrew
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Here this month’s topic links:
#PublicSocialService
How do public organizations use social media? Yeah, another one of those questions I ask myself but this time I got some answers. 2021 brought devastating floods to British Columbia, cutting off most people from their homes, their businesses and gernally just separating them from everything else. How does one stay in touch? Where do you find out what the situation is? On the other hand, how does the local government keep their public informed?
I got the chance to speak with the Director of Internet and Social Media of British Columbia, Russel Lolacher. We talk about how they use their network to collect the latest updates then sharing across the various social platforms.
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How to inform the ‘complainer’ who thinks there is no progress happening?
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How to provide photos to the press with context?
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What is ‘evergreen’ material?
Check out the entire interview at the link below!
Link
https://digital-done-right.com/new-normal-podcast-1/2022/russellolacher
New Age Librarian
Yes! I made it to the library I mentioned in last months newsletter.
In my search for examples of how today’s digital world is being used by all sorts of people, Organisations I went to visit Winter Park Library. They recently opened a new location which, even from the outside is a real looker but inside it is the latest of technology. I interviewed Sabrina Bernat, Executive Director in her library’s recording studio. It is never a good idea to use other people gear when making content but this went off without a hitch.
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Why do we need libraries in 2022?
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How are libraries going digital?
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What’s next in library tech?
Again, the entire interview can be found here. Check it out!
Link to his page and the podcast is below. Also the link to the “pitch” video he made of himself is below. Have a look!
Links
https://digital-done-right.com/new-normal-podcast-1/2022/sabrinabernat
Let's Just Fix Today’s Experiences, OK?
Sometimes, well honestly, most of the time I just want a simple experience. I don’t need the bells and whistles. I don’t need the cleaver process which solves 2 problems I didn’t know about at once. I just want my interest done.
I worked for 25 years in the jungle of Customer Experience technology solutions which specializes in the bells and whistles. I was a top cheerleader for the industry the entire time. I even told a client once that “software can solve every problem”. I had drunk the kool-aid and was selling front-row tickets. (Now, don’t get me wrong. The world needs those technologies and industries which are pushing the limits into the new and shiny.) My point is that there are simpler more basic problems which need attention where this new stuff is just not the right fit; at least at this time.
I won’t ask any of you to comment here about recent experiences you had where a customer service process didn’t go as planned. I know you face them almost daily. I have been traveling for 3 weeks and am using all the tools you would expect a traveler to use; planes, trains, automobiles, maps, reviews, apps and web forms to name only a few. Almost daily I have a run in with something that is just not right. I see in a web search that a restaurant is closed which is open. I am asked to fill out a form and am presented an error which I do not understand. I searched for a bus connection and was directed to download a 224 page PDF. Yes, that last one is indeed true.
I once told a global transportation client that software could fix all their problems
For those of you long-time followers you will know I spent my career in the CX-infrastructure or customer experience technology world. That was my paycheck but also my interest - improving customer’s online experiences. I truely believed that technology could fix all the world’s problems. (I once told a global transportation client that software could fix all their problems, boy was I off in the deep end) It was only after I left that club where I began to broaden my views and my study of experience began.
One of the first courses I took was on Coursera where a Google User Experience Design course had been recently released. The thrill of being an early graduate plus the chance to open my eyes to experience design was something I had been missing but didn’t know for a long time. the course taught me the basics of user experience as well as bias in design of which I found I was often guilty of. The portion of the course around User Interface was a bit lost on my as I am a heavy user of interfaces and have my opinions however I cannot give my feedback as constructive changes which might be made. I am not a designer of that sort. One thing I learned is that UX is not the same as CX. The experience we were designing were narrowly focussed, like completing an online registration or making an appointment for a dog shampooing. I found the following definition of UX/CX which gets closer to the problem I was identifying.
User experience is the experience your customers have with your product, whereas customer experience is the experience those users have with your brand as a whole.*
We often have many experiences with a product or brand over the entire lifetime. Some may be shorter and others longer. Finding a restaurant in a new town and enjoying the meal will have a different lifetime than buying and owning a vaccuum cleaner. The UX of the vaccuum covers the use of the device where the CX includes the buying, owning, repairing and replacing (if same brand) - the whole lifeline.
What I did during my professional life was spent designing touchpoints of CX but not the holistic CX. I was responsible in designing the first follow-the-sun airline telephone reservation system (1990s). This was a huge leap forward for the airline as their passengers (customers) would have a completly new experience; they could call the airline 24 hours a day, versus only a 12-hour window. This was seen as an incredible advance in CX where the UX remained the same. What was missing was an improvement in actual CX. The airline provided the same endless queues with repeating music and “please wait” messages as before. Passengers would be just as frustrated with when reaching out to the airline. Actual CX changed very little but great new tech had been deployed!
Much of “CX” today focusses on the same touchpoints, occasionally branching out to a broader multi-touch experience view but rarely the entire CX. Just this week I rented a car and a QR code hung in the window ofrering a survey. I followed the offer and answered the 5 questions, one of which how was experience with your rental car. Well, I had not seen the car yet. Who designed this? Now, I am very interested in improving end-to-end CX as it will likely make the world a better place to live in but sometimes, I just need a simple single-touchpoint solution.
I was triggered to write this article by an actual airline UX/CX problem. Fyling internationally requires new steps for both passengers and airlines; new vaccinations papers or others need to be provided. I received 4 emails from the airline I am flying with this week informing me that additional steps are neccessary before flying. I follow the link in the email, this takes me to a webpage displaying my booking and flight. I click the “additional steps needed” link and receive an error indicating they cannot find my booking. How frustrating. No other information is provided. Most flyers would pickup the phone and call the airline. They would wait in queue with others wanting to pay money for new flights. How efficient is that?
I learned that via a Twitter DM with the airline social media team
Now, I am a professional UX designer and understand the broader challenge here. I know where the error is in this process but I cannot get around it (code sharing). So, how does this UX bleed into my broader CX with this airline? The last thing I want to do while sitting on the beach enjoying my last days of sun and fun is spend time in a queue waiting for a helpful agent to tell me “you booked through another airline and you will have to show documents at the airport”. I know this is the answer as it was the same on my flight over. I learned that via a Twitter DM with the airline social media team. Now, that just doesn’t scale at all!
*https://modus.medium.com/customer-experience-vs-user-experience-whats-the-difference-ef7ce507c0d
If you found this interesting then consider subscribing to the newsletter to not miss an issue. I will be continuing this journey of improving CX and documenting it for all to learn from. Thank you for your time here. Leave a comment if you find something questionable as I want to continously learn and have a long way to go! 👇👇
Hey, if you made it this far then, thanks! I hope it was worth your time and if you have a comment please leave one below. I am on a journey to learn how people and organisations are coping in this New Normal. If you are interested in sharing your story or know of someone who might, just reach out. Use the contact form here and leave me a short note. I would love to hear your story.
Thank you for coming here and sharing your day with my stories.
your digital sherpa,
/Andrew