I design for your customers
...and your customers are not rational
*customer = person, human, citizen, user, client, dude etc.
I stand in their non-rational shoes
If you are designing your websites, services or processes assuming people are rational
you're probably doing OK.
However, if you want to do better than OK i.e. if you want to significantly increase sales, adoption, engagement or retention OR maybe be 'disruptive' and effect behaviour change then you might want to think a bit differently.
you're probably doing OK.
However, if you want to do better than OK i.e. if you want to significantly increase sales, adoption, engagement or retention OR maybe be 'disruptive' and effect behaviour change then you might want to think a bit differently.
So, people aren't rational you say?
That's right!
We are emotional, social, instinctive, contextual.
We are capable of rational thought, sure, but it is not our key driver.
We typically only use logic & rationalisation to justify what our 'heart' wanted all along!
Think back to your last big purchase (home, car, holiday) and remember why you bought what you did....
or your most recent confirmation-biased, cognitive-dissonant, social media opinion.
I suspect your emotional, social, contextual repsonse kicked in way before your rational brain was aware it needed to respond.
How can I help you?
I help public and private sector organisations to design solutions that empathise with people’s ‘non-rational’ and rational drivers.
I show people stimulus. I listen to what they say and what they try not to say. I learn what's a trigger and what's a barrier.
Informed by what I've learnt about the 'customer' I then form hypotheses about who they are (in this context) and what will help them achieve what they want to achieve.
I take these hypotheses and allow my experience and creativity to take over and design the thing that will engage and motivate them into action.
Of course, you may believe that you have all (or at least most!) of the answers yourself, and that logic and rational thought gave you those answers. You might be right but also...
I show people stimulus. I listen to what they say and what they try not to say. I learn what's a trigger and what's a barrier.
Informed by what I've learnt about the 'customer' I then form hypotheses about who they are (in this context) and what will help them achieve what they want to achieve.
I take these hypotheses and allow my experience and creativity to take over and design the thing that will engage and motivate them into action.
Of course, you may believe that you have all (or at least most!) of the answers yourself, and that logic and rational thought gave you those answers. You might be right but also...
75% of organisations think they are customer-centric
but only 30% of their consumers agree!
I can help you to
1. Understand your customers' motivations
2. Design innovative systems, services and products that appeal to those motivations and their underlying emotions
3. Deliver uplifts in adoption, sales, engagement or retention
as a direct result of 1 and 2
Mixing human insight & inspirational design
Over the last +20 years I've worked with great creative teams to develop transformative customer experiences (digital, real-world & in-store) that consistently increase conversions, satisfaction, sales etc. by considerable factors e.g. 20%, 30%, 40%, +100%. The method doesn't change much : discovery/research > design > iterate > develop > implement...and then back to the start - Keep testing, creating, iterating, improving until 80% of your target agree with you/your hypothesis!
I've worked with private and public sector in the UK and internationally : HMRC, lots of Local Gov clients in Social care, Health & Wellbeing, Digital First, Abundance Ethical Investment, Boots, Lloyds Bank, e-on, Mail Online, Toys R Us, Emma Bridgewater, Pyjom (Russian bank - a project involving Michael Wolff as Creative Director).
I've worked with private and public sector in the UK and internationally : HMRC, lots of Local Gov clients in Social care, Health & Wellbeing, Digital First, Abundance Ethical Investment, Boots, Lloyds Bank, e-on, Mail Online, Toys R Us, Emma Bridgewater, Pyjom (Russian bank - a project involving Michael Wolff as Creative Director).
Methodologies and Outcomes
Outcomes - what I can help you to deliver
- Analyse and update your current journeys/services - whether they're web based, other digital or offline
- Create new journeys/services - new websites, new social content, new digital journeys, new offline services
- Increase customer adoption
- Increase customer retainment
- Increase sales
- Increase size of sales
- Increase customer engagement
My outlook
- Active Listening - focus on them; they are the most important person in the room
- Empathy - hold people in unconditional positive regard; validate them
- Focused creativity - allow creative people to create true differentiation & emotional engagement
- Team engagement & co-creation - use the insight and talent that exists throughout your organisation; Chiefs, Marketers, Designers, Comms, Sales, Developers etc.
My approach
- Organisation focus: Purpose, Principles, Personality; ensure a Shared vision
- Problem solving tools - Lean hypothesis, 3 Horizons, active workshops, SMART
- CX, UX methodologies and heuristics - Survey, Create stimulus for Observation, Interview, Focus group. Personas. Journey mapping. Iterative Co-development.
- Design heuristics and principles - Simple and clear on-message comms; keep engaged, nudge/behavioural shift, visual hierarchy and CREATIVE MAGIC!
- Adoption - Essential acitivity of marketing or change management...otherwise all the above is a waste of time!
Some people prefer charts...
All Quickheart material copyright © Quickheart Ltd (Agilisys) 2007-2018
Ian JR Ward is part of Ward Creative Partners.
All rights reserved 2021
Ian JR Ward is part of Ward Creative Partners.
All rights reserved 2021
