Amazon iPhone app and feature-incomplete products

Amazon recently released their native iPhone application. As far as iPhone apps go, it's definitely good - at least on par with the eBay app (which is fantastic). But this is not a review of the app itself, I wanted to focus specifically on an interesting feature included in the app called Amazon Remembers. It allows you to take pictures of items you're interested in, post it to Amazon, and it then gives you the ability to buy the item from Amazon right from your phone.

The objective is great, but I have some thoughts on the implementation, which I think severely decreases the usefulness of the feature. First, a brief walkthrough of how it works:

	Clicking on the "Remembers" tab in the bottom brings up this description - succinct, well-written and with a clear call to action. Note how expectations are downplayed - "we'll even try to find you a link...". They obviously don't want to set expectations too high - understandably, because Amazon might not carry the product, or they may not be able to identify the product from your photo. I think this kind of transparency is really important - setting expectations appropriately is crucial to establish trust with customers.
	I tested the feature by taking a picture of a book I'm currently reading. The process is simple - you take the picture with the phone's camera, and upload it to Amazon. The "what happens to my photos" link is interesting, and addresses not only privacy, but also provides a little more info on how they go about finding the product on Amazon. They seem to rely heavily on a community of users who look at the photos and try to find matching products on Amazon. In my opinion this is both the app's greatest strength and its central drawback - it improves accuracy dramatically over automatic image recognition, but the asynchronous nature takes away a big chunk of the usefulness of a feature like this. More on that later...
	About an hour after uploading a photo of the book, I receive an email to say that my book was found on Amazon. The email includes a link to view the item in Amazon iPhone app (or Web browser if you prefer).
	Clicking on the iPhone app link takes me to the book, and I can buy it easily from there.

This is, without a doubt, great technology - it works great and it's easy to use. But as we know by now, cool technology isn't enough if there isn't a real user need being met. As I mention above, the central problem with the implementation of this feature is its asynchronous nature. Relying on a user community to review/provide input on the image definitely improves accuracy - but it creates the time lag that takes away much of the utility.

Let's step back and think of a few use cases for product image recognition on mobile devices:

• Price comparison to see if you can get it cheaper online than in the store you're in.
• Reviews to help you decide which product to buy.
• Longer manufacturer descriptions or details about a product you are looking at in a store.

The problem is that fulfilling these needs is useful only while you are in the store. If you have to wait (even an hour) to get the information, you're going to move on and either buy the product in the store anyway, or decide you'll check online later without also having the store experience of being able to view the product in person.

This brings me to my main point. This is a classic example of a product solution where developers failed to stay focused on the real user need, and therefore went out the door with a feature-incomplete product that will now probably not get the usage it deserves. The tragedy is that it's so close - once automatic image recognition gets more accurate, this app will be perfect (SnapTel, for example, is already doing a great job at this). My fear is that, if this current implementation doesn't get a lot of usage, the whole idea will be dropped, instead of what should happen - developers going back to users and understanding what their needs are. Someone else will come along and figure it out, yes, but Amazon has a chance here to be industry leaders if they stick with it.

Larger implication

So if you're looking for a larger user experience design implication in this example, it would be that launching products that are not feature-complete is dangerous for three main reasons:

• Fixing issues after a product launches is expensive
• It's painful to make changes later on - users get used to the product and are extremely resistant to change (Exhibit A: the "New Facebook")
• If it doesn't work at first, the entire product may be eliminated because the business benefit isn't immediately apparent

This is why a product design approach that allows developers to fail early, cheaply, and often, is so important. We can't test-and-learn our way into great products.

Windows Error in Times Square

I was on vacation in New York last week, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this Windows error on one of the giant billboards in Times Square.  No one can escape the instability of Windows...

How Comcast increases customer satisfaction (well, sort of)

By a strange coincidence considering what I wrote about yesterday, a colleague sent me this note today along with the image below:

Yesterday, I went through the online process to sign up as a new Comcast customer.  This included a chat with a customer service representative.  At the end, I was forced through a satisfaction survey page.  That survey is attached here.  Important to note: this is a screen shot of the page when I first arrived *BEFORE* I had interacted with the survey at all.  (In other words, note the pre-selected radio buttons).

So, in other words, if you don't interact with this survey at all, and just click Submit, you will effectively indicate that you've had a perfect experience.  I guess that's one way to get your customer satisfaction numbers up...

Review: Garmin Forerunner 405

Ok, so this post isn't strictly about user experience or social media - but you'll let me bring my personal life into it every once in a while, right?

I have been waiting a while for a GPS sports watch that I can wear as an everyday watch as well, which is why I decided to take the plunge and get the Garmin Forerunner 405.  There are always early-adopter issues with new technology, but I have to say that, despite some kinks, this is a fantastic watch, and I highly recommend it to any runner (or biker) who is serious about their training.  Below are my thoughts on why I love it, what I don't like, and some of the rumors out there that you shouldn't believe!  By the way - I got it without the optional heart rate monitor (you can get it with the HRM here), because at the moment distance and pace information is what is most important to me.

 

The good

• Accurate GPS distance and pace tracking, much better than any foot pod product I've used (like Nike Plus)
• Endless customization possibilities to show the training information you want to see during workouts
• A virtual partner "running" at a set pace, to keep you on track
• Extremely easy to use once you figure out the touch bezel (outside gray part) menu system.
• Also easy to use during workouts - simple taps on the bezel changes your views to show different information.
• Automatic lapping - I set the watch to lap over every 1 mile, so it shows you your pace for each mile, which further helps you to stay on track.
• Wireless syncing of workout data to the Garmin Connect web site, with immediate access to your workout data, including an automatically generated Google Map (see below for a screen shot of one of my workouts, or go here to see it online)
• Desktop client (Garmin Training Center) allows you to program advanced workouts (like interval runs, etc.) and send it wireless to the watch.  During workouts, the watch then keeps you on track and on pace through audible beeps and succinct screen messaging.
• Inconspicuous enough so that you can wear it as a regular watch all day.

Sample workout - click to view online: 

The bad

I don't have a lot of bad things to say about this watch, but in the interest of trying to stay objective...

• The GPS can take up to 5 minutes to acquire satellites. This is not a problem if you always start your runs at the same place, because it remembers where you were and locks in pretty quickly if your position hasn't changed.  But I sometimes run from home and sometimes from work, and then it can take a while.  But once the satellites are locked, it stays locked - no dropouts, even when running on underpasses or next to tall building.
• Instantaneous pace information not  100% accurate.  You'll see, for example, in the workout above that it says my maximum pace was 2:57 min/mile.  No, I am not a superhero.  There are some kinks with that data, so I switched my display to show average pace instead, which is very accurate.
• Battery life is not fantastic - the watch lasts about a week if you work out 4-5 days a week.  But it's easy to extend battery life by turning off the GPS when you're not working out, and turning off the backlight.  You can also lock the bezel, but I rarely do that because in "time" mode the watch goes into powersave after a few seconds which locks the bezel automatically.

The myths!

I read quite a few reviews before buying the watch, and I was skeptical because of some negative reviews I read.  Don't believe them!  Here are some common myths...

• It's too difficult to use.  Simply not true.  This is complicated technology, and you can't expect to just walk up and use it like an ATM.  My simple advice is this: spend 30 minutes reading the manual, 30 minutes familiarizing yourself with all the features, and after that you'll never be confused again.  This watch has a great, simple, elegant design, and the menu structure makes perfect sense.  But you'll have to do a little upfront work.
• The bezel is too sensitive.  You can set bezel sensitivity - mine is set at "medium" and I have no problems.
• It's too big.  Maybe for women with small wrists, but I wear it every day and I hardly notice it.
• The online software is too hard to use.  I really haven't had any problems at all.  If you install the software and USB stick it uses to sync wirelessly correctly (i.e., follow the instructions!), you should have no problems.  They also just did a major redesign of the Garmin Connect site, so it's easier than ever!

The bottom line

This watch reinvigorated my workouts, and is keeping me on track for my half-marathon training and my push for a PR in that race.  I can't imagine a better training partner to help me improve my running.  Seriously, you should get it. 

You can buy it from Amazon without the heart rate monitor here, and with the heart rate monitor here.

Weak ties and "parasocial" relationships

A great article in the New York Times magazine examines the social impact of the new wave of "digital intimacy" brought on by sites like Facebook and Twitter (see Brave New World of Digital Intimacy). It's well worth the read, and I want to focus on one particular aspect, which is the references to social network theory, particularly the strength of weak ties - something I've written about before (see Structural Holes and online social networks).

The article explains the rise and immediacy of frequent updates and micro-blogging (or "ambient awareness" - a concept I like a lot). It then goes on to analyze the networks people feed their updates to, which is where weak ties come in. As a refresher, here's what weak ties are about (see my previous post about it for more detail):

In his 1973 paper entitled “The strength of weak ties”, Mark Granovetter developed his theory of weak ties. The theory states that because a person with strong ties in a cluster more or less knows what the other people in the cluster know (e.g. in close friendships or a board of directors), the effective spread of information relies on the weak ties between people in separate clusters.

Ok, so here is where we pick up the NY Times article:

But where their sociality had truly exploded was in their “weak ties” — loose acquaintances, people they knew less well. It might be someone they met at a conference, or someone from high school who recently “friended” them on Facebook, or somebody from last year’s holiday party. In their pre-Internet lives, these sorts of acquaintances would have quickly faded from their attention. But when one of these far-flung people suddenly posts a personal note to your feed, it is essentially a reminder that they exist. I have noticed this effect myself. In the last few months, dozens of old work colleagues I knew from 10 years ago in Toronto have friended me on Facebook, such that I’m now suddenly reading their stray comments and updates and falling into oblique, funny conversations with them. My overall Dunbar number is thus 301: Facebook (254) + Twitter (47), double what it would be without technology. Yet only 20 are family or people I’d consider close friends. The rest are weak ties — maintained via technology.

This rapid growth of weak ties can be a very good thing. Sociologists have long found that “weak ties” greatly expand your ability to solve problems. For example, if you’re looking for a job and ask your friends, they won’t be much help; they’re too similar to you, and thus probably won’t have any leads that you don’t already have yourself. Remote acquaintances will be much more useful, because they’re farther afield, yet still socially intimate enough to want to help you out. Many avid Twitter users — the ones who fire off witty posts hourly and wind up with thousands of intrigued followers — explicitly milk this dynamic for all it’s worth, using their large online followings as a way to quickly answer almost any question. Laura Fitton, a social-media consultant who has become a minor celebrity on Twitter — she has more than 5,300 followers — recently discovered to her horror that her accountant had made an error in filing last year’s taxes. She went to Twitter, wrote a tiny note explaining her problem, and within 10 minutes her online audience had provided leads to lawyers and better accountants. Fritton joked to me that she no longer buys anything worth more than $50 without quickly checking it with her Twitter network.

So that's the good part. Here are the perceived dangers:

It is also possible, though, that this profusion of weak ties can become a problem. If you’re reading daily updates from hundreds of people about whom they’re dating and whether they’re happy, it might, some critics worry, spread your emotional energy too thin, leaving less for true intimate relationships. Psychologists have long known that people can engage in “parasocial” relationships with fictional characters, like those on TV shows or in books, or with remote celebrities we read about in magazines. Parasocial relationships can use up some of the emotional space in our Dunbar number, crowding out real-life people.

The bottom line

I believe the pros outweigh the cons. Facebook's model is to enhance offline relationships, not replace them. Most Facebook connections start with someone you know, someone you went to school with, someone you met at a party. Few relationships on Facebook are exclusively online.

On Twitter I follow people I know, or people/organizations I know of and am interested in (Richard Roeper, CNN Breaking News, NYT articles, etc.).

I am excited about how social media is expanding the reach of our networks, and how it allows us to tap into our weak ties more effectively. I don't feel like my life is moving increasingly online at the expense of my offline relationships. I see my online life increasingly starting to enrich my offline, real-world experiences.

Tokbox makes video calling a breeze

I recently wrote about 12seconds, a service that let's you record and post short updates about what you're doing -- much like Twitter, but for video. I've also recently been playing around with Tokbox, another new video service, but with a different and very singular focus: making video calling as easy as possible.

Tokbox has 2 main offerings:

• Video calling, including conference calls
• Video mail, which makes it easy to record and send videos to friends and family in an asynchronous way

Video calling is a direct attempt to take on a major part of Skype's business. Easy asynchronous video mail is something I've been looking for for a while now, since my family (1) lives very far away and (2) is the lowest common denominator when it comes to tech-savviness! But before I get to that, first some thoughts on the user experience:

• In the spirit of most Web 2.0 sites we see these days, the site is clean, fast, friendly, and singularly focused. When you log in, you choose if you want to call someone or record a video mail. There is virtually no way to get confused about what the site is about.
• Video calling/recording is as simple as it could be. Similar to 12seconds, as soon as you click on an option, it starts your camera and you're ready to record.
• For video recording, there are no extra steps to send your mail, TokBox sends an email on your behalf. You can add email addresses on the fly, or drag & drop "Friends" that you have added previously (again, taking on Skype functionality, but with a narrower and simpler focus). The recipient gets a link to the video (no large attachments!!), which they can view even if they're not registered with Tokbox.
• A new feature allows you to make your recordings public, which wanders into 12seconds territory, but I personally don't think this is something Tokbox should pursue. The danger in a simple, great idea like this is that the developers can get feature-happy, and very quickly clutter up a very clean experience to the point where the site loses its focus (and its users). This is something 12seconds should be careful about as well, as they continue to add new features almost daily.

The ultimate usability test for any online application is always very simple for me: can my mom use it? And I'm happy to report that she embraced this site in a way that surprised me. I haven't used it for video calling, but since my family is in a different time zone 8 hours ahead, that's not what I need this for. I think what sets Tokbox apart is not their video calling, which most IM applications now do as well, but I believe their marketing and branding should focus on easy-to-use video mail. If you start with that, and make it really open, users will always find a way to use the service in ways you never imagined. And so, without knowing it, they will give you ideas for monetisation...

Proctor & Gamble shifts to design thinking

There is a great article at BusinessWeek.com on how Procter & Gamble is changing from a process-centered organization to a design-centered organization.  Many of us have worked at companies where this comment from one of their design managers seems all too familiar: "[design is] the last decoration station on the way to market."  But as this article shows, it doesn't have to stay that way.

It is a fascinating look at how P&G is shifting away from this culture, and teaching its employees the power of design thinking:

"Once business leaders see they can use design thinking to reframe problems, they are transformed," says Tripp. "The analytical process we typically use to do our work—understand the problem and alternatives; develop several ideas; and do a final external check with the customer—gets flipped. Instead, design thinking methods instruct: There's an opportunity somewhere in this neighborhood; use a broader consumer context to inform the opportunity; brainstorm a large quantity of fresh ideas; and co-create and iterate using low-resolution prototypes with that consumer."

More on what design thinking is about:

"Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking (based on directly observable facts) and deductive thinking (logic and analysis, typically based on past evidence)," writes A.G. Lafley. "Design schools emphasize abductive thinking—imagining what could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them."

Also be sure to check out OlayForYou.com, the case study mentioned in the article.  It's a great example of a site designed with the underlying user need in mind: find me a product that is perfect for my situation. 

There's also an interesting defense of the Participatory Design method, something I'm a huge fan of as well:

"Participants get scared using such rough prototypes to elicit consumer feedback at the beginning, but they are won over when they see the benefits of co-creation," says Kotchka. "We have found that the more finished a prototype is, the less feedback people will give you. When you give prospective users something half-finished, they think you don't know the answer. They know you need their help—and really open up."

If a packaged goods company like P&G can take this important step away from old school thinking about how products should be designed, I don't think the rest of us have any excuse.  We really need to only design products that solves a specific user need -- even if that need isn't known by the user yet (like Twitter).

VuVox -- your visual voice

VuVox is an interesting new site, currently in Beta, that helps you create rich media collages of your photos and video.  It has the basic functionality of Photoshop without the headache of knowing how to use it, and the sharing capabilities we've come to know and love in Flickr.  The site still has some usability issues, but it is remarkably easy to add, edit and manipulate your media to create collages.

One of the best features is that it can connect and pull in media from your SmugMug, Picasa or Flickr accounts, and you can immediately start using the media through drag and drop.  Very slick.

Below is a collage I made in about 10 minutes (after the media was done uploading).  Click the icon next to "Menu" at the bottom to view in full screen.  You can sign up for a Beta account at www.vuvox.com/collage.

 

12seconds.tv -- introducing video-Twitter

I was invited to the private Alpha release of 12seconds.tv, and after about a month of playing around with it, I wanted to post some initial thoughts.

First, the background.  12seconds.tv says that it "allows friends and family to record and share short video updates about what they are doing or where they are. You can use a webcam or a cell phone."  So it's basically Twitter, but instead of typing you record video updates with a maximum length of (you guessed it) 12 seconds.  Why only 12 seconds?  Well, in their own words, "Because anything longer is boring."  It's an interesting idea, the site is very clean and they are adding great features almost every day, but the question I had on the first day still sits in my mind: "Will anyone use this once the novelty wears off?"  But I get ahead of myself.  Let's start with some thoughts on the site.

 

As easy as it gets -- if you're into video

Recording your 12seconds updates is extremely easy if you use a webcam.  As soon as you sign in to the site, it starts your webcam, and you're ready to go.  They made it really easy to record, name and publish your updates to your "channel".  Similar to Twitter, you can follow friends and be followed by others, so updates are shared in that way as well. 

It's also easy to embed updates in a blog -- here, for example, is my first update.  Mundane, I know, but I was just trying it out, ok?

Duma caught red-handed on 12seconds.tv

That was recorded with my cell phone.  You send cell phone updates to the site via email.  You get a unique email address that's linked to your account, so when you send it, it appears on your channel automatically.  Again, really easy.

The developers clearly spent a lot of time thinking through all they ways they can remove any obstacle that might make it difficult and laborious for people to record their updates.  The end result is a no-frills user experience that's laser-focused on the site's single user goal: recording and posting video updates.  It's a great example of what happens when designers focus on making core functionality work well, without spending unnecessary time and resources on side-features that aren't important.

 

Very cool, but who will use it?

So now that I've sung the praises of the site design and the innovative idea, the question still remains, who is going to use this?  Here are a few challenges I see for 12seconds:

• As easy as it is to record and post updates, it is still, by its nature and no fault of the designers, a non-traditional process even by Web 2.0 standards.  Most people update Twitter when they have a spare moment -- standing in line at Starbucks, waiting for your wife to finish getting ready (lots of time there...), between meetings, etc.  It's not as easy to whip out your camera phone and record an update while other people are around. 
• It's also sometimes a game of trial and error to get your thoughts down to 12 seconds!  I've had to record multiple updates because I had to find a way to remove some words.
• Mostly, I'm worried about the laziness factor that I've written about before.  Will this just be fun for a while and then people will stop recording updates?  Of course, it could reach a tipping point and end up leaving Twitter in the dust, but it's not a sure thing at this point.

Let me end by saying that I really hope 12seconds.tv succeeds.  I have a lot of respect for the focused user experience, the clean design, and the innovative twist on keeping up with what your friends are doing.  I'm just hoping there are enough people out there who feel that sometimes, typing just isn't enough...

The Internet and our brains

The Atlantic Monthly has a  great article in the July/August edition on what the Internet does to our brains, asking the question, Is Google making us stupid?  Here's the basic premise:

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded. “The perfect recall of silicon memory,” Wired’s Clive Thompson has written, “can be an enormous boon to thinking.” But that boon comes at a price. As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Read it (if you can still read, not just skim...), and I guarantee at the very least it will get your brain thinking again.

How Customers Define Value on eBay

I will be at the Academy of Marketing Science's yearly conference next week in Vancouver, speaking on a panel on how consumers are rendering much of traditional marketing obsolete.  Here's the quick blurb:

Forgetting The Consumer Label Altogether

This special session explores how consumers themselves are taking the notion of consumer co-production far further than traditional services marketing ever intended, and in doing so are invading each of the traditional bastions of corporate marketing strategy, from product conceptualization to pricing, and from distribution to marketing communication.

I will be talking about how eBay fits into this phenomenon in a presentation entitled "The End of MSRP -- How Customers Define Value on eBay".  The basic premise is that eBay has become the best site on the web to establish and discover the true market value of any product -- regardless of whether it exists in a catalog or not (and even if it doesn't have an established retail price).  The slides from my talk are below -- I lay out the different processes sellers and buyers follow on eBay, and how that comes together to establish product value.

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The keys to Amazon's success

The charmed life of Amazon's Jeff Bezos is a great article in the latest Fortune magazine about Amazon.com's success.  The key paragraph for me is the CEO's statement of their relentless focus on customer satisfaction -- even it means bad earnings for a few quarters:

For all of Amazon's ups and downs over the past 13 years, Bezos's strategy is one thing that hasn't changed. Customers want three things, he says: the best selection, the lowest prices, and the cheapest and most-convenient delivery. At Amazon, he explains, all decisions flow from those fundamentals. "What's not going to change over the next 10 years is incredibly important - you can build plans that are durable and meet important customer needs," he says, adding, "Ten years from now, customers will still want vast selection, low prices and fast, accurate delivery. In fact, it is impossible to imagine a world 10 years from now where customers will say, I love Amazon, but I just wish your prices would be higher."

A good example of this is Amazon's decision to build some excess warehouse capacity. As Amazon started to grow its business in the late 1990s, some members of the management team argued in favor of building just enough of the giant, automated warehouses - four of the $60 million facilities - to meet projected demand. Bezos decided to build five. "From a financial point of view, we should have built four rather than five," says Bezos, pointing out that in 1999, when the centers were built, "for a company that only had $1 billion in sales, spending $300 million on fulfillment centers is a very big investment."

Instead, he was positioning the company to pursue "more fundamental things": that is, keeping Amazon's customers happy. Remember all the post-holiday news stories at the turn of the millennium about little Timmy and Janie not getting their presents on Christmas because some fly-by-night toy site couldn't handle the holiday crush? Amazon came out smelling like a 1-800-FLOWERS rose. "A lot of companies stumbled and we didn't," said Bezos. "We had an insurance policy against that huge burst of demand" - the fifth fulfillment center.

Which leads up to the most important statement I think he makes:

"A lot of decisions around consumers are like that," Bezos says. "When you do the math it's not clear what will happen."

When you create a great user experience, the business will follow...