According to Nathan.com, user experience is defined as:
The overall experience, in general or specifics, a user, customer, or audience member has with a product, service, or event. In the Usability field, this experience is usually defined in terms of ease-of-use. However, the experience encompasses more than merely function and flow, but the understanding compiled through all of the senses.
A couple weeks ago (yes, I'm still struggling with the time issue...) AiMA hosted yet another fabulous event - this one on total user experience. Donovan Panone, VP Online Behavior at Spunlogic, moderated a great group of panelists: Laura Hunnicutt - Delta, Jason Kleckner - Target, Jill Hewitt - UPS and Chuck Konfrst - InterContinental Hotels Group. Toby Bloomberg does a great job with the event highlights. Certainly a must read.
The discussion at this event which really struck me was how the user experience specialists work with the marketers and the designers. It's fascinating how even though we have all this data and experience to show that a particular tactic does not work, marketers still insist on moving forward. The panelists explained they typically smile, tell the marketer it won't work, give them the reasons why, and then go ahead and do it anyway. "We let them learn the hard way," one of the panelists declared.
My favorite example is the splash page. We all know this doesn't work. That visitors click "skip" a few seconds into the video. And how it only serves as an annoyance. So why do marketers and designers still insist on creating them?
If customer satisfaction stems from a great experience - and a great experience stems from all the senses (according to Nathan.com) - why offend the senses and risk overall customer satisfaction? Especially before someone reaches the website.
Time to share... What is your favorite user experience faux paux?
