SXSW: DAY 4

Session 1: Long After The Thrill (Sustaining Passionate Users)

This was also in my top 3 sessions of SXSWi. Â Throughout SXSW, you definitely noticed a theme amongst the various sessions which were: “gamification” (e.g. think Foursquare) and “social media”. Â His session was perfect for the last day to explain more of the underlying psychology as to the theory of what, why and how game theory should be incorporated for successful sites or apps. Â The best part is that he made his slides available on slideshare:Â http://www.slideshare.net/stephenpa/long-after-the-thrill-sustaining-passionate-users-sxsw-version

How do we get people to fall in love with our applications?

How do we get people to stay in love with our applications?
By making more gamelike? – > Theme of SXSW
It’s about motivating human, not consumer behavior
You must understand psychology, not game mechanics.

Sustaining passionate users… through delightful challenges

Attitudes (Think about how teachers approach school subjects)

“Apply Yourself” – Boring subject, must apply yourself to get something out of it
“Sugar Coating” – Add layer of fun to boring subject, core activity
“Stuff is Interesting” – Going to show you why important but first, a challenge for you

Exercise: Think of mundane activity. Â Now think of any game (video, board, card, etc).

Why does this game work?
What would this activity look like with a game’s characteristics?
See design from different perspectives
Move beyond “points & badges”

Example 1: Old Navy

Hid coupon codes in easter eggs throughout website.
Compelled user to click on many different areas throughout the site
Once found coupon, user was given choice to keep that code or could continue looking for other ones in hopes it would find a better one

Example 2: Site made registration time a game -> Fastest time to register was 16 seconds

Set Completion

As we get closer to completing a set, we have a higher compulsion to complete the set

Performance goals (Getting an A in French) vs. Learning challenges (Learning French)

How do you identify core challenges?

5 Whys
After you peel back the layers, you find very interesting stuff

Status

Standing relative to personal best, not just against others
Shows up in games
Example: Gowalla (checkins this week vs. last week)

(Play & Challenges) + (Goals & Rewards) = Game

Feedback Loop

Example: Digital speed limit signs -> Tend to immediately slow down
Simple triggers to change behavior

Attaching a measure to anything makes it a game ***

Translate feedback loop -> Don’t just leave with a number

Example: OKCupid

Questions produces a “personality report”
People keep coming back because as they answer questions, do more actions, they learn more about themselves

Rewards motivate people with more rewards

(Most) games eventually end

Sustaining passionate users… takes more than delightful experiences

What and why use services/app for last 3 years?

Providing a service that is trustworthy and of value***

Kano Model

Social Proof

Stories

Look for the game already in activity

Focus on intrinsic motivators

Session 2: Beyond Wordclouds: Analyzing Trends with Social Media APIs

Chris Busse, @busse

In this session, the speaker essentially walked everyone through how you easily parse through the twitter API to get a lot of useful insights.

APIs are the bridge between systems

Build to be minimally independent of API platform ->Â Get the data out and save it

Automate – >Set script for regular intervals (hourly) and save

Tweet + CRM Data = Social CRM

There’s no such thing as social media campaign -> Once you’re in it, you’re in it for the long haul

Example: “coffee” in 2 day interval in Austin

over 100,000 tweets
slice by “coffee” and “I’m at”
most popular places by checkins
when does Austin get coffee based on checkin times
who tweeted (customer demographics)

Import data in CSV, then use PowerPoint

Session 3: Keynote: Blake Mycoskie (Toms Shoes)

1) Build giving into your business

2) If you build giving in, you don’t have to do marketing

Build the most loyal customers and employees who will spread your business

Session 4: Steve Krug Explains It All For You

Steve Krug (author of “Don’t Make Me Think” and “Rocket Surgery Made Easy”),Â @skrug

Most sites don’t get tested

$$$
Time
Even if there was enough money, there aren’t enough professionals

Do-it-yourself usability testing

3 users per round
3 should be plenty since you’ll be doing it again in a month
You’ll find more problems than you can fix
No lab or mirrors
Set up monitor so development team can watch
No elaborate recruiting
Recruit loosely and grade on a curve
Record with Camtasia/Morae/CamStudio
No stats, no exit questions, no faux validity
No big report – > Debrief over lunch

Download usability test script for website – > Read verbatum

Complete demo online: www.sensible.com

Works best small groups within development cyle

“What are you thinking?” – Can never ask enough

Start earlier than what you think makes sense (Test competitors/comparables/same kind of design/functionality)
Recruit loosely and grade on a curve
Make it a spectator sport
Focus ruthlessly on a small number of the most important problems (What resources do we have to allocate?)
When fixing problems, always do the least you can do

Your motto should be…