A Hierarchy of Needs

The humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow posited a “hierarchy of needs” that describes, in pyramid form, a structure of peoples’ needs, from basic physiological to the peak of self-actualization. Over the course of my career I’ve participated in two distinctly different sorts of organizations: for-profit businesses and non-profit community media/arts organizations, each of whom’s participants exhibit very different behaviors when it comes to motivation towards self-actualization.

In their business environment people’s participation tends to start at the bottom of the needs pyramid and work up. Many of us are working primarily to satisfy Physiological and Safety needs, but also derive benefits at the Love/Belonging and Esteem levels. In my experience professional people get much of their Esteem needs filled through their calling, and perhaps even some level of Self-actualization. But the business character who derives the most Self-Actualization value out of their work experience are entrepreneurs, who are often very deeply personally invested in their company. Indeed many entrepreneurs see their business as an extension of their self.

For community-based non-profit arts organizations the pyramid is, in a sense, turned on it’s head!  Volunteers particularly tend to be motivated at the self-actualization level. Arts and community media organizations offer participants a chance to display their creativity and participate with others in the creation and exhibition of their own and others’ work, generating payoff at the Esteem and Love/Belonging layers of the pyramid. It is notably challenging to motivate volunteers to participate at the Physiological and Safety level of their organization – that’s what they do in their day jobs!

Motivation Towards Self-Actualization

Are there lessons a for-profit business can learn from not-for-profit arts organizations? I believe there are. In community organizations there is a strong attraction to displaying one’s accomplishments in public, what my grandmother used to call “showing off.” This is a strong motivator. By contrast in the business environment people are generally working anonymously; their team members and supervisors may know what they do, but most others in the organization won’t. External social platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter provide a channel for the display of professional pride, but of necessity they are limited in scope.

Perhaps there might be a way for corporate participants to “sign” all of their work; to display for their co-workers the pride they naturally feel in their completed and ongoing projects. This would of course have to happen internally, but the  resulting transparency might enable members of the organization to better visualize what goes on and how things get done. What form might that take? Perhaps an internal blog or wiki might do, maybe with a scrolling navigable public display. It could be that some advanced display technology might provide new and insightful near-real-time views of the organization at work collectively and individually.

As our work lives, personal lives and social-media presences become more intermixed it behooves us to adapt what works in each for the benefit of the others.

The previous night Chris Sinkus, from our sales team, and I walked out to dinner more or less at randomly ending up at a cool Mexican restaurant called Colibri where we ordered something called the “Mexcalita,” a Mexcal-based margarita. The bartender made an amazing cocktail that involved multiple ingredients, flaming lemon peel squeezings, and huge style. It was delicious.

As the evening progressed each subsequent cocktail was a marvel. Since we were sitting at the bar we could chat with the bartender, and he provided us with a San Francisco Examiner article he was featured in. His name is Adrian Hernandez, and is not only an accomplished mixologist but a visual artist with work in local spaces. After we paid, he stopped us and said, we had to try his most famous creation: the “Macho Margarita.” Imagine a margarita that starts with a muddled Jalapeno! It was nothing short of revelatory; who knew a cocktail could do that?

Chris and both checked in on FourSquare, posted to Twitter (which was retweeted) and posted to Facebook (shared out by friends). In short we raved about our experience to everyone we knew.

Now, of course we didn’t do this because we were keen on the Colibri restaurant company; we promoted our dining experience because of the personal, human connection we made with Adrian Hernandez. It was this human connection that inspired us, and it was only co-incidental that our inspiration-driven social activities served to promote the restaurant. We raved the place up to benefit our friends and connections who we think would enjoy the experience, but even more we want Adrian to get the recognition for the amazing mixology he’s practicing. And Colibri is clearly supporting his efforts by allowing him the extra preparation time to build his mixological marvels, and to treat his guests.

That’s human-centric marketing.

Oh, and the food was fantastic!

OTOinsights presents our latest customer experience research findings for several of the most downloaded iPad magazine applications including Wired, PopSci, GQ, Dwell, and Time.

“Digital publishing has changed consumer magazine consumption; in the past three years over 1,000 have ceased publication,” said webinar presenter Dr. Philip Rhodes, Managing Director for OTOinsights. “The iPad offers magazines a new digital publishing platform that allows them to better present, control and monetize their content.”

OTOinsights’ task-based analysis focuses on the homescreen, navigation, layout, advertisement placement and overall user satisfaction based on these criteria:

• How does the layout impact user experience
• How intuitive is navigation
• What is the nature and quality of the content
• How efficient is it to use
• How likely are users to revisit the iPad magazine
• Does the application engender trust in the user

This webinar will help brands and publishers participating, or planning on participating, in iPad magazine applications as developers, advertisers or content authors.

Join us for this free webinar where we discuss this latest customer experience research and conclude with a best practice guide on how you can create the best experience for your customers. Webinar attendees will also receive copy of this presentation free of charge.

Presenter:
Dr. Philip Rhodes, Managing Director and Director of Research for OTOinsights

When/Where:
Thursday, July 29 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time

Click Here to Register for Free

Dr. Philip Rhodes, Ph.D.

Philip holds a Ph.D. in Information Design from the University of Portsmouth. He has extensive research and teaching experience in hypermedia design and information architecture. He speaks fluent Portuguese, having lived and worked in Brazil. Before joining OTOinsights, he worked with US solution providers Rare Medium and Sapient, as Director of Information Architecture. Specializing in offering user-centric online solutions within the banking, education, and telecommunications sectors. He also taught at several universities in Brazil and the UK, and has been widely published. Philip is both the Managing Director and the Director of Customer Experience Research & Design at OTOinsights, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

OTOinsights Overview

Technology innovation continues to create increasingly sophisticated and complex interaction touch points between brands and their customers. A customer’s experience with these touch points define what a brand means to them and their continuing engagement with the product or service. OTOinsights helps brands succeed in today’s rapidly evolving landscape by providing customer experience research, brand research, neuromarketing research and user-centered design.

Phish is a band that has traditionally allowed individuals to record their concerts. This harkens back to the practices of other great jam bands: The Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, and so forth. Since each show is different, fans like to get their hands on the shows so they too can get the concert experience. In recent years, Phish has been recording shows directly from the soundboard and selling the concerts in various file formats (mp3 & FLAC). These days, fans on Phish’s mailing list get an email the next day containing the show’s setlist and a link to purchase the show. Frankly, that’s a great business model. Not only are they getting revenue from the concert (a lot of which probably goes to promoters, the venue, and others not directly associated with the band), but they are making incremental revenue from those who purchase the show for download.

But now, they have taken it another step further. Last week, Phish announced the release of their iPhone application. This application allows users to stream the shows that they have purchased. So, no longer must these shows take up precious space on your device – as long as you have a robust connection, you can stream the shows to your heart’s content. Not only can users stream the purchased shows, but they can also listen to a ‘featured’ show and other items from the Phish archive. Finally, the cost of the application is $3.99, which seems expensive by typical iPhone app standards. But, when you purchase the app, you get a free download of a show – a $9.99 value. In essence, the app costs -$6, which is a great value for someone who is going to download a show anyway.

So, let’s break down why this is such a great application and will not only give a positive user experience, but will also increase Phish’s revenue:

• Price: If you are a fan who would otherwise purchase a show, this app doesn’t cost you a thing.  In fact, it saves you $6.
  • Plus, no subscription fee.  If you want additional content, you purchase it.

• Incremental content: Users have FREE access to the featured show and other Phish content.

• Incremental band revenue: The app will most likely encourage users to purchase more shows than they ordinarily would.
  • Fans may trade downloaded shows with friends, but these will not be streamable via the app.  They will have to load the shows onto the iPhone and use up a lot of space.
  • It’s easy to purchase a show via the app, so spending a quick $9.99 is an easy click away.

• Leveraging Social media: The app allows users to see which shows are the most popular.  Fans will then probably purchase these popular shows.

This is not to say that the app is perfect.  Let’s a look at some of the drawbacks:

• It requires connectivity to stream.
  • This one may be bloody obvious, but let’s say you’re on a road trip and don’t have a robust connection.  Poof, there goes the utility of the app.
  • Solution: allow users to temporarily download a show while they have a connection.

• You can’t purchase just the stream, you must also purchase the downloadable show.
  • Solution: include a lower-tier price that allows a user to only stream the show.

• Users can’t use their existing content.
  • If a user owns a Phish album, s/he probably doesn’t want to purchase it again just so they can stream it via the app.
  • Solution: keep the albums as a permanent fixture in the featured content.

Overall, Phish did a great job in developing this app.  It takes user wants  into account and creates a path to incremental revenue for the band.  This app is a great example to other bands or companies who are struggling to determine a business model for their app.

Here’s some of the mobile content, services and campaigns I’ve seen so far.

1GOAL:  1Goal wants world leaders to end poverty by supporting education for all. As part of the world’s biggest ever mobile phone campaign, mobile companies from across the globe have come together to offer more than 1.5 billion people an opportunity to show their support for 1GOAL  by voting ‘YES’ through a free text message, or by going to http://1goal.mobi on their handsets. The campaign is FIFA’s official charity for the 2010 World Cup.

Yahoo World Cup mobile site: Yahoo launched a mobile World Cup news aggregation site. Search results for football clubs will automatically include matches and results, and the mobile homepage includes a “World Cup module” with scores and matchups.

Sony Ericsson Extra Man mobile site: provides fans with videos from World Cup qualifiers, a WorldCupiPedia, and social networking site applications built into the site.

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup App: includes customizable elements, a bracket predictor, news alerts, community features, live scores, and video content.

Fox Soccer Channel’s “Ticket to South Africa” App: is similar to ESPN’s and has the latest news, standings, fixtures, photos galleries, venue information, and World Cup history. Once the games begin in June, a scrolling ticker with live scores will appear offering one-click access to in-game match stats, play-by-play information, and video clips.

iPundit App: lets you compete against friends to predict the results for all upcoming matches.  You score points depending on how accurate you are.

EA 2010 FIFA World Cup App: lets you play simulated games based on real team data.

How would you like to see mobile used for the 2010 World Cup?  Have you seen any marketing campaigns that harness the power of mobile?

Back in 2003, MobileLime, a local start up, enabled me to use my phone as a debit card, and rewarded me with mobile coupons from local vendors.  I could walk to my video store in Brookline, MA without my wallet, and pay for my videos with my old Samsung flip phone.

What’s gone awry in the last seven years?
MobileLime’s mobile debit system was never widely adopted,  and the “wallet phone concept,” where credit/debit payments go through mobile carriers hasn’t progressed much beyond paying for ringtones or votes on American Idol.

Chip technology in mobile phones for payment hasn’t been rolled out by major US carriers yet. Even though many credit cards are now embedded with NFC (near field communications) chips and you can “tap & go” to pay for small purchases at your local CVS, consumer awareness of the technology is limited.  RFID (radio frequency identification), another way of storing and processing information, hasn’t really made its way out of the transportation industry, where it has largely been used for tolls, ZipCar activation, or subway fees.

Online micropayments, used mostly for paying for online content or charity donations, never really caught fire.  TipJoy closed shop in 2009. Twonate and Tipit.to are temporarily closed. Micropayments only seem to work on a huge scale, such as 99 cent songs on Apple iTunes.

What will it take to get back to 2003, when I could leave the house without a wallet?
The biggest barriers seem to be the infrastructure and bureaucracy of mobile carriers and credit card companies. Third party fees in the form of percentage of purchase and transaction fees add up without providing much value to small businesses.

Several catalysts are converging right now that could shake things up:

• Mobile smartphone usage is at an all-time high, and consumers are using their phones for scheduling, stock trades, computing, and gaming– much more than just calling.
• Location based social media and mobile couponing- through services like Foursquare, which alert users to nearby deals when they check in at a store or restaurant-  are growing in popularity. Mobile payment is a natural continuation of the experience.
• Facebook has a partnership with Zong, a pay-by-mobile company, and PayPal has a micropayments system and mobile payment app. The existing user base for these two companies is huge. Consumers are already spending millions via micropayments for Facebook games.
• Services like Square are helping to overcome merchant barrier to entry.  Square offers merchants physical reader devices so that they can accept mobile phone payments.

Micropayments  can work on a social and/or mobile network, provided that they’re done within the platform, are easy, and add value for everyday life.  The convergence of shifting consumer mobile behavior and mobile payments embedded into well-liked services could make the difference.  

I’m hoping the  everyday reality of mobile micropayments for things like coffee, parking meters, and videos is just a few years away…

As most of us have probably experienced, many web designers (and HiPPOs) seem to take the approach of “if I think it’s pretty, then it’ll work.” Which is terrific when they’re the only ones who will ever visit the site. Unfortunately a firm’s customers don’t always have the same preferences as the developers, and too many times the result is a site experience which is not just hard for visitors to use, but at times simply irrelevant.

So with the idea of “letting the customer drive” in mind, One To One has recently witnessed some amazing long-term potential for our clients in the form of testing of new, dynamic content on landing pages and deeper areas of a site, all through an approach which includes but isn’t limited to the analytic methods commonly referred to as “A/B/N”, and multivariate testing, AKA “MVT”.

Simple Concept with Complex Execution

The process here is simple in concept but vastly more complex in execution: clearly define the objectives of each page, free your designers to come up with the most interesting, varied page designs they can, then use MVT testing  via tools like Optimost or Test & Target to take the winning versions even further. Whatever wins, wins. You’re letting the users of your site elect the winning content through their own behavior.

This simple set of steps has to date resulted in clients results which have been nothing short of fantastic. Honestly, while the success here has been fantastic, the most difficult component has simply been coming up with a good acronym for the practice, so for now we’re just directly referring to it as “Content Testing & Optimization”, or “CTO”. Okay, yes, a CTO is also a Chief Tech Officer, but we’re aiming for that to eventually becomes the secondary reference.

Come to the April 29th Webinar at 11 am and 2 pm

Thanks to an always-amazing creative team, some good uses of the tech, and results from several tests showing ROI in the four digits, we thought we’d share some of our approach and findings via a webinar scheduled for next Thursday, April 29 at 11 am and 2pm Eastern time. The session will discuss how to design and execute a CTO strategy via ongoing integration of A/B/N and multivariate testing, and present case studies to show how to achieve significant successes in maximizing conversions and return on investment through an ongoing process.

We’ll also cover the digital marketing strategy behind the testing and optimization process, explain how A/B/N and multivariate tests are ideally designed and conducted, and use case studies to illustrates how these strategies can be successfully applied across a wide variety of campaigns. Along with measurable lifts in conversion, revenue and ROI, the session will demonstrate how an ongoing content optimization strategy can be managed and evaluated while providing a library of testing and optimization best practices.

Register for the April 29th sessions of Increasing Conversions, Revenue and ROI through Content Testing and Optimization.

Register here for the 11 am webinar session 

Register here for the 2 pm webinar session 

Live Q&A will be provided after the discussion. Hope to hear you all there!

We understand that designing and creating new products in this sector is difficult – users not only have high expectations from their new technological devices but they also expect to be able to use such devices easily with little or no help system.

OTOinsight’s is pleased to announce a new webinar titled ‘mobile insights’. Key points include:

• details of research methodologies and techniques that can be used to understand the customer’s ‘informational landscape’
• explores how to make mobile applications not only ‘usable’ but also ‘engaging’ so that your customers want to use them time and time again.

If you would like to share in this piece of research than please join us on Thursday 15^th April at either:

11am EST (4pm GMT)

2pm EST (7pm GMT)

Insight into who we are

OTOinsights has an array of experience in the mobile and technology sector,  conducting research and developing products and online solutions for leading mobile and technology organizations.

Our lab based usability studies have provided recommendations on how to improve eservices for pre-pay and post-pay customers. Whilst our usability testing has helped identify key ergonomic factors to develop the most effective design for products.

Through strategy projects completed OTOinsights has shown how using a combination of:

• usability research
• focus groups
• ‘extended use’

can help our clients understand user needs and engage with their audience.

Learn more about our mobile handset and app experience

Met office app review

London Underground Tube status app review

Motorola Dext handset review

BBC News app review

Google Finance app review

HTC Tatoo handset review

HTC Touch2 handset review

Sky Sports Live app review

Amazon app review

HTC Hero handset review

Australian Open app review

Rightmove app review

Free Webinar April 8th at 11 AM Eastern and 2 PM Eastern

One to One Health and OTOinsights will share the results of a first-of-its-kind pharma neuromarketing study which moves user effectiveness research beyond the focus group or the and inevitable cognitive bias that results. The study, conducted using our proprietary Quantemo™ offering, examined not only how patients view but also neurologically react to and emotionally respond to pharmaceutical brand websites in a single therapeutic category (allergies). We will discuss the neurological, emotional, and eye tracking data collected and the implications that the results have on best practices for designing branded pharmaceutical websites. 

Attendees will also learn about the fundamentals of neuromarketing and how it can be leveraged by marketers to better answer critical questions about perception and effectiveness for digital content like websites, banners and email messages before the content is put into the marketplace. 

The Quantemo Engagement Index uniquely combines combines neurological, socio-motor (eye tracking) and emotional measures into a single index in order to remove cognitive bias and provide a comprehensive, fully-rounded view of user engagement.

This event is over, but you can watch a recorded version of the event at:

https://onetooneinteractive-events.webex.com/onetooneinteractive-events/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=2177387&rKey=27aefec3dc88544