Usability Consultancy

 By Clare Mitchell Crow

Since 2001, our organisation has evolved rapidly and continually in order to stay one step ahead of technology and consumer trends – we have evolved over this short span of time from focusing on usability, to the overall customer experience. Over decades the discipline has transformed from a fundamental attempt to understand how humans might interact better with mechanics, to a technologically advanced collection of processes and services developed to improve all facets of the customer experience.

Usability, as we know it, first emerged in the UK as a result of the intensive use of technology during the Second World War. People realised that adapting machines to meet the needs of humans, improved human-machine reactions, speed and performance. The science expanded into telecommunications, then computers, and the rest is quite literally history. All the digital technology we now take for granted was developed and refined as a result of pioneering usability testing.

Of course the analytical consultancy, research services, customer insight and experience management expertise we draw upon today didn’t leap directly from wartime mechanics. Studies of human-computer interaction (HCI) and other behavioural sciences led to a major focus on user-centered design in the 1980s and 90s. Consultants began to realise the importance of encouraging end users of products to participate in the design process, rather than simply being shown a range of finished designs for comment. A discipline with its roots in the military and academia had to realise that revenue-driven businesses rarely had the time for blank canvasses, blue-sky thinking and constant design revisions – they needed user centered design to drive mutually pleasing results as quickly as possible.

Customer experience consultancy as we know it today evolved directly for this realisation. Bringing the story right up to date, even the very latest ISO standard for human-centric design is now demanding a far greater emphasis on human involvement.

The revised version of the human-centered design standard ISO 13407, renamed ISO 9241-210, is now out for public comment until April. Its aim is to ensure interactive systems have usability at the heart of their design. The critical change to the standard is that the four key human-centered design activities are now requirements, not merely recommendations. As pointed out on Econsultancy.com, anybody claiming that a product or service adheres to the standard must now:

• Understand and specify the context of use (including users, tasks, environments)
• Specify the user requirements in sufficient detail to drive the design
• Produce design solutions which meet these requirements
• Conduct user-centered evaluations of these design solutions and modify the design taking account of the results

Essentially then, the new standard means organisations and ultimately their developers must have humans heavily involved in design evaluation to get the tick. It also emphasises the role of iteration in design and that humans should be consulted throughout the design process, not simply in testing results. We have to consider not just how we test, but when we test, and who we test with.

The practice of evaluating and refining usability has evolved considerably since we first made the transition away from surmounting mechanical obstacles and functionality issues and began instead to look more closely at the user, or customer. A more acute emphasis on the people who actually use the products and services we test, has led to us taking a more holistic view of interactions, interfaces and the entire experience.

That is why the many elements of a modern customer experience consultancy add up to so much more than just usability testing. The reason we employ innovative research techniques such as eye tracking or Electroencephalography (EEG) alongside tried and tested methodologies such as card sorting or ethnography, is because ultimately we want to provide the most valuable insights possible for the companies that ask us to help to make their customers happy.

Prompt Communications, a specialist in PR, marketing and social media communications, has been awarded the UK PR account for Foviance, a cross-channel user experience consultancy to the world’s leading brands.Prompt will work with Foviance to develop thought leadership initiatives, increase brand awareness and ultimately drive lead generation through a mixture of traditional media outreach, analyst relations, social media, thought leadership communications, and speaker engagements. Read more…

Neurological research provides crucial insight into customer experience from an emotional perspective

London, UK, 19 December 2008 – Foviance, the expert in customer experience, has launched a pioneering new method of measuring customer experience for ecommerce and gaming website visitors. Electroencephalography (EEG) research provides the means to gather detailed information on a user’s emotional relationship to a brand or service.

Neuropsychologists have shown that 85% of decision making happens at a subconscious level. Foviance has also tested and proven emotionally engaging websites to provide higher commercial returns.

EEG involves measuring electrical activity in different parts of the brain in response to certain stimuli. Once the preserve of the clinical lab, Foviance has pioneered the use of EEG in the assessment of user experiences. By recording reactions at different stages of interaction with a website – with emotions ranging from excitement and anticipation through to anxiety and boredom – Foviance can provide detailed and specific site design recommendations that improve customer conversion.

Foviance customers have already started to benefit from EEG. So far, Foviance has analysed the emotional responses of online poker players, measured response to imagery alternatives on a travel site and identify effective merchandising strategies for an online retailer. EEG can be used to assess emotional response to various types of stimuli and Foviance plans to apply the method to understand the multi-channel user experience. For example, it is possible to gauge people’s emotional engagement while on the phone to a call centre.

Marty Carroll, consultancy director, Foviance said: “We recognise that differentiation in user experience for many brands means moving beyond simple efficiency, performance and functionality, towards connecting with consumers emotionally. We are incredibly excited to be bringing this complex neurological science to the marketing industry for the benefit of businesses and consumers.”

EEG on PKR gaming research

PKR is an online poker playing site that uses advanced gaming technology to provide 2.25 million subscribers with personal, involving and highly entertaining poker games. Foviance and PKR used EEG to measure players’ visceral responses to different stages of gameplay and gameplay outcomes. Foviance research revealed that for the novice player, PKR offered much higher levels of emotional engagement compared to competitors’ sites. Foviance was also able to identify the peaks and troughs in concentration, the areas that cause confusion for the novice player and the importance of the tutorial stages in engaging customers. Now PKR is also aware of how high levels of concentration and focus on what is happening in some stages of the game mean that the company can optimise cross-marketing and up-selling opportunities during the game.

Simon Prodger, marketing director at PKR Technologies said: “This method of user research helps us understand the all important emotional experience that customers go through when using our site. This is very important to PKR as we aim to provide the most engaging poker experience online. Foviance’s insight has helped us identify how we can harness and develop the unique aspects of PKR’s engaging and immersive approach to online poker to ensure that our customers enjoy the highest quality experience possible.”

Foviance EEG measures factors ranging from cognitive and visual attention to emotional attraction and engagement, revealing the pattern of visceral activity during an experience. It uses an Apprehension/Excitement index to reveal how people respond to specific incidents and allows for comparison with other everyday activity benchmarks.
The service, developed in tandem with Neuroco is available immediately from Foviance.

Press Coverage

econsultancy: EEG: cracking your clients’ sub-conscious
By Marty Carroll, February 19, 2009

Easss.vox.com: Online poker firm engages in scientific inquiry in order to relaunch their site
By easses.vox.com, January 25, 2009

LobsterPoker: Using science to assess Poker player preferences
By Diana Sterling, January 18, 2009

NetImperitive: Guest Comment: Winning minds through cutting edge consumer marketing
By Marty Carroll, Foviance, January 12, 2009

GamblingReview: PKR.com Researhes Brain Reactions To Provide Better Service
By Gambling Review, January 9, 2009

UsabilityNews: Online poker company uses Science to assess Player Preferences
By Joanna Bawa, January 8, 2009

DigitalResponseMedia: EEG research ‘could aid internet marketing’
By Digita Response Media, January 8, 2009

ZeroStrategy: New advance in brand relationship
By Zero Strategy, January 7, 2009

SwissPoker: PKR Getting Inside Your Head
By Richard Honegger, January 7, 2009

Online-Casinos.com: Getting inside your head
By Online-Casinos, January 6, 2009

GlobalGold: Foviance: Understanding decisions improves business
By: Global Gold, January 6, 2009

BCS: New Method ‘finds brand emotional relationship’
By BCS, January 6, 2009

4flush.com:  Mind-Blowing To Brain Scannin; What’s PKR Poker Up To Now?
By 4 Flush, January 6, 2009

RecentPoker.com: Online poker company uses science to assess player preferences
By RecentPoker.com,  January 6, 2009

RuffPoker.com: Online poker company used science to assess players
By RuffPoker, January 6, 2009

GamingIntelligence: PKR Turns to Neurology to Understand Player Preferences
By Gaming Intelligence, December 23, 2008

DealerSupport Customers’ emotions to be analysed
By Dealer Support, December 23, 2008

NewMediaAge PKR taps into user emotions with Foviance
By Charlotte McEleny, December 18, 2008

For further information:
Melanie Hesketh / Becky Cheers
Prompt Communications for Foviance
+44 208 996 1638 / +44 208 996 1636
foviance@prompt-communications.com

Foviance is buzzing today with the public announcement of the acquisition of Applied Insights. Neil Mason joined on Monday and is already having a big impact on the team and the general feeling of excitement is palpable. Within Foviance, the acquisition was an obvious one, and I feel very proud that Neil feels Foviance is a good fit for him, and Applied Insights in terms of culture and reputation. I’d like to explain in a little more detail why I think this is good for Foviance’s customers and team.

Back in July, Foviance created a new analytic insight team that was formed from the ‘old’ WebAbacus consultancy team. We had taken the decision a while ago to separate the consultancy and services from the technology, as the vast majority of Foviance clients were using Omniture, WebTrends, Google, Core Metrics or any one of a number of other web analytic technologies, and increasingly we were being asked to help. Separating the consulting team from the technology allowed them to treat WebAbacus as just ‘one of the technologies’ they support and clarified our independence throughout the consultancy teams.

Due to WebAbacus’ capabilities as a data mining tool (as much as a web analytics tool), the consultancy team is very skilled in data analytics, data integration and marketing analytics. We have been able to build on these skills and the existing relationships with the likes of Omniture and Google to develop a decent consultancy offering. However, whilst we have scale with the team numbering five people before the acquisition, we lacked leadership and reputation in this area and for all the complex cross-channel customer experience and data analytics work we do, too many of our clients still see us as a usability company with a web-analytics technology on the side.

Neil will lead and develop our enlarged team and has a clear vision of how analytical consulting needs to evolve in order to deliver maximum value to blue chip businesses over the next 3 to 5 years. His reputation in the space is second to none and alongside my colleagues Catriona Campbell and Marty Carroll, further enhances Foviance’s ability to talk to senior figures about customer experience strategy.
So another stage in Foviance evolution and one I am really excited about. We are already benefiting from the news with new potential clients asking for assistance. Looks like we are going to be busy – no change there!

This post originally appeared on Applied Insights’ blog. Foviance acquired Applied Insights in November 2008, with Neil Mason joining us as Director of Analytical Consulting. As part of this acquisition, we’ve incorporated Applied Insights’ blog into our own.

London, UK, 6 November 2008 – Foviance, the expert in digital customer experience, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Applied Insights, a leading provider of analytical consulting solutions to blue chip businesses. The acquisition will accelerate the development of Foviance’s technology agnostic analytics division and supports Foviance’s strategy to provide a comprehensive customer experience solution to its global customer base.

The acquisition brings Applied Insight’s director and co-founder Neil Mason to the Foviance team as director of analytical consulting. With his vast experience, he will serve on Foviance’s board of directors and lead the company’s new initiative and analytical consulting practice. Mr. Mason is a renowned industry figure and brings Applied Insights best practices of predictive analytics, optimisation and measuring digital marketing effectiveness to Foviance. He also brings with him Applied Insights existing blue chip client base which includes Barclays, BP and Total Jobs and he will have a pivotal role in developing further Foviance’s strategic partners such as Omniture and Google.

Neil Mason joins Foviance with 25 years of in-depth industry experience in marketing analytics and strategy. Prior to founding Applied Insights, Mr. Mason has worked in a number of senior leadership roles for many major companies including QXL ricardo and Research International UK. He also currently serves on the board of directors of the Web Analytics Association, the global industry body for digital analytics professionals.

“The combination of Foviance’s expertise in delivering seamless cross-channel experiences with Applied Insight’s leadership in understanding data analytics, is ideal for our customers, both in providing innovative services and optimising usability and conversion rates” said Paul Blunden, CEO, Foviance. “Our combined global customer base now has a partner with proven expertise to deliver a strong blend of business, analytical and technology consulting capabilities.”

“Many e-businesses are looking to improve their online performance but are not clear about what they should be measuring or how to measure it effectively, our merger with Foviance presents us with an incredible opportunity to improve the digital usability experience for businesses globally,” said Neil Mason, director of analytical consulting, Foviance.

About Foviance

Foviance is a leading customer experience consultancy that works globally with some of the world’s best known brands to deliver measurable improvements in performance. .

Founded in 2001 and with a heritage in website usability and data analytics, Foviance delivers consultancy to its clients about the effectiveness of their individual channels, such as mobile, web and call centre and how they combine in a cross-channel environment. For many clients, insight is provided not only in their home market, but also internationally through Foviance extensive alliance network.

Foviance engages with its customers wherever they are in their product lifecycle, and provides insight so they understand how to improve, create and deliver excellent customer experiences.

Foviance boasts 43 of the UK FTSE 100 companies among its client roster, including Barclays, BSkyB, and Sainsbury’s. In addition Foviance works with International brands such as Astra Zeneca, Dell and Nokia. For further information please visit: www.foviance.com

For further information:

Melanie Hesketh / Becky Cheers

Prompt Communications for Foviance

+44 208 8996 1638 / +44 208 8996 1636

Foviance@prompt-communications.com

Foviance, the expert in digital customer experience, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Applied Insights, a leading provider of analytical consulting solutions to blue chip businesses. The acquisition will accelerate the development of Foviance’s technology agnostic analytics division and supports Foviance’s strategy to provide a comprehensive customer experience solution to its global customer base.

Neil Mason joins Foviance as director of analytical consulting.

The acquisition brings Applied Insight’s director and co-founder Neil Mason to the Foviance team as director of analytical consulting. With his vast experience, he will serve on Foviance’s board of directors and lead the company’s new initiative and analytical consulting practice. Mr. Mason is a renowned industry figure and brings Applied Insights best practices of predictive analytics, optimisation and measuring digital marketing effectiveness to Foviance. He also brings with him Applied Insights existing blue chip client base which includes Barclays, BP and Total Jobs and he will have a pivotal role in developing further Foviance’s strategic partners such as Omniture and Google.

Neil Mason joins Foviance with 25 years of in-depth industry experience in marketing analytics and strategy. Prior to founding Applied Insights, Mr. Mason has worked in a number of senior leadership roles for many major companies including QXL ricardo and Research International UK. He also currently serves on the board of directors of the Web Analytics Association, the global industry body for digital analytics professionals.

“The combination of Foviance’s expertise in delivering seamless cross-channel experiences with Applied Insight’s leadership in understanding data analytics, is ideal for our customers, both in providing innovative services and optimising usability and conversion rates” said Paul Blunden, CEO, Foviance. “Our combined global customer base now has a partner with proven expertise to deliver a strong blend of business, analytical and technology consulting capabilities.”

“Many e-businesses are looking to improve their online performance but are not clear about what they should be measuring or how to measure it effectively, our merger with Foviance presents us with an incredible opportunity to improve the digital usability experience for businesses globally”, said Neil Mason, director of analytical consulting, Foviance.

Execs & Accounts UK & EU: IAB U.K., MySpace, Foviance
By Jack Marshall , November 10, 2008

Miles Bennett: Applied Insights joins Foviance
By Miles Bennett, November 8, 2008

NetImperative.com Foviance snaps up consulting solutions firm
By Net Imperative, November 07, 2008

M&Adeals.co.uk Foviance gains Applied Insights
By Ryan Daff, November 07 2008

Liesdamedlies.com Applied Insights falls into the gaping Foviance maw
By Ian Thomas, November 07,2008

Research-live.com Usability consultancy Foviance acquites Applied Insights. By James Verrinder, November 06, 2008

Mrweb.com Foviance Buys Applied Insights.
By www.drno.org – Daily Research News Online, part of www.mrweb.com, November 06, 2008

Growthbusiness.co.uk Foviance Acquires Applied Insights
By Growth Business, November 06, 2008

By Brooke McPherson

In a ‘non-scientific study’ in 2003 Challis Hodge did a simple Google search on known job titles within the User Experience (UE) design field. Not only was this interesting to me because of his exhaustive list of titles and roles, but because ‘Information Architect’ was fifth in the rankings.

This is interesting to me because I have read many articles such as David Heller‘s ‘Why I’m Not Calling Myself an Information Architect Anymore’ (2002), that have approached the topic of role title verses role responsibilities. Although these articles are relatively old for a young field like User Experience, I believe these issues have still not been resolved.

A major hurdle when looking for a job within the UE industry, is interpreting the difference between the role title and the actual responsibilities. Many jobseekers can spend a lot of time clarifying that ‘User Experience Designer’ actually means ‘Usability Consultant’ or that ‘Information Architect’ just means ‘Wireframe Monkey’.

The one thing that I noticed from my past experience, which is much larger than the title verses responsibility issue, was that some companies, agencies or consultancies that encompass these roles were not focussing on the bigger picture… User Centred Design.

User Centred Design should start from the very beginning of a project, regardless of whether an agency, a consultancy or the client is managing the project. The ISO 13407 (1999) states: “Human-centred design is an approach to interactive system development that focuses specifically on making systems usable. It is a multi-disciplinary activity.” As a multi-disciplinary activity, the project needs to have many specialists within these disciplines, this includes usability.

This brings me to my point which is quite simply; roles need to be clearly defined in order to understand where they fit within the multi-disciplinary activity that is User Centred Design.

Foviance has just completed some research with call centre consultancy RXP, and its managing director Paul Weald and I presented the findings at the CCF/Customer Strategy Conference. Together we researched the travel industry to establish how well it delivered a multi-channel customer-experience. The research followed a similar piece carried out late last year and early this that focussed on the performance of 25 retailers.

Foviance has already conducted a range of multi-channel research, but this was the first work we have carried out in conjunction with a call centre consultancy. RXP is interesting because it focuses on the experience the call centre provides rather than simply performance metrics. I found that surprising, given the loathing the vast majority of consumers have for call centres. This was reason in itself for us engaging with RXP.

Most call centre consultancies appear to provide expertise in the areas of throughput, call centre staff motivation and operational infrastructure and management. These are all worthy causes but are all supply side and perhaps explain why service in call centres is considered so shoddy. To an extent this was supported anecdotally when I availed myself of a free massage provided to speakers at the conference. The young lady who took on the challenge of un-knotting my shoulders revealed that she finds call centre work fascinating – mainly because she can now see what goes on from both sides of the call. That moment when you are put on hold for some inexplicable reason becomes clear when you see the call centre operative using the self same moment to gather their thoughts and use the stress relief of a quick curse!

What surprised me most about the research was how utterly incompetent 90 percent of the companies we looked at were. Before we even examined whether the multi-channel experience worked – did the experience join up? did the call centre operative have the same view that the online customer did? – we had to get over the basics.

The usability issues were amazing. We found architectural and navigational problems that may not have surprised me seven years ago, but today, after so much education and such improvements in understanding, beggar belief. Some of the functionality failings were also staggering: instant messaging functionality that never got answered; call back technology where no call ever came; email facilities that in one case, nearly nine months later, has still to generate a reply (a major high-street supermarket, before you ask!).

Once we got our teeth into the call centre it was even worse. In quite a few cases I wondered why the organisation was providing a call centre at all. It must have been on someone’s list: “Website? Check. Call centre? Check. Okay, we’re done here.” The service offered no value add to the customer at all. The organisation itself often had even less access to information than the customer. Staff were not trained to up-sell, cross-sell or handle difficult calls. What purpose could any of this serve?

The recurring nightmare that the research revealed time and time again was that organisationally, many call centres, websites, and any other channels for that matter, are on the whole, managed by entirely separate functions. In many cases the channels actually compete with each other and the customer is in no way the centre of attention. If you want to find out more you can download the white papers from either the RXP or the Foviance websites.

As the economy tightens I cannot see how organisations that fail at the basics are going to survive. If spending is tightened, improvements won’t be made and customer loyalty and conversion will suffer. My hope is that this economic slow-down, like many before it, will force organisations to make dramatic changes and that ultimately the customer will benefit.