First of all, one can wonder how these rankings are built. As it is rarely clearly stated, we can only suppose that the number of downloads of an app governs its position in the table. But again, over what period of time? Number of downloads in the last month, quarter, year? This brings in the process a lot of vagueness and can surely not be used as a success measurement tool. Moreover, as Jakob Nielsen suggests in his column about iPhone App (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-apps-initial-use.html), users download more app than they actually need and use, which corroborates the idea that the number of downloads is not representative of the usage and can be resorted to as success criterion.

Then comes the question of the popularity of an app. App owners can write comments on the app description pages of the AppStore and rate them on a scale from 1 (negative) to 5 (positive). As a user experience professional, I strive to get the voice of the customer heard by my clients but I don’t consider it to be a viable success measurement method. Personal opinions are very subjective and tend to be only expressed when something goes wrong or incredibly well. Moreover, most of the app ratings derive from the ‘rating prompt’ that pops up on the iPhone when a user decides to delete an app. This biases the results in a negative way.

So how should the success of your app be measured? From a business perspective, the response is simple: the success of an app should be measured just like the success of a website, i.e. by defining and tracking KPI. Most of the apps provide a web-based service, which implies a digital connection between phones and web servers, just like there is a connection between PC and web servers. This allows data to be captured, such as number of information requests, conversion rates, app usage duration, app usage frequency, etc. In terms of web analytics tools, the capture of mobile phone applications usage is only at an embryonic stage but the trend is on the up and some of the current tools on the market are already capable of monitoring app usage.

Boasting about an app being the most used rather than the most downloaded would surely be more credible to end users!

Recently, I applied for a new mortgage online. I took the advice of a trusted friend (thanks Rich) of which type to get. His recommendation was backed up with examples of positive news reports and friend’s feedback on their great customer experiences, so the decision was made to go with First Direct.

The type of mortgage I’m getting also requires me to open a bank account, and as the bank doesn’t have any physical branches, all correspondence and paperwork is done through the mail. This is where things got confusing.

Due the new bank account and mortgage sign up process, piles of letters started to land on my doorstep. I was very confused as it was impossible to identify which ones required action. Then I received a call from a pleasant woman at First Direct enquiring as to why my legal mortgage documents had not been returned to them. This is exactly the kind of polite and timely reminder that someone like me needs; it was brilliant.

However, I still have not quite finalised my new mortgage because I’ve still not sent back all the necessary documentation. First Direct are going to resend the letters as I need to sign and return to them.

But now reflecting on this whole process, it’s very clear to me that the nice phone call reminder and offer of resending documents just aren’t as good as sitting down with someone who could have explained what was required. It has made me recognise the added value of cross-channel options; a bank branch, a call centre and online banking.

Until now, I always thought some companies are a bit old fashioned but there’s nothing like sitting down and speaking to someone face-to-face.

Thankfully, the industry has its very own Super Mario in Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East. Watson, known for his advocacy of the local gaming industry, set up a Facebook group called Gamers’ Voice which attracted 15,000 members in it’s first two weeks. More recently, he has taken the PM at his word by tabling an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the Government to implement a tax break for game production in this year’s budget. In an interview with gamebiz.com, he describes how he gathered support from “Labour, the Lib Dems, the Tories and the SNP to support a motion calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to introduce tax relief for the video games industry”. Read the full interview at gamesbiz.

The pressure is on the Government to act, with an election looming and an electorate jaded with pretty words and empty promises. The Tory Shadow Arts minister, Ed Vaizey made similar noises at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts event ‘Playing the Game’, saying his party would “look seriously” at support for the industry should they get in this May. Typically though, this was tempered with warnings that nothing may be possible if they were to inherit an economic mess…which, sadly, seems fairly likely.

The UK currently leads the way in revenue from game sales (£3.3billion in 2009) despite a 20% dip during the recession. But other European countries such as Germany, Portugal, Sweden and The Netherlands weathered the recession far better with software sales staying fairly constant or even increasing, and the gap is narrowing. Clearly the Government relishes the revenue which the gaming industry brings in and are making all the right noises about support, but the economic crisis cut deep and all rational economic models say that the worst way to pay off a deficit is with tax cuts. So from where will the quid pro quo come? Is this simply a case of “You scratch my back, I’ll pat you on yours”? Or perhaps more accurately, “You scratch my back, and I’ll treat you like a cash cow and do nothing while you hemorrhage talent to Canada and the USA”.

The research, which was carried out at a university in Glasgow, used neurological measures EEG and Electrooculography (EOG) in tandem with behavioural analysis software to measure Webstress; this not only allowed us to see the user’s facial expression and what was going on the screen but also what was going on unseen, below the skin. This extra dimension afforded us fresh insight into the pitfalls that users experience when interacting with poorly performing sites.

This EEG cap was used tandem with behavioural analysis software

If you would like to find out more about this research you can download the white paper.

Or if you have any questions and would like to how we can help identify and overcome barriers with your online offering, please get in touch.

Read Wednesday’s press release or view promo video.

Accordingly, as of today, a ballot screen can be downloaded via Windows Update (or automatically downloaded if you have this set up in XP, Vista or Windows 7) which will ask users to choose between Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE and Opera as their default browser.  Microsoft are calling the initial roll out a “test” of the choice screen, which will be followed by a full roll-out in early March.

So which browser will you choose? What will the market share pie chart look like this time next month? Will the anti-corporate outrage deliver big wins for the little guys? Or will people just keep doing what they’ve been doing? Presumably people who care about this sort of thing are already using their browser of choice so, no biggie, and those who don’t care…well, they probably still don’t care. My guess is that there may be a little shuffling of deck chairs, with IE losing some ground to the other browsers, but ultimately I’d be surprised if we saw a dramatic shift in any direction.

Still, anything can happen in the wild and wacky world of the interweb, so I’ll make sure to have the brown sauce on hand if the time comes to eat my words…

I agree that the iPhone is an excellent piece of kit in many ways and those who own and use one often promote its usage (sometimes tediously!) However, my testing highlighted a couple of areas that were not acceptable to the participants and in fact, gave a negative user experience. These were:

• When a text message is received on an iPhone, the phone ‘wakes’ and the entire text message is displayed on the screen for all and sundry to read. I mean, I am not Tiger Woods, but I wouldn’t want everyone who was passing my desk to read my message – especially if I wasn’t around to hide it!

• When the phone is locked and an incoming call is received, the user cannot reject the call but only has the option to ‘slide to accept’ it. You can mute the call by clicking on the physical button at the top of the left hand side but not everyone is aware that this button exists. So, what are your options – to let it ring itself out (before you ring its neck!) or to answer a call you may want to avoid?

Out of interest, are there any others out there (come on all you iPhone users) that can suggest improvements? Please comment below…

What I find most interesting is Daniele’s solution, concluding that most agencies are getting it “very right” (a statement I, along with millions of web users would probably take issue with) but that until they have dedicated user experience specialists they will continue to get the balance wrong.

We hire plenty of UX professionals who join us from agencies frustrated at their low level of involvement in client engagements and the relative contempt with which their skills are considered. We routinely hear that UX was the first thing to be cut when customer budget’s got tight and if you are reading this and disbelieving of it, the evidence is all around us that user experience is still not taken seriously. We have only to think of the interactions we have had online in the past week to find a comical illustration of a poorly designed user journey or a disconnect between experience and design.

This issue will not be solved by agencies building dedicated UX teams nor will it from customer experience consultancies bleating on about the need for their skills. It will be solved by clients taking their customers seriously, recognising the opportunity to differentiate that a well designed customer experience will offer them and then demanding that budget is allocated and work completed.

10 years ago a brand could be forgiven for not specifying that the website they have just commissioned must also be usable – it was not an unreasonable assumption that if you asked for a registration process people would actually be able to register using it. The truth, as we all found out, was that unless it was considered it didn’t happen. But 10 years on the subject has lost its sex appeal because everyone is doing it right? Wrong.

Marketers claim to be reaping the benefits, as evidenced by the explosion of ads in Facebook recently, but is it to users’ benefit or their detriment? What are We getting out of the bargain? Is it enriching our lives or just making it easier to sell us stuff? Where social media succeeds over other media is by convincing its users to do the advertiser’s work for them. Every time we click a link or join a group, we might think we’re engaging in solidarity (support single sex marriage) or activism (RATM for Xmas No.1) or showing off our pop culture cred (Invader Zim), but what we are really doing is posting ads in our friends’ news feeds and sharing ads with them. As Facebook UK’s Commercial Director, Stephen Haines, puts it: [P]otential customers can directly engage with your business by clicking on the “Become a Fan” link or the “RSVP to this Event” link…this action automatically creates a story on the person’s profile page and possibly in their friends’ home page “Highlights”, generating free distribution for you.” Facebook “fan” pages are never going to replace a corporate presence on the web, but social media offers an interesting way for marketers to gather data on users’ opinions, behaviours and preferences by allowing them to consciously identify themselves with brands they like without ever feeling like a corporate stooge. And chances are they’re spending a flip of a lot more time on Facebook than they are on the corporate site. Marketers know this and they get it, but I’m not sure users do. The distinction for users is that they’re not part of a brand, they’re part of a community which identifies with that brand…but for all intents and purposes it’s an online focus group.

Similarly, market researchers are getting in on the action with Facebook Polling. Next time you click on one of those seemingly innoculous polls at your friend’s behest, thinking you’ll get to see how closely your opinion ranks against your cyber-buddies, you’ll effectively be clicking on a banner ad. You’ll also be giving the marketer who paid USD$50 to set it up the poll a candid view of your opinions, behaviours and preferences in context with the 99 other people who clicked it in your geographic region. Ray Pointer of Virtual Surveys told utalkmarketing.com: “These polls are clearly not going to replace U&A or ad-trackers, but they could spawn new ways of working. Traditionally, we have expected everything to be designed before the research begins, but often the basic assumptions were wrong.” Any one else reminded of the opening lines of HG Well’s War of the Worlds?

“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.”

I wouldn’t go so far as admit to the intelligectual superiority of our marketing bretheren, but they sure are some clever people.

Another point raised was about placing this kind of customer service in context with other business priorities. Within many companies resources are limited, so it should be these priorities that decide where resources are used. If it is a choice, should the customer who rants on Twitter be prioritised over the customer who has been left waiting for 10 minutes on the customer service phone line? The challenge is understanding what levels of communication are appropriate for a particular company, how these should be implemented, and how these can fit in amongst other concerns.

If brands are truly throwing away their traditional marketing campaigns in favour of third party channels such as Facebook then I would agree it is unwise – but only ‘today‘. Because today you cannot connect the dots and establish the identity of twitter’ers and other anonymous users of social networks, but that will not always be the case. There will come a time when total transparency exists online and your anonymity will be lost. Every transaction, every interaction via the web leaves a trace and slowly but surely analytics tools are bringing these traces together. Data analytics tools are powerful now and it won’t be long before we will be able to identify the patterns that connect LinkedIn profiles to tweets, Spotify, Amazon, dodgy blog, dating and dare I say porn accounts. Beside the implications for individuals that total transparency highlights, there are enormous implications for marketers. The issue raised by McCormack that marketers, by turning there backs on traditional marketing methods and putting all their eggs in one anonymous social media basket are making a huge mistake needs revising. The distinction he makes between a well managed CRM campaign and the use of a Facebook page is surely wrong? Doesn’t a well run CRM campaign include social networking? Where does advertising fit in as surely offline advertising presents the same profiling issues that anonymous social networking does? I read a paper recently about the future of the postal service and it predicted the end of letter postage within 10 to 15 years. Email will have almost completely replaced letters in that period and yet has only been in existence for 15 to 20 years. What will social replace? McCormack is right to raise the data ownership question at the centre of his point. If brands handover ownership of customer data to third party sites in the same way that consumer goods have to the supermarkets in the grocery space they are in making a big mistake. In today’s world I am not sure that they have to providing they have a clear measurement strategy as part of their strategic marketing plan.