I thought I would mention some recent interactions I have had with automated retailing as I have had a couple of experiences that I think highlight the lack of user experience consideration.
I haven’t had a physical air ticket for years. Nor have I sat in a travel agent while they tapped away and responded with a “computer says no”. I book, check in and board without needing assistance or a printer. I also get a greater sense of ownership and control of my ‘journey’. I am a real sucker for changing my seat more than once (don’t ask, we all have our foibles). The final piece in the jigsaw was the iphone screen boarding pass – that still makes me feel like I live in the future…
Compare that to a recent journey I took with my family on a train. Again, I booked using the operator website, was provided with a booking reference and told to collect my tickets at the station. I collected a total of 12 pieces of paper from the machine (for 4 people, 3 needing tickets). I had so many I cleared out the tray just in case I missed one. We then decided to treat ourselves to an upgrade to First Class, so I now had a total of 15 tickets that filled half of the table.
The tickets were checked by a machine as we entered the platform, again on the train by the ‘train manager’ twice, and finally as we left the platform in Liverpool. Each time meant me searching through a book of tickets, and passing them to my wife and children (all while carrying numerous bags).
The journey itself was lovely – space, time to read, friendly staff… but something was niggling me. Why cant my train journey be as seamless ? why haven’t they adopted more efficient (better) ticketing and customer journeys ? My cynical side thinks its because they haven’t had to – there has been no 9/11, no competitor that costs a 1/10 of the price. Necessity is the mother of innovation.
UK Supermarkets are also guilty of poor UX – at a recent shop I was presented with 8 printed vouchers for BOGOF toilet tissues and the like, a receipt telling me I had saved 8p compared to a Tesco shop and a £10 voucher for a delivery service (please don’t come back )!
Given the hugely complex back end supporting the various schemes (Tesco is a data company) I question the logic of all this unnecessary paper that fills my wallet. There are 2 issues here…
1) They need to show me clearly where they are making an effort (BOGOFs & saving) – is there no better way to share this with me than paper ???
2) The vouchers represent potential savings - they are dependent on redemption rates being so low that the lost revenue doesn’t harm earnings.
Vouchers aren’t the real issue with supermarkets though.. The inhuman voice stating “unexpected item in the bagging area” has replaced the dulcet tones of “clean up in aisle 4” by a checkout lady. I can clearly see the benefits of the system to both business and customer – the proposition of automated tills and smaller queues is clearly a compelling idea to any retailer. So where did it all go wrong ?
It is interesting as in the UK, the major retailers all have a slightly different system or at least have the same system with different variable settings. I find Sainsburys easiest to use, while Tesco and WHS almost always require a reset by the supporting staff member. Maybe I use Sainsburys more often, maybe I use it more often because it is easier…
I can understand the challenge – I don’t mean the technology. I mean us customers aren’t terribly honest or helpful most of the time. The real issue to me seems to centre around the systems ability to check what has been scanned is what is in the ‘bagging area’. This requires the system to access other forms of data (weight etc) to check authenticity. This works, but is unreliable when there is a pesky human messing about.
I can almost see the look of disgust on the engineers face when he / she will have been shown the research videos of failure mode screaming “you’re not supposed to do that !”
I understand, I really do. They are clever, amazing things that can perform almost all the tasks of a cashier, but they just don’t work well enough – or should that be the other way round ?
That they are just about good enough.
Fine - set the bar low, get to market quickly, manage the negative response and grow. That’s how its done isn’t it ? My carefully considered response is… NO.
UK retailers are some of the best in the world. They have created highly complex systems to ensure we get our fruit and veg uniformly fresh from all corners of the globe to every store in the land. THAT is impressive. Why would a retailer then step back and allow that wonder to get lost in the disappointment when the customer is actually paying – the one moment that the whole edifice was created to serve?
I am not advocating some radical redefinition of retail here (although there is scope for that). It is simply a matter of creating a richer definition of work flow – wireframing and prototyping user experiences that include the irrationality of human behaviour, or the variability of response.
This is the important bit – this variability is rarely included because it is complex to measure and can ‘dilute’ the purity of optimisation and technical developments. Yet it is the complexity that makes it valuable. If it is difficult to do, then others will find it difficult to follow, and those who do it well will have a competitive advantage. To paraphrase JFK – we need to do it because it is difficult, not because it is easy.
There is much talk about the need for innovation to stir up our moribund economies, but to what end ? Why do we need innovation ? If it is all about the money then we create things like CDO’s and other such poisonous financial tools. We need an inclusive vision, a collective goal that drives us forward...
Here’s my suggestion - We have spent years creating, establishing and building this incredible network of interconnectedness powered by accessible tools and ecosystems– now what ?
The technical challenges inherent in this development were immense and solved by people with way more brain power than I can imagine (along with a shedload of determination). But the same brains cant provide the solutions to our new challenges.
If the ‘noughties’ were the age of the geek, then I think the ‘teens’ will be the age of the UX designer. The challenge is not how, but why and to whom, and that is our collective call to action, our moon goal – to make the digital and physical worlds we inhabit more pleasant, more productive and more compelling places to exist.
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