UX: What Do Users Really Want? Ease-of-Use, That’s What.

There are days, most of them, really, when I wish I could carry Gerry McGovern around in my pocket. He’s just so spectacular at cutting to the chase when it comes to consumer interactions and the web.

So, why don’t more organizations get usability? Because they often measure the wrong things. Like satisfaction, engagement, interaction, relationships, loyalty. So much marketing and branding hyperbole.

“Feeling overwhelmed, consumers want support – not increased marketing messages or “engagement” – to more quickly and easily navigate the purchase process,” Corporate Executive Board (CEB) stated in a study it published in 2012. “Brands that help consumers simplify the purchase journey have customers who are 86 percent more likely to purchase their products and 115 percent more likely to recommend their brand to others.”

In a study of 7,000 consumers, CEB found that only 20% want a relationship with a brand. In a study by Havas Media in 2013, over 90% of Western consumers said they wouldn’t care if most brands disappeared. Brands and marketing has a hugely inflated view of how important they are in the lives of customers. It’s time to get real.

“Our research indicates that the impact of simplifying purchase decisions for consumers is four times stronger than the favored marketing strategy of engagement and is the number one driver of likelihood to buy,” said Patrick Spenner, managing director at CEB.

Read the whole thing.

P.S. — Read that first paragraph of his again. Now again. And again until it’s memorized.

The Virality Buzz

What makes a video go viral? That’s the $64,000 question, as your grandma used to say. Truth is, we all have some suppositions, but there’s a lot of throwing the dice and praying going on.

I do know that every time I’ve deliberately set out to make something go viral; it’s not met my expectations. The things that have been wildly successful I did because I wanted to do them. I had no expectations of virality. 

The young producers behind these BuzzFeed videos are probably not thinking about how you develop an audience and what that means over the long term. And they probably don’t need to; they just need people like me behind the scenes somewhere, pushing the bean counters out of the way.

Below is an embed of the hilariously deadpan Andrew Ilnyckj as the Creepy Guy, one of a series of BuzzFeed videos that has gone viral this year.

Here’s an interesting Nightline clip (via FishbowlNY) about the BuzzFeed office in Los Angeles and their creation of these wildly popular videos. I have been captivated by them recently, trying to unlock the secret recipe so that I can translate what they are doing to different parts of the galaxy — you know, education, non-profits, arts — people who need some virality in their messaging but seldom have the wherewithal to make it happen. I’ll get back to you; I’m nearly there.

In the meantime, watch.