This week let’s think about time.  How does time change the customer experience online?

I was thinking about how we arrive at, consume, leave and (maybe) come back to different digital experiences. This has big implications for social media where developing awareness, wonder and trust all happen over time, outside the single customer experience model.

What got me thinking about time long-term was a typical gnarly discussion among some colleagues and clients this week. We have a new e-commerce application going up that provides samples of a product. So we started asking all the typical questions about measuring success.

Should we change the design when we saw what led people to buy samples? What if most buyers didn’t buy during their first session, but needed several visits before they were ready to buy? If we changed the interface based only on customers who bought in their first session we might be screwing things up for most of the buyers!

So what are some of the ways that time works to improve a digital customer experience?

Obviously I’d like it if an application or Website got to know me and understand what I wanted. On the other hand I’d be creeped out if it spied on my data from other applications, wouldn’t I?

I like that Northwest Airlines recognizes me when I went to www.nwa.com when I book all my travel. Will www.delta.com do the same? Everyone is tickled about Amazon’s predictive marketing, but that’s more about other people’s behavior than mine. I want my bank to know me well. Certainly my kid’s school, but schools can’t afford to spend a lot of money on Websites.

Here’s five interesting takes on the notion of how time affects customer experience.  I’ve included an in-store example from McDonalds because I think what happens digitally in-store is become more and more important, as well how mobile will affect in-store experience in the future:

BABYCENTER.COM: Here’s a natural use of time-based programming to build customer loyalty.  Babycenter.com provides a range of newsletters all of which follow you in time.  If you sign up for a pregnancy newsletter, you give your due date and they begin to track you.  Just before the due date the content might change to “things to remember when you go to the hospital,” and then after the due date you might get one on “when will my baby sleep through the night?”   Baby and child information is completely dependent on the age of your kid.  A two year old is an entirely different person from a three year old.  These people understand: Babycenter.com

BEST BUY’S INSIGNIA BRAND: Give those busy folks at Best Buy credit for staying up late thinking about stuff.  For years they’ve tried own house brands with varying degrees of success.  Their latest new house brand, Insignia, is designed to be designed in collaboration with you.  Here’s the deal: you sign up to join their Insignia community and you’re over a long period of time you will be asked to collaborate in deciding what products get built, with what features and how they will be brought to market.    It’s one more signal that the Richfield, MN based super-retailer is dead serious about bringing social media / crowd-sourcing into the DNA of the company.  Word is that WalMart is spending $75 million to upgrade their electronics departments, which is one more great big reason that Best Buy wants to put the emphasis on the word “Best:” Insignia Brand

RE-IMAGINING THE McDONALD’S IN-STORE EXPERIENCE: What happens the moment you enter a McDonalds?  What happens when you walk up to the cashier–what do you see?  How do you feel?  What’s the eating experience like?  Clinton Barth is a Chicago-based user experience strategist and designer who was part of a team assigned in 2006 to examine the entire in-store experience and imagine how it could be improved.  He has posted a case study on this, which makes for facinating reading about how one of America’s great brands thinks about the customer in-store journey.  Timely ideas, given how major retailers, grocery store chains and shopping centers have to think about integrating channels and upgrading the in-store experience: Clinton Barth Case Study of McDonalds

HEAVY THINKING ABOUT TIME: Ruminations on how time affects story-telling.  This is a Skype video conversation with Marleen Stikker, Director of the Waag Society, media lab in Amsterdam , NL. She introduces The Waag mission on social innovation and collaborative creativity and also elaborates about the role of dramaturgy for the design of time based social and collaborative experiences with new media technologies: Conversation with Marleen Strikker

LIFEHACKER:  This is about time-saving.  Many people follow Lifehacker because it is constantly filled with new and valuable links to help you lead a better, more sane life online.  Last week I found an app that diables the “Caps Lock” on my computer.   For years the single most frequent typo I’ve made is reaching for the “a” with my pinkie and HITTING THE CAPS LOCK.  Consistently wonderful advice and links to help save time: Lifehacker.com

Next week’s Take5: E-Commerce and Customer Service Online : the Art of the State

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