Because we all have limited cognitive power, and because UX is something that is different for each one of us, it becomes really difficult for us to imagine a common pathway for our users so we tend towards over simplify it.
As creators we all would like to envisage that each one of users or customers lines up very orderly at the start point and progress nicely through the process that we have lovingly created for them to reach the end. Right?
If only that was the case.
We tend to think of customer journeys as linear entities that users neatly plod along on. But this is as far from reality as we can get.
The truth is that they are more messy that that.
The reality is that users experience a multitude of different emotions, situations, contexts and expectations that we can barely recognise. So one size definitely doesn’t fit all. We have to try to divorce ourselves from this otherwise we will potentially tie ourselves in knots. Many stakeholders within organisations that, I’ve worked in still have the mind set of setting out what they want to the user to do, usually sequentially. It becomes difficult than to switch a mindset into giving the customer what they want, when the need it.
Depending on the product or service, users will enter into that process that we have created at a multitude of different points and times under a multitude of different circumstances. Therefore the actual journey no longer becomes singular but becomes an array. The question then becomes more about how we can help and direct users on their way, rather than force them to overcome one item before progressing to the next.
So instead of steps to be achieved in the context of a sequence of page and thinking about these as a series of steps that need to be converted, the vision of the user journey should should comprise of a series of stages.
These stages can then transcend the sequence of pages and start to address users needs more effectively. For digital advertising revenues, it makes sense to get the user to visit as many pages as possible to be able to bump up page impressions; but in doing so it probably delays the user getting to where they need to go.
Great product pages are a great way of being able to explain this as a concept.
A great product page will prioritise the most important task to be done on that page right at the top of the page where it is visible and un-missable. Usually it will be next to an image of the product so that there is no ambiguity of what it is that a user will be buying and the user can associate with whatever shiny thing they need.
Now as the user scrolls further and further from the ‘buy now’ button, the more that the content should incrementally encourage the user to click on that button. Until right at the bottom of the page there is a useful ‘buying guide’ signposted to encourage the user to make a more informed choice thereby driving the user back to the page to click on that button.
The same principle that applies to a page can apply to a whole site. By understanding the context of the site and the user, it should be appropriate and easier to supply persuasive content and help to drive the user to the end goal. Afterall, if you just supply the ‘buy now’ button, what is going to encourage the user to act on it?
Frazer Cooper 