"From the very start, e-commerce has empowered the customer to an unprecedented degree...
If the customer is in the driving seat, the logical next step is to rethink everything from that perspective."

Electronic commerce, 2000 Special Report on the Financial Industry
CAP GERMINI, ERNST & YOUNG

Susan Harkus

Engagement - get it right Trigger customer engagement Write to engage your users Support business change

Engagement - get it right

Business underwrites the design, development and maintenance of web sites but users own the online space.

If business seeks user engagement, then the challenge becomes to design for user tasks, not personas, and to write to engage, not 'publish' information online.

User-centred architectures + content & communications that engage
=> Business outcomes

Personas & scenarios Vs Task analysis

In the early noughties, a few user experience gurus became proponents of developing personas and scenarios to drive website design.

Personas and scenarios are concrete concepts and they appeal to professionals and business alike.

While personas and scenarios pick up elements of user agendas, they assume that online success depends on who the user is rather than on what the user is trying to do. They ignore the real online engagement trigger, the user agenda.

How do you make engagement happen?

Think of your website as a collection of engagement points. Your users come to the website with a specific purpose. That purpose takes them to a page where you want them to engage: to read, take notice, be persuaded and commit.

Content is king - write to engage your users.

Emails and intranets - don't miss the opportunity

In today's business environment, change management is a key business process but so often business fails to leverage e-communications and their intranet effectively to empower staff to prepare for and embrace change.

Contact Susan Harkus