For Customer Experience Professionals

Four Mistakes To Avoid When Hiring An Interactive Agency For Design Projects

by Vidya L. Drego, November 11, 2009

Finding the right agency is difficult for clients and agencies alike. With so many agencies to choose from and so many skill sets to evaluate, narrowing a list of similar players down to one can be an overwhelming task — one fraught with potential missteps . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Interactive Agencies Struggle With Web Usability

by Vidya L. Drego, September 25, 2009

Forrester applied its Web Site Review methodology to 36 reference sites provided by 18 interactive agencies. Only one site received a passing score in our evaluation. The highest numbers of severe failures resulted from poor text legibility, unclear menus, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Interactive Design Agencies Go "Above The Line"

by Vidya L. Drego, September 3, 2009

Dramatic changes in consumer behavior and the economy have caused companies to shift budgets from traditional advertising to interactive marketing. Interactive agencies ride the trend with partnerships, acquisitions, new services — and a much bigger role . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Do Site Owners Approach The Agency Selection Process?

by Vidya L. Drego, September 1, 2009

Finding the right agency partner can be a difficult and onerous journey. To help shed some light on the process, we surveyed 41 customer experience professionals, 40 of whom are working with or have worked with an agency in the past. Our respondents told . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Persona Best Practices Of Interactive Agencies

Forrester Applies Its Evaluation Methodology To Personas Provided By 18 Large Interactive Agencies

by Vidya L. Drego, August 27, 2009

Forrester applied its persona evaluation criteria to reference personas provided by 18 interactive agencies for the recent Forrester Wave™. Most of the personas showed some room for improvement, with problems running the gamut in both type and severity. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How Do Interactive Agencies View The RFP Process?

by Vidya L. Drego, July 17, 2009

Site owners often report difficulty finding and hiring the right agency. Despite carefully preparing requests for information (RFIs) and requests for proposals (RFPs), they struggle to identify the right agencies, and when they do, they fail to receive . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Interactive Marketing Agencies — Web Design Capabilities, Q2 2009

Sapient, imc2, Razorfish, And Iconnicholson Lead With Ibm Interactive Close Behind

by Vidya L. Drego, June 5, 2009

In Forrester's evaluation of the Web design capabilities of leading interactive marketing agencies across 18 criteria, we found that Sapient, imc2, Razorfish, IconNicholson, and IBM Interactive led the pack for transaction-led projects — due in . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Where To Find Help For Web Design Projects, 2009

North American Interactive Agencies Report Their Capacity, Budget, And Industry Capabilities

by Vidya L. Drego, May 8, 2009

Web site owners know that selecting the right Web design vendor can be a stressful and complicated endeavor. Budgets for design services are tight, but interactive design agencies are still selective about the projects they take on. To help kick-start . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Six User-Centered Design Best Practices

by Vidya L. Drego, February 17, 2009

In recent research, Forrester uncovered six best practices in the user-centered design process — for example, Medco links business objectives to customer goals, Wells Fargo uses scenario-starter exercises to gain early stakeholder buy-in, and KeyBank . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Low-Cost User Research And Usability Testing Techniques

by Vidya L. Drego, February 3, 2009

While customer experience efforts held up fairly well in 2008's slumping economy, many customer experience professionals can expect tighter budgets during the coming year. Luckily, user research and testing don't need to end up on the cutting room floor. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Match iPhone Capabilities To Customer Goals

by Vidya L. Drego, January 23, 2009

The growing popularity of the iPhone, G1, and similar devices has prompted companies to rethink their mobile data experiences. Instead of shrinking their desktop Web sites to make them accessible by mobile devices, firms are capitalizing on the power . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Quantitative Research Turns Staples' Personas Into Robust Decision-Making Tools

by Vidya L. Drego, January 7, 2009

After redesigning its Web site in 2002 with the help of personas, office-supply giant Staples wanted to see whether its personas were still valid, whether the site was meeting the needs of users, and what those users were doing after they left the site. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

UI13: User Experience Misconceptions Debunked

by Vidya L. Drego, November 19, 2008

Forrester recently attended the UI13 Conference for customer experience professionals. At the conference, leading practitioners and researchers discussed the latest tools and techniques that help companies improve their design and customer experience. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

How To Get The Most From Design Personas

It's All About Process, Buy-In, And Solid Personas

by Vidya L. Drego, October 14, 2008

Spending for personas continues to increase, but companies don't use them regularly. Our research uncovered three drivers of persona success: a design process that explicitly incorporates personas, an appropriately developed persona, and organizational . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Case Study: Iron Mountain Uses Personas For Marketing Success

by Vidya L. Drego, September 12, 2008

Iron Mountain's marketing team found that its product development priorities were driven more by advancements in technology than by customer challenges and pain points. To help remedy this — and therefore increase product differentiation and fit — visionary . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Department Stores' Cross-Channel Experience, 2008

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Vidya L. Drego, August 7, 2008

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large US department stores — JCPenney, Kohl's, Macy's, and Sears. As an industry, the department stores received average scores compared with other industries, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Airlines' Cross-Channel Experience, 2008

An Industry Look At This Year's Best And Worst Of Cross-Channel Design

by Vidya L. Drego, July 17, 2008

As part of a larger analysis of 16 firms, Forrester evaluated the cross-channel experiences of four large US airlines — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Air Lines. As an industry, airlines earned the highest average score, . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Usability And Cost Slow Mobile Internet Adoption

by Vidya L. Drego, July 9, 2008

Mobile Internet adoption in North America is still slow because while users find the content and services useful, they are not easy or enjoyable to use. This is due in large part to high cost of service and sites that are hard to find, see, and navigate . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Best And Worst Of B2C Site Design, 2008

Forrester Applies Its Web Site Review Methodology To 16 Major Firms

by Vidya L. Drego, June 13, 2008

Forrester applied its Web Site Review methodology to the site experiences at 16 firms — four each of the largest airlines, banks, department stores, and MP3 manufacturers. While Delta received the highest score, all 16 sites failed to pass our usability . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Use Personas To Design For Engagement

Highlights From A Panel At Forrester's Marketing Forum 2008

by Vidya L. Drego, May 8, 2008

At Forrester's Marketing Forum, we held a session with three pairs of agencies and clients that have used personas very effectively. When QVC and Critical Mass redesigned the QVC Web site to create a community for frequent television shoppers, personas . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Best Practices In The Out-Of-Box Experience

by Vidya L. Drego, April 8, 2008

A good out-of-box experience (OOBE) can reinforce the benefits of a product and brand while a bad OOBE can increase costs and returns. But it's not easy to get the OOBE right because the experience crosses many internal and external organizations and . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Newspapers Make It Hard For Users To Sign Up For Email Alerts

Forrester Evaluated Four Large Newspaper Web Sites

by Vidya L. Drego, February 22, 2008

Forrester applied an abridged version of its Web Site Review methodology to the site experiences at four top newspaper Web sites: New York Daily News, The New York Times, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times. Our evaluation looked at how well each site supported . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Mobile Site Review Scorecard 2.0 ¿ Reviewer's Guide (274 KB DOC)

by Vidya L. Drego, February 14, 2008

This is the Reviewer's Guide for the Mobile Site Review methodology. It aides in conducting a review and presents the research that supports the methodology.

For Customer Experience Professionals

Executive Q&A: Mobile Site Reviews

by Vidya L. Drego, January 25, 2008

Mobile site reviews uncover flaws that prevent users from accomplishing key goals like finding information, getting directions, or communicating with friends from a mobile Web site or application. To get the most out of the mobile Web site review, site . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Mobile Site Review Scorecard (182 KB DOC)

by Vidya L. Drego, January 24, 2008

This is the working scorecard for Forrester's Mobile Site Review methodology, which can be used to conduct Mobile Site Reviews.