Designing the User Experience Curve

In this 2008 talk, Andy Budd, a founding partner at the user experience consultancy Clearleft, looks at what it takes to design a great customer experience. People now expect more from a website than a handy set of tools and a pretty interface: from the moment they arrive, they judge it on everything from the visual design to the tone of its error messages.

They also don’t just compare your site with other sites. They judge it against every customer experience they have ever had, from the rude man at the train station to the friendly hotel clerk on holiday. To compete, Budd argues, designers need to look at experiences both online and offline.

Using examples from the world around us, he walks through seven key factors that go into designing the perfect customer experience and shows how utilitarian experiences can be turned into something wonderful, mostly at little or no cost. Small touches such as helpful microcopy and well-placed delighters are among the patterns that put this into practice.