Think Humongous

Microsoft Surface Improves Retail Customer Experience

During the past month, I’ve been following Wirestone’s user experience and development team who are developing several retail applications on the Microsoft Surface. During this process, it has been become evident that it will be the retailers that understand the importance of experience-based differentiation that will explore how they can use the Surface platform to influence, sell to and service their consumers.

 

Unlike single-user, touch kiosks and point-and-click web in-store experiences, the Surface enables consumers to have a much more compelling, social and branded shopping experience. A table approachable from any side, the Surface removes physical boundaries, like the mouse and keyboard, and encourages people to interact with the experience together at the same time. Because the Surface interface is based on touch, every time a finger, hand or physical object interacts with a Surface, a response occurs making the experience feel alive and natural.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Surface takes retail technology to a whole new level because it is able to recognize and read objects (such as product tags and other objects) to start, facilitate and add to the exploration of a product or group of products. In looking at the applications Wirestone created, it was interesting how much more natural it was to search through large product selections and customize and configure products, using object recognition on the Surface.

 

Based on the application I’ve seen for retail applications, it is clear Surface customers will see several advantages to the platform:

• Increase customer engagement through a very friendly and addictive touch interface that tells your brand story while it sells

• Create rapport and build relationships between customers and employees because it enables playful and collaborative conversations around products and services

• Improve and simplify the shopping experience for products and services that have customization, compatibility or configuration options

• Place sell up options in front of customers in a compelling and persuasive way

• Increase reach by placing a Surface – an immersive brand and product experience – where customers gather, which may not always be in a traditional retail location

Because of these advantages, retailers should think about how to fundamentally improve

• Are there consultative transactions that would be better served sitting in lounge chairs around the Surface?

• Is it more productive to conduct traditionally multi-shopper experiences such as signing up for gift registries, buying a car or designing a house around a Surface?

• Would consumers buy more products (electronic gadgets, culinary products, etc.) if they were shown when and how to use them?

• Is there a segment of customer that would prefer an exclusive or private showcase shopping experience

The Microsoft Surface is giving retailers unique opportunities to redefine the shopping experience, improve customer engagement in the store, and most importantly increase the revenue at checkout.

 

Scour - Social Search with Benefits

I’ve been using a new social search engine called Scour for my searches today.

Scour aggregates content from Google, Yahoo and MSN into one results page. It is considered a “social search engine” which means it integrates algorithm driven technology with the user community’s input to increase the relevancy of the results. In this case, Scour takes the user contributed ratings and comments and adds them to the search results. People who use Scour get points for each search, as well as for leaving comments and ratings.

Registration was quick and easy with only a few fields of information required to get started. I could have chosen to add a bunch of friends and get points from their usage in a sort of network marketing, be then ambassador way. I’ll leave that to a starving college student.

When you search, you can choose to see the Scour results or Google, Yahoo or MSN’s results. If you have preference for which search engine results to display, you’re only a click away.

The user interface is very simple and follows all the normal search conventions. I liked the way the comments and rating features were integrated onto the search results page. It made it easy to remember to leave a comment and rate the content. (Because, you know, those are worth more points!)

Speaking of points, here’s how you earn them:

• Search – 1 point
• Vote – 2 points          
• Comment – 3 points
• Friend Referral – 25% of each friend’s points

Beside the points, what are the benefits?

Because social search leverages human judgment to determine relevance and rankings, it should yield more current and more relevant results. However, I’ve got to believe that’s somewhat offset by the fact that there are so many unique searches conducted it would take a long time for comments and rating to really impact results. During the time I searched today, I didn’t run into anyone else’s comments. But then, it just launched.

Scour is an interesting concept – particularly for people who like watching points accrue. I guess if you’re getting the same results you’d get on Google, Yahoo or MSN, but potentially earning a Visa gift card, why not? It will be interesting to see if it gains wide-spread adoption and among what demographic. After a normal day of search engine use, I’ve earned about 90 points toward the 6,500 I need to get a $25 Visa gift card. Just 73 days of searching left!

You can check out how Scour works here:

Summize - Bringing Insight to Social Networking

Twitter is great. Summize is awesome.

Summize takes all the posts from Twitter and makes them searchable. Try these searches and see what information you can glean:

• Enter the name of a company or product and see what the vocal minority are saying (for example, try Microsoft, Apple, Blackberry)
• Enter the name of people who Twitter (try some of my Twitter Peeps: @liamorgan, @guykawasaki, @marobella, or @e_winters) and see what you find.
• Enter the name of an event (for example, Microsoft Partner Conference, NECC) and find out the hot topics and where to find event blogs
• Search for topics that interest you, and you'll find like-minded people to follow on Twitter

To get a peek at the role that all this micro-blogging will play in the future of search, check out Summize Labs sentiment ratings. Check out the sentiment of a brand or product and see what the latest posts reveal. While this has a way to go, imagine a day when you search for company, product or service and can see the latest "consumer reports" and can immediately tap into people who can tell you their about their direct experience with a product.

Developing Retail Applications on the Microsoft Surface

I had the opportunity to spend time with several members of the Microsoft Surface team in preparation for developing retail applications on the Surface for a client that must go undisclosed at the moment.

The Microsoft Surface gives interaction designers four tenants to create the user experience:

1. Natural user interface: Imagine an interactive experience that can start anywhere (without predefined user navigation like kiosks or web navigation)
2. Multi-touch: Well beyond a “swipe,” the Surface incorporates multiple gestures and multiple touches at once
3. Multi-user: Multiple users can interact with the Surface at once, making collaboration and social networking a possible part of the experience
4. Object recognition: Lay an object on the Surface and make it part of the experience

Immediately the mind starts reeling with ideas for applications. In order to deliver a compelling customer experience and maximize the return on investment, ask the following questions to focus and evaluate your ideas:

How can you use the Surface to improve the in-store customer experience in a way that:

• Simplifies and/or accelerates the consumer's buying process
• Increases the value of each sale
• Surprises and delights the store guest
• Is additive to the current shopping experience
• Offers a deeper brand experience
• Makes the brand values palpable

How can you use the Surface to extend the customer experience beyond the store?

How can you use the Surface to increase store traffic and/or word of mouth?

How can you extend or expand current retail store marketing iniatitives with the Surface?

Is there any application you can deliver on the Surface using the client’s products that demonstrate how the product works that is not currently possible to demonstrate in the store?

Are there logical content partners that may want to pay for ‘space’ on the Surface that add value to the brand or experience?

When and where can the Surface be the store when a physical store doesn’t exist?

With all the ideas and issues on the table, you can look at how you blend the virtual and physical experience to affect your consumers’ behavior in the shopping experience and impact their beliefs about your brand.