Tag Archives: Customer Engagement

Out & About: Target’s Gaming Touch Screen

I heard Chris Borek from Target speak at the Digital Signage Expo earlier this year and walked away from it impressed with their approach to serving customers – “it’s about interacting with the customer on their (the customer’s) terms, on their schedule.  It’s not about being there all the time, it’s about being there when they need it.”  So, I was not surprised when, over the weekend, I saw this touchscreen in the middle of their electronics/gaming section.  Apparently, they’re planning a full chain roll-out with these babies.

Let’s put her to the test and see how she does.

Purpose – They are here to sell games.  They’re providing this solution to make it easier for you to a) search for the game you want b) search for the game you don’t know you want c) find the most convenient store for you to get it at and d) get the information in the form you want.  This experience delivers on all fronts.  If I were looking for a game, I would go straight to this touchscreen vs. a store employee, but that’s just me.  If I was intimidated by this touchscreen and wanted the comfort of a store employee, that employee could walk me straight to this and step through the experience with me (hopefully, that’s what they’re trained to do.)  In that regard, it even levels the playing field for all of those employees – now they don’t need to know about every game in the store.  The technology serves that purpose and allows the employee to focus on the customer.

Drama – As you can see, this touchscreen was built into the display unit and it all looks very nice.  You can tell they spent a lot of time thinking this through and designing the entire unit, not just the touchscreen.  I don’t know how they could have done a better job with placement, although it would have been much more noticeable if it were right on the main aisle.  (As it is, it’s hidden behind the display unit on the main aisle.)  Once I noticed it, the subtle animation and large text with prominent call-to-action made me want to interact with it and set my expectations on exactly what I needed to do.  In my opinion, they made a good decision with the vertical monitor – it creates more of a dramatic impact than the same size horizontal monitor and for this type of information, I think it makes for a better use of space.

Usability – The interface was set up very much like a web interface.  In some respects, it mirrors Target’s online experience, certainly the way in which the content was bucketed.  I didn’t have a problem finding the information I wanted.  In some cases, there were multiple ways to get to the same content, which I think is good.  And regardless of where I was in the experience, I could always “Go Back” Home and “Notify an Employee.”  It’s great (and smart) to have those anchors.  I think it makes the user feel comfortable that they can always get the information that they ultimately want, even if it isn’t through this touchscreen experience.

Interactivity – This experience was touch-based with email & mobile integration.

The screen was responsive to touch and aside from the internet connection (which I suspect is needed to utilize their web content management system), I thought the experience itself was fluid and smooth.  The email & text component was simple and provided only the information I needed in either of those channels.

Information – All games, all systems, all accessories, all the time.  The content here is hooked into Target’s chain-wide inventory, so if the store that you’re in doesn’t have what you’re looking for, you can locate it at the stores closest to you.  In addition to the product information, they worked in a social component via user reviews.  That said, I couldn’t find any user reviews in the games that I searched (which I think can be easily remedied with some seeded content), but it might have just been by chance that those specific games didn’t have reviews.  This application didn’t seem to have any un-needed information and it didn’t seem to lack any either.  Everything in here seemed purposeful.

Personalization – There wasn’t much personalization in this experience, but there was more than in the touchscreens that I’ve previously featured.  The email and mobile component was a nice, personal touch and a step in the right direction to make the experience personal.  I think they have the opportunity to build user’s profiles, recommend content based on previous purchases, incorporate a loyalty-type program – all might not be appropriate for the everyday consumer, but would certainly help Target compete with stores like GameStop with the hardcore gamers.

All in all, this was a very good, efficient application.  One of the best I’ve seen, and certainly the best touchscreen that I’ve featured here.  Why other game stores and movie stores (like Blockbuster) and music stores don’t do this more, I just don’t understand, especially if they’ve already got a good system online.  I think anyone who’s considering building/updating a retail-based interactive application should go to their nearest Target and play around with this for a little while – you’ll learn alot.

Great Mobile Engagement from Kioskcom

Yesterday, I wrote about Pongr, a new mobile technology that I experienced over the past week and found to be valuable and easy – two traits that should aim to be the bedrock of any campaign, certainly any mobile campaign.  Today, I’ll show you another example, but from the standpoint of a brand doing this, through the use of another valuable & easy technology.

Kioskcom/The Digital Signage Show – the brand in this case – did a commendable job of extending the experience through mobile last week during their conference, particularly with the use MS Tags and SMS.  I was delighted when I registered and picked up the guide/agenda/planner and saw a MS Tag at the bottom of the guide:

With instructions, no less.  Again, it’s such a small thing that is often overlooked, but I think you can never be too detailed on instructions with new technology.  They provided step-by-step instructions so anyone (literally, anyone) could follow:

Since I’ve done work with MS Tags, I already had the app installed on my phone, so I immediately took a picture of it.  I was directed to the Kioskcom home page where I could navigate wherever I wanted.  This wasn’t necessarily what I found to be the most valuable.  It was when I opened the guide and saw MS Tags on every page:

This was where the value to me came in.  First, this guide was the only reference material that I used throughout the conference and I actually liked it.  It fit in my bag, was easy to manage, included everything I needed about the show, to the succint detail that I needed, and then with the use of these tags, I was able to get the one-off details that I needed, when I needed them.  For instance, if I wanted to see one of the speakers’ bios, I could easily access it through the tag.  If I wanted to see details on exhibitors, I could easily access them through the tag.  I didn’t have to thumb through a big, hard-to-manage show guide that most often comes with any of these shows.

And if that weren’t enough, they set up a special short code to “opt-in” to receive regular show updates via SMS.  So, instead of relying on any of the kiosks or digital signs (ironically enough) or audio announcements, I was again able to get the information I wanted when I wanted it, through the channel I wanted it on.

This, really, is a perfect example of a brand utilizing many channels to engage with their audience in the most appropriate way – here, the intention was to extend utility.  Mission accomplished.

I think the true power of “out of home” as an advertising and communications platform is that it can bridge the gap in the story – the story that you can get from your TV, then all of the different stories you can find on your computer, and now even more on your mobile phone.  Marketers utilize these channels on a daily basis and they’re engrained in the ecosystem.  I think traditional out of home is in this mix, too, but I think we have such a unique opportunity in front of us with all of the new technologies at our disposal that the true value is extending the story through interactivity outside of the home.  And “out of home” to me is not necessarily billboards or kiosks or “digital” signs.  It can really be anything that we interact with outside of our homes – tables, floors, cars, magazines – whatever.  Pretty soon, everything will probably be considered a “sign,” so I like to think of the space as extremely broad.  (Tangent – in fact, “digital signage” is still immature right now and I don’t know that we’ll see it become mature.  I think we have a great chance of leapfrogging its maturity and welcoming something entirely different to the mix.  This would be everything around us.  For another post, I know….)

Valuable and easy.  Two traits personified again through the use of mobile technology, thanks to Kioskcom/The Digital Signage Show – or should I say the new, appropriately named brand, Customer Engagement Technology World.

Shout if you have other examples of valuable and easy through mobile.  I’d love to hear them.

BrainJuicer Keynote

The keynote this morning was centered around creating outstanding engagement and winning customer’s hearts and was brought to us by Bill Ratcliffe from BrainJuicer, a consumer-focused research firm.

While the talk was a little scattered, it was good.  They’re all about “feel.”  And for me, this is something that really resonates.  I’m very much a “feel” person.  I decide many things, in and out of work, based on “feel.”  So, these guys center their research around emotion and at the end of the day, want the customer to leave with a “little gift,” feeling happy (as we all do.)  This was just an interesting way to look at research and then think about how it could be applied to create the best content for the best channel.

In these days, getting attention, much less engagement, is very difficult.

Within the industry, we think of pushing out information (talks to the brain), providing some form of entertainment (talks to the heart), or transactions (talks to both).  Consumers really know when you’ve hit the mark.  When they feel an emotional reaction, they talk to other people.  How do we become part of that conversation?

Where we’re going with this was best summarized by James Brown – “I feel good!”  Emotions drive our motivations and our decisions – we think less than we think we think.

We move too quickly (in mkt research), we look too quickly to “evaluating” things, not particularly audience emotions.

People know when it works – they just feel it.  But why is it that we never ask people how they’re feeling?

If you win hearts, you’ll make money.  Just ask Apple.  You can have the same measure of effect and greater efficiency by really tapping into emotional response.

Key message ads – one piece of advertising looks a lot like the other – falling within existing expectations, your content/creative won’t stand out.

How do we know if we are winning hearts?

Paul Ekman – did a lot of work universally recognized facial expressions – ID’d 7 emotions – sadness, fear, disgust, anger, contempt, surprise, happiness.  These guys (BrainJuicer) added another expression – neutral – no reaction.  They put all of these together in an emotion wheel (actually 12 different types of happiness) .  Then, they ask people how they feel.  Their formula – “Which of these faces best describes the way you feel?”  And “How intensely?” And then “What triggered these emotions?”

He showed a 1:30 ad with a gorilla, playing drums – to Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” – was by Cadbury – on an emotional scale, this is one of the top performing ads, but from a marketers key message POV, didn’t score high.  It was a gift, not a “selling” ad – they went out and bought the product, sales rose and sustained before Kraft bought the company (“of course.”)  The thing that really works is not going into something that’s way out there that will put people off  – you want to create a little bit of surprise and then leave them happy.

You can go for the “same ol” or you can go for “crazy new” – we’re starting to see more going to “crazy new” – this is good.

Questions:

Any books that you can recommend on topic?  Wisdom of the Crowds, Pow – Right Between the Eyes

Real-time facial recognition implementation into these?  This would require high powered analytics behind the scene.  Could be in the future, we wouldn’t have to ask.  But we would have to ask the drivers.

And We’re Off at Kioskcom..(Starting with a New Name)

So far, so good.  I’m digging the feel here, particularly around the sessions and the content that they are providing.  I’ve been to 3 back-to-back sessions all morning and have not had a chance to recap any of them.  (I still don’t understand why we don’t have wireless access in any of the sessions.  It sure would make it a lot easier.)

My general takeaway up to this point – this is much more geared to an agency audience.  There’s lots of talk about content and audience.  In fact, starting in November, this show will be renamed Customer Engagement Technology World.  As you can see in the logo, the emphasis is on “Customer Engagement,” which I find very refreshing.  I also like the fact that “Technology” is included because although not the primary emphasis, it is a vital element.

I get into conversations all the time of the importance of technology in this industry.  From a marketer’s standpoint, these are just “other channels” – the technology doesn’t “really matter.”  I can see that point and agree to an extent, but when the technology is so new and evolving rapidly, it can’t be treated as just “another channel.”  It has to be mentioned in the conversation and it has to be treated a little differently.  At least until marketers start to treat it like like the other channels – TV, radio, print, Internet, and to a lesser extent mobile.

This is a good show.  Much more to come soon!