INTERFACE MAGICHannah Donovan 12 June 2009

WHAT IS “CONVERSION”?

WHAT IS “MAGIC”?

★ An unconventional delightful quality (i.e. the magic of the theatre)

★ Mysterious tricks (such as making things appear and disappear).

★ Oooh! How did it know?

★ Wow, that’s so cool, it just…worked

★ Huh...what just happened?

★ WTF! Why did it just do that for me?

★ This is so paperclippy! Gah!

Magic can be used for evil and awesome

When you use magic for awesome, it’s an experience users will come

back for.

Good experiences convert.

Magical experiences convert better.

GOOD EXPERIENCES

“Customers online don’t respond to a brand marketed to them, they respond to the experience they have. If they can accomplish their goal quickly and easily,

they return to the site, and tell their friends. It’s that simple.”

— Mark Hurst

MAGICAL EXPERIENCES

…ARE RISKIER

SECRET INGREDIENT:EXPECTATION

MAGIC POTIONINGREDIENTS:★ A handful of expected★ A pinch of unexpected

DIRECTIONS:★ Mix until ratios are right (for your user)★ Test and try again

EXPECTATION

PERCEPTIONEXPECTATION

BAD MAGIC

CASE STUDY:OLD LAST.FM SIGN UP

CASE STUDY:TWITTER SIGN UP

CASE STUDY: WEBSITE X

★ The magic should work quickly

★ Don’t get too clever. Let people learn on their own. It’s satisfying.

★ If the functionality exists, expose it . No behind the scenes auto-magical whizbang.

★ Stick to the vernacular, don’t make people learn the names of your spells.

SUMMARY

GOOD MAGIC

CASE STUDY:NEW LAST.FM SIGNUP

CASE STUDY:FACEBOOK

CASE STUDY:HYPEM.COM

★ Expose magic early,

★ Expose the functionality. Show the user how things happen.

★ Always have empathy. Keep in mind what they want, write use cases and let that guide your decisions.

★ Foster serendipitous moments

SUMMARY

MAKING MAGIC

★ Comes after creating a good experience

★ Is built on understanding what your users want (empathy)

★ Is risky

★ Relies on a precise ratio of the expected to the unexpected.

★ Has an element of delightful surprise

★ Shouldn’t get to clever; expose functionality

★ Should let the user learn on their own

★ Should happen quickly

★ Should use “plain English” or Dutch ;-)

THANKS!hannah@last.fm @Han (twitter)