Unbelievable line. Long and serpentine. Inside, a packed crowd. Michael Boeke seemed like a smart guy. He was talking to several hundred SXSW anticipators about Designing for Trust. Which was mostly about creating digital communication that would pass the “cool or creepy” test. As Boeke put it, “When a user knows you got their data and they don’t know what you’re doing with it, that’s creepy. When they know how their data got there and it’s helping them, that’s cool.
From there, the session was mostly like a reminder to use good manners when building websites and apps. Transparency. Control. Give users choices. Be transparent about people. As in, use real people. Ang give users access to real people. Be genuine. Show customers pictures of other, real customers. And be transparent about your motives. Let people know what you’re really doing. Shocking stuff.
Tell people what the cost is. Give users control of sharing. And let them control “undo”. Everyone should get a “do over” when they need it. Most of all, Boeke believes in integrity. Integrity through consistency. And quality. “Can you do what you say you can do?”
Here are my notes from the session.
- Media, religion, government — trust in decline.
- Trusting people in decline 33%.
- But we’re trusting apps and Craigslist and Tinder.
- Launching Synap to facilitate collaboration. Getsynap.com
- Cool | Creepy (line)
- User knows how their info got there and it’s helpful then it’s cool.
- Transparency. Control (choices)
- Be transparent about people. Show real people. Bodes well for our website.
- Give them actual people to talk to.
- Uber does this by showing the drivers photo.
- Also show other users, customers. Client logos, testimonials. Authentic is important.
- Pictures of people should be representative of the people they represent (customers).
- Be transparent about motives.
- Be transparent about pricing.
- Price is one of the most useful bits of information for making decisions.
- Give users control of sharing.
- Fandango wants to know your location all the time.
- Give users the control to undo.
- Integrity through consistency. And quality. Can you do what you say you can do.
- Lock icons. But you have to demonstrate quality.
- Prove your integrity through oversite. (Badges in footers)
- Certified.
End of notes.
So now I’m waiting. There’s been a snafu with my badge. So I’m not sure what my next session will be. The adventure continues. Stay tuned and find out in my next post if I have become enriched by another valuable SXSW session. Or will I tell you what I did after I said, “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges.” Stay with me people.
Keep up with the entourage at SXSW by following along on the Agency Entourage page dedicated to SXSW 2015
