Not too long ago, social media was considered an extra way for customers to interact with businesses, perhaps an afterthought available for people unable to call, write or email.

Today, however, getting in touch with a company is as easy as someone pulling up a favorite social media channel, finding the right page, and asking questions, sharing compliments, or sometimes sharing something negative.

In 2013, a J.D. Power study showed that  67 percent of consumers visited a brand’s social media site seeking help, and only 33 percent were there for actual social/fun reasons. A year later, Forbes contributor Jayson DeMers encouraged every business to increase their service through social media, since it’s the place where the audiences feel comfortable expressing themselves.
For companies interested in offering better customer service, try these strategies.
1.Focus on ‘real time.’ A good rule of thumb is to try for “as fast as possible” – at least within an hour. The longer you go without responding, the more noticeable it can be – not just to the person who posted, but any other visitor interested in what you have to say. This approach requires vigilance from team members and perhaps alerts, but this pays off by showing you’re always ready to interact, day or night.
2. Take it outside. If someone posts a complaint on your page or Tweets something unfavorable, respond diplomatically where the public can see it, then invite them to discuss things off-line, where you can provide them more attention. Some companies may routinely delete negative threads or individual complaints, but this practice may cause frustrated people to become angrier or draw cries of censorship.
3. Make it easy for everyone. Since more users are using social media on their phones, that means they can easily send private messages, compose emails, visit a mobile-friendly/responsively-designed site, contact someone through their site or even find a phone number. This approach is recommended by Inc contributor Yoav Vilner who essentially said that today’s entire integrated model of customer service relies primarily on social media.
4. Incorporate texting in your solutions. Getting all the details of someone’s situation and turning things around might require more back-and-forth to get all the details. According to Trumpia, which offers resources for texting, more people prefer to have their problem solved through texting vs. a phone call.  Texpedite, another mass texting service, also can offer these solutions.
5. Keep brand-building in mind. You need to put out the bigger fires first in terms of figuring out how to get unhappy people happy fast. Taking this effort shows that you’re serious about your product and services. Once everyone calms down, you can remind them about fun promotions taking place and try to drive referrals to your site. If you are able to convince someone who has been frustrated to give you another chance, work even harder to keep them, and their friends, around.
6. It’s expected. According to Jeff Bullas, published at Inboundo, 93 percent of business buyers believe that all companies should have a social media presence, and 85 percent of this group wants to engage and interact with these companies. So a company that doesn’t have a presence may never be noticed by active social media users, no matter how well they focus on customer service.
7. Think preventatively. A company can certainly start rallying to give super service when something “breaks,” like a public problem with a product, service or employee. A smarter, but more challenging approach is to consciously make super customer service through social media the norm. This is the best way to build brand loyalty and keep people around when problems do happen. ZenDesk suggests regularly trying to hear from your customers beyond simple page views/analytics. This can be through surveys or simply spreading the word that they can share thoughts, questions or concerns anytime.

Author Biography
Sophorn Chhay
Sophorn is the marketing guy at  Trumpia, a mobile content delivery service that allows users to customize their one-to-one marketing efforts by interconnecting and optimizing all digital platforms. As an innovator in two-way SMS/MMS marketing, Trumpia’s mission is to empower brands and public figures with interactive access to their audiences, reaching targeted affinity groups in a personal way. Trumpia delivers world-class content such as video, ticketing, polling, products sales, contests and giveaways.
Follow Sophorn on Twitter(@Trumpia), LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+
Jumpstart your business by grabbing your free copy of his powerful Mobile Marketing Success Kit.
Watch Trumpia’s 5-Minute Demo on how to execute an effective mobile marketing strategy.

While many people are just getting comfortable with the term Search Engine Optimization, most people may not know exactly what all it encapsulates. In the past few years search engines like Google, Bing and even Apple, have been upgrading their algorithms to account for the end-user’s experience. Since their algorithms have been built by automated crawling bots it has been difficult to simulate the actions of a human. The search engines have now started to write logic to incorporate machine learning algorithms into the process.

So, what this mean for all the website owners and marketers when it comes to SEO? This means good news for anyone that performs digital marketing correctly. It means that “gaming” the system has become less and less effective!

You need to be thinking of the end user throughout the entire design process. If you want your page to appear in Google search results then you should start by asking what your customers are typing into the search engine. This sounds pretty basic but if you drilling down to this type of level you will have a better chance in showing in the search rankings. The companies that are answering customer questions are the ones that are starting to win in the rankings.

Custom T-shirts for the big game! Designed with getting the user to what they came for no matter how they got there!

This was a complete redesign of an outdated website that needed some all around clean up. With mobile first in mind this new look and feel helps users get the information they need no matter where they feel the need.

Drifter’s Pub needed a solution that they could easily maintain an would also be helpful to gain customers. Upon completion of the project Drifter’s had a online presence that they could not only easily maintain but that their customers could find online and across all platforms.

This project was a complete redesign from something that was not very user friendly or easy for the business themselves to maintain. When LMB took over Elroy’s had a content management system that was very dated and left them little to no control over the website. Upon completion of the project Elroy’s had a online presence that they could not only easily maintain but that their customers could find online and across all platforms.

Whether you’re looking to grab a tasty meal, enjoy a cold drink, or watch the latest sports game in Bloomington, IL, you can do all three in style at Elroy’s Bar. They have a great selection of food, from appetizers to burgers, chicken, wings, soups, salads, and more.

As a digital designer, it’s not always possible to be everything to everyone and wear all of the hats at the same time. Clients and stakeholders sometimes misunderstand the design process. They perhaps don’t always know that backend development and UX design are different disciplines to web design itself and so expect you, the designer, to be the all-knowing, all-fixing genius.

With this in mind and when you’re relatively new to UX design, you’ll certainly make some mistakes – nobody is infallible and some projects are just incredibly complex. To help reaffirm some good fundamentals, we’ve compiled some of the most common mistakes that we see in UX and some tips to help you to avoid them.

#1: Designing for yourself

We’ve all been guilty of the “genius mentality” at some point. When you work in a creative field, you form strong opinions and always try to filter facts through your own experience.

But to be a successful designer, you must isolate passion from ego. You’re not out to prove anything with your design, your only goal is to help the user while creating a memorable experience in the process.

Of course, it’s not always easy to distance your wants from the needs of the user. Designers feel an almost parental sense of responsibility over their creations, but you must make sure the responsibility is to users and not your ego.

The best way to learn how to balance restraint with passion is deconstructing the work of others.

Let’s take a look at the BBQ Cultures site by Weber Grills as an example of confident design that embraces its no-BS audience.

The bold rich colors, high definition images, and crisp intro video paired with masculine voiceover all appeal to the outdoorsman (or weekend warrior, for that matter). The site even uses a slider to reproduce some of the excitement of snapping open a grill to reveal the smoky meat – as you drag the hand icon from left to right, the grill lid opens. The mad-libs style form is also a perfect choice for the site since it creates self-confidence (no doubt appealing to the male audience).

The site understands the power of narrative, presenting the product in the context of a camping trip between a group of friends. But it doesn’t go overboard with design tricks: the animations and video last just long enough to capture your interest, then the site lets illustrations explain how to actually use the grill.

Richly animated yet content-focused, BBQ Cultures further delivers a consistent experience across all devices.  When run through the Google Mobile Friendly Test Tool, the site even earns an excellent score for mobile optimization.

Now that we’ve explored a visual case study, let’s examine a few more tips on staying grounded in the design process (from our free e-book Web UI Best Practices):

1. Always put yourself in the user’s shoes at every stage of the design process.
2. Create user journeys to map out how the site will be used by different user groups.
3. Work on buyer personas to further understand how different users groups navigate websites and what they want from the site and the company.
4. Identify difficult aspects of the UI in order to create initial wireframes for those parts so that it fits in with UX practices such as user mapping and journeys.
5. Test on as many real-world devices as possible. If the project is big enough, conduct some field research with users (at the minimum, you should always run moderated or unmoderated usability tests).
6. Carry out A/B testing to test various design elements such as colors, buttons, text, images, etc.

#2: Mistaking UX for UI

Like we described in Chapter 1 of Web UI Best Practices, UX does not equal UI.

Mixing up UI with UX is a common mistake, probably due to the renewed interest that we’ve seen in both disciplines. It’s not surprising, as the abbreviations are similar and this is enough to confuse some people who aren’t familiar with the disciplines in the first instance.

The other reason is that the two are of course related. UI is concerned with how the user interacts with the interface of the site, which is naturally a part of the overall user experience.

But while UI is all about which buttons to press and where to go next (e.g. the clarity of the interface with regards to user goals), UX is concerned with how the overall design makes the user feel.

In a nutshell, the goal of UI design is to create efficient yet captivating interfaces that help create a good overall user experience.

Referring back to our previous point, usability testing ensures that you remain focused on the overall experience when designing the interface. Before you even touch Photoshop or Sketch, know your users – their fears,  their goals, their desires, behaviors, and ambitions.

Understand that like the graphic above shows, UX requires mastery of many different disciplines. Just because you have a beautiful interface doesn’t mean it will work well, and just because you have a functional interface doesn’t mean people will love it.

When it comes to UX or UI design, start with the content first. After some initial user research, create an interactive site map that actually clicks through to your pages. Whether you’re using Keynote or a digital prototyping tool, always start with a site map so you can gauge the overall flow of the experience.

As you can see above from design agency Barrel NY, this site map documents the information architecture for your site. Once you’ve created this page, make sure you allow each “branch” to then click through to the wireframe or prototype of the page itself. We’ve tried this ourselves and it works in just about any tool from specialized prototyping apps to presentation software.

By working through the content first before wireframing, you prioritize your design accordingly:

1. Content structure
2. Interaction design
3. Visual design

This process makes sense because content forms the foundation of all design, and it’s what users actually care about. Secondly, iterating on the interactions through low or mid-fidelity prototyping helps you better control the flow through that content. Thirdly, or usually simultaneously, you then polish the visual design so the experience feels as inviting as possible (considering that vision is our strongest sense).

#3: Asking users for too much information

Users are lazy. The more forms you add, the less motivated users feel.

Like we described in Interaction Design Best Practices, you generally want to create as frictionless an experience as possible. Duolingo, for example, only asks for the language you want to learn and enough contact information to set up an account.

A study carried out on Imaginary Landscapes some years ago actually tested the  theory that too many fields discourage user signups. The test compared an 11 field form with one with only 4 form fields.

The form with 11 fields required the following information:

1. Name
2. Company
3. Address
4. City
5. State
6. Zip
7. Phone
8. Fax
9. Email
10. Preferred contact method
11. Comments

It also included checkboxes at the end asking how the visitor heard about the site.

The shorter, 4-field form cut down the information required:

1. Name
2. Phone
3. Email
4. Comments

Of course, you could shorten the form further by removing the phone number and comments  (which generally aren’t that helpful). Depending on your industry, a phone number might be critical for lead generation, but you’ll find people are far more hesitant to risk unsolicited calls.

So what was the bottom line of the study? They found that the shorter form’s signups exceeded that of the longer form by 140 percent. Additionally, the number of conversions “increased sharply with the use of the more abbreviated form” by nearly 120 percent. The study also found that the removed fields had “no impact on the quality of conversions.”

In order to arrive at the correct number of fields required, you should study your users and first define exactly all of the necessary data that you need to collect from them. While we can’t emphasize enough that you shouldn’t list a DMV-like form, we also understand that there’s no magic number.

The reality is that it’s a tradeoff. You’re dealing with competing priorities: sales teams usually want more lead information, while designers fight for the best user experience (which indirectly meets business needs). The only way to strike a balance is to test.

For example, Expedia found that removing one field from their form (for Company Name – it confused users as to what they were supposed to enter) caused an upsurge in sales to the tune of $12m.

Those types of results are reason enough to justify A/B testing on form elements.

Further Tips and Advice

You probably know this, but we’ve only skimmed the surface.

Nonetheless, there are some simple rules to bear in mind, although you should always approach each design project individually.

• Keep it simple, stupid– Minimalism and flat design are so popular because they strip away everything that doesn’t directly help users engage with content. Like we recommended in Web Design for the Human Eye, adopt a content-first design philosophy and practice sculpture through subtraction.
• Navigation – Build your navigation with a mobile-first philosophy. Ensure that enough padding exists around clickable areas so that they don’t encroach on surrounding fields. More importantly, design each page as if it will be the user’s first experience with your site. A “lost traveler” design mentality ensures that your site always provides clear orientation (the user’s current location) as well as simple navigation (the next step in the journey).
• Psychological tricks – All design is based in psychology.  Your design must foster trust, inspire emotions and more, so read up on topics such as color psychology, personality in design, and the seductive art of interaction design.

We understand that it’s a lot to wrap your head around, so it’s normal to make errors while you’re still learning the discipline (which is equal parts art form). When in doubt, ask yourself what the user would do, then slowly work your way back to the business goals.

Business goals might decide the destination, but user requirements must always steer the ship.

Article by Jerry Cao

Jerry Cao is a UX content strategist at the wireframing and prototyping app UXPin. To learn more techniques for perfecting the art and science of web design, check out the free e-book Web Design Best Practices.

The Reality Bites project was a exciting one as LMB was able to completely rethink their current site. While their online presence was in place they greatly needed a updated feel for this great restaurant. We wanted to give them a product that could easily be maintained and something fresh. We were able to provide that in a new logo, menus and a mobile friendly website.

Reality Bites gives you the best of both worlds; great food and an exciting night out on the town. Reality Bites provides a sophisticated, fun feel in a college town, serving a large diverse menu of lunch and dinner as well as a fully stocked bar. You can come in after a long day on Friday evening and just have a drink or anytime Tuesday thru Saturday to have a hearty meal and enjoy time with friends. Reality Bites is locally owned and takes pride in satisfying our customer’s needs.