Human Factors

One thing I didn’t consider when I started working in the field of user experience was the impact it would have on my private life. The more I learn, the more I notice when others do it wrong and I get annoyed when I’m affected. It started off with me moaning about unusable websites I had to deal with, and since I had a first look into Service Design, I have the feeling there’s room for improvement in almost everything I experience throughout the day. Doctor’s visit, physiotherapy, gyms to chose from – you name it and I have many ideas how to make it a better experience for the customer/client/member. But on the weekend I had a perfect experience while…. shoe shopping.

Unlike most women I’m not a big clothes or shoe shopper. I could even go as far as to say that I absolutely dislike it. My body has some common weaknesses, that the clothes industry doesn’t seem to be willing to cater for. One aspect of this is having calves that don’t seem to fit into any boots. I do have a pair of brown boots I got at least eight years ago, that I love with a passion, but I can’t get that particular brand in New Zealand. And I had a pair of black boots, which I have never really liked, that needed to be replaced.

When I went boots shopping on Saturday I didn’t really expect to be successful. I thought it would be another one of the tours around Wellington’s shoe shops, with intrusive sales girls, trying to talk me into buying something I would look ridiculous in. But this time it was very different… My first stop for the day was Kumfs on Willis Street. And it turned out to be the last one as well, since I got what I wanted, and left the store smiling happily.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the store, was that it was clean and tidy. The colour scheme is pretty neutral and there are inspiring words like “beautiful”, “charming”, “warm”, “exceptional” painted all over the wall. Despite not having much room in the small shop they had a reasonably good choice of shoes and boots available. Two salesladies were present; they noticed me when I entered, but left me alone browsing for the first little while. That’s one thing I really like – there’s nothing worse for me than having someone breathing down my neck before I was even have an overview of what’s on offer. It almost seemed like a miracle that the first pair I picked up had some kind of stretchy material at the back, so it would offer enough room for my calves.

As soon as I had this Hmmm-I-would-love-to-try-them-in-my-size-look on my face, one of the saleswomen approached me and offered help. She got me my size, and half a size smaller to find the best fit. The boots were awesome and I don’t think I’ve ever bought such expensive shoes within a few minutes of entering a shop before. At the check-out I was offered a free membership at the Kumfs Club, which allows me to return my boots within 30 days if they don’t work out for me as well as some other benefits, which are not quite so important for me. Although it took some time for me to fill out the form, they allowed me to join before the purchase, so I could take advantage of the benefits with this first buy. They gave me a huge fabric bag (“yay” for not using plastic bags) which has the same inspirational words on it as I saw on the wall before. A very happy me left the shop.

But the experience did not end there. When I unpacked my new boots at home I found a Thank You note for choosing Kumfs, some care tips for my boots and a feedback form in the box. I must say, I was deeply impressed. Since then I have had a brief look at their website, and even that seems to be ok. They are even on Facebook. In their About Us section they state: “Kumfs is a family owned business that operates with passion and dedication. Part of the our vision is to have pride in the quality of our work, provide the best customer service and to always delight our customers.”

All I can say is: yes, it works. At least for me.

Update:
Wow, less than 24 hours after publishing this blog post I got an email from Kumfs, telling me they love it and asking for permission to share it with their Facebook Fans. Not only do they know how to create a brilliant customer experience in their shops, they also “get” social media. Couldn’t more companies I engage with be like this?

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to interview Air New Zealand’s lovely Airpoints Fairy for an article for German designer/developer magazine Create or Die. The Airpoints Fairy is a lovely little creature who works for New Zealand’s national airline – she looks after human beings on Twitter and regularly waves her wand to sparkle some fairy dust on those who believe in magic. The original article has been translated, so I thought I’ll give those who don’t speak German a chance to read my interview with the fairy as well.

Unfortunately I had to shorten the interview a little bit for Create or Die, so here’s what the fairy said in full length (enjoy!):

Hi Airpoints Fairy – how has your day been so far, what have you been up to?

My day has been great; I have spent today forfilling Airpoints member’s wishes to go to the Michael Hill NZ Open this weekend in Arrowtown.

You support Air New Zealand by granting flight-related wishes to your followers. For how long have you beein doing this? Where you contacted by Air New Zealand staff if you would like to take this job on, or was it your idea?

I was born in response to a tweet on Monday 14^th September 2009 – ‘wondering where the Airpoints Fairy lives…. I could do with a few thousand right now’ When I saw this I knew that this was my calling. On 16^th September 2009 the Fairy took flight on Twitter and at 12.35pm the first ‘random act of kindness’ was a pledge of 500 Airpoints Dollars to the girl who had written the first tweet.

Read the blog by the first recipient.

Who can send you wishes?

Airpoints members everywhere can send me wishes – they can do this via twitter.com/airpointsfairy or through my fairyland home at
airpointsfairy.com.

What kind of wishes to you make come true? What was the biggest/smalles wish you helped out with?

I make lots of wishes come true – mostly Airpoints related, always Air NZ related. My smallest wish was granted yesterday, someone wanted 0.33c (Airpoints Dollars) to make her balance an even 100 Airpoints Dollars. Larger wishes included organising Chocolate Kapiti Icecream for someones upcoming flight.

Are people reasonable with what they are asking for, or do you receive wishes asking for too much?

I receive lot’s of wishes, of varying sizes. I only have so much Fairy Dust and I want it to last as long as possible, so I have to vary the size of wishes which I grant. Sometimes small wishes can make a big impact on a person’s travel experience.

Sometimes people get very creative when it comes to wording their wishes – like www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dN1TiKI2Q4 for example. What was the most creative way of you receiving a wish?

This YouTube wish was the most creative by far – I would love to receive more creative wishes like this. It’s great to see passion when it comes to making wishes.

The 12 days of Christmas, when you gave very special prizes to your followers on the 12 days leading up to Christmas Day, were very popular amongst your followers – do you intend to have special events like this more often in the future?

Absolutely. I have recently celebrated Air New Zealand being named Airline of the Year by sending chocolate cakes to 10 lucky followers, so they can have a celebratory afternoon tea. It’s great to have fun with special events.

With www.airpointsfairy.co.nz you allow your followers and people who are not on Twitter a window into your world. What made you decide to put your world on display?

I wanted my followers to see me fly!! Have you seen me do acrobatics in the air? It’s also great that more people can now make wishes (it does make it harder for me to choose who to sprinkle fairy dust on though!!).

Why are there no other fairies to see in your online world? Are your friends busy working for other airlines, or what are they up to?

Fairies are very busy – take the Tooth Fairy for instance, she is one of my good friends but is always on the go collecting teeth while children sleep. I have other friends in Fairyland, you may have seen them.

For Fashion Week you dressed up in a cute little black dress (and since then in several other costumes for different occasions). Pretty shortly Air New Zealand is going to change the uniforms for cabin staff. Are your going to wear the same uniform in your Twitter avatar to support Air NZ staff with the new uniform during the first couple of weeks after introduction?

Funny you should mention that, I am just having my uniform made at the moment. It’s smaller than the other uniforms, so it is a bespoke piece. Keep an eye out and let me know what you think!! I think I will look great in it.

Have you ever travelled with Air New Zealand yourself? If yes, what was your most memorable experience?

Obviously I often fly myself around. But if I am going to a destination where Air New Zealand fly then I usually will choose to travel onboard. The service is fabulous, and it nice to give my wings a rest (especially on a longhaul journey).

Thanks for taking some time to answer all these questions, lovely fairy, – and keep doing the awesome work you’re currently involved with!

Last year the “Innovation Forum Interaction Design” took place in Potsdam/Germany. It focussed on all aspects of interface and interaction design; and their fabulous speakers (Gillian Crampton Smith, Anthony Dunne, Tim Edler, Frank Jacob, Gesche Joost, Bernard Kerr, Patrick Kochlik, Kristjan Kristjansson, Bill Moggridge, Dennis Paul, Mike Richter und Bruce Sterling) were recorded. The Videos are now online, there are some available in English.