Share something amazing with us. Give us some news or data that we could not find any other place. Shock us with something really outrageous. 

In user tests for our new report on online shopping, 39% of test users failed in their attempts to buy a product online. And 56% of their search attempts ended in failure. Watch the average customer use the average e-commerce site, and you'll see that the online customer experience is broken. Not just in e-commerce, either: our recent report on online recruiting (which Jakob Nielsen co-authored with me) saw 75% of test users fail in their attempts to apply for a job online. 

If those numbers aren't outrageous enough, consider that most companies are not trying to improve their broken websites. Instead, companies spend millions of dollars on *advertising*, thereby bringing even more customers into the same broken site! 

A flashy, expensive ad campaign is NOT the best investment for a company whose site pisses off customers. Instead, a company with a bad website should first create a good customer experience, and THEN invite the customers in. 

Here's a fun activity you can do in a few months. During the Super Bowl, which will be drenched with "dotcom" commercials, take a look at any site being advertised. Is it nearly impossible to use the site (as has been the case in past sites with Super Bowl ads)? If so, chalk one up to poor Web strategy. 

What does "customer experience" mean to you? Why do you think it is important? 

First and foremost, the customer experience is a strategic issue. To succeed online, a company *must* make the customer experience the cornerstone of its Web strategy. Without a good customer experience, no amount of advertising, "brand-building," or high-tech gadgetry will save the company from failure. If it's not good for customers, they're going to leave forever. Period, end of story. It's not that complicated. 

What are the economic advantages of having a great customer experience? 

In our consulting engagements, Creative Good measures the revenue increase after a client improves the customer experience on its site. One of our clients saw an increase of $11 million within two months of making our recommended changes. The client directly attributes the $11 million to the improvements they made to the customer experience. 

But don't rely on our numbers: think about it qualitatively. Customers return to the sites that give them what they want. Once they arrive on the site, customers don't want complex technology, egocentric graphic design, or any other slick nonsense. What customers *do* want is a good experience. What do you expect to have the best economic advantage -- the nonsense, or the experience? 

How does usability relate to the customer experience? They seem quite similar, what exactly are the similarities and differences? 

The customer experience is a holistic quality of a site that encompasses many areas of business -- usability is just one of them. For example, Creative Good engagements focus on five areas: strategy, marketing, technology, usability, and the client organization. In each area, we identify how it affects the customer experience, and how to improve it. 

So yes, usability is an important part of our work -- but just a part. Running usability tests only is NOT sufficient for customer experience management. How can tests be effective, for example, without a deep knowledge of the strategy of the site? How can the strategy of the site be understood without forming consensus within the organization? Usability processes, refined through the years for *software* products, aren't fully applicable on websites (though Jakob Nielsen's discount usability techniques are effective). To put it plainly, the Web is not software, and the customer experience is not usability. 

By the way, I recently explained this perspective to a group of usability professionals here in New York City. I've never seen an audience so close to riot :)

What are the best methods for improving the customer experience? Are there effective tools or techniques that you'd like to share with us? 

Creative Good has a four-phase method: strategy, qualitative assessment, usability tests, and after site launch, ongoing maintenance. Essentially we start at the most strategic level and work our way into the tactics. At each step we base our work on what we established the preceding phase. To anyone interested in the customer experience, I'd definitely suggest starting at the strategic level. Don't just jump straight into usability work. 

Overall, probably our most effective "technique" (if you can call it that) is our absolute commitment to creating a good site for the customer. We do whatever it takes to show our clients their customers' perspective. 

Are there ever times when customers are wrong? That is, are there ever any times where web developers should go against the wishes of customers? Is the data ever wrong? 

We don't ask customers what they want; we watch what they *do*. There's a big difference (well expressed by Jakob Nielsen in his WebWord interview).

What is your role at Creative Good, and how did the company get started? 

I'm the president of Creative Good. I founded CG in January 1997. For the first year I slogged it out alone in my suburban New York apartment, conducting a guerilla marketing campaign to raise awareness of Web ease-of-use. During the second year I conducted my first few consulting engagements and wrote my first Good Report, "In Search of E-Commerce," with Robert Seidman. My campaign, consulting, and report brought about significant improvements on several top e-commerce sites; this prompted InfoWorld magazine to award me Netrepreneur of the Year 1998 for "doing more than any other individual to make Web commerce sites easier to use." 

In February 1999 I hired an awesome CEO, Phil Terry, who came from McKinsey and Harvard Business School. We've been growing Creative Good together ever since. Now I have the pleasure of working side by side with some of the most talented, passionate people in the industry. I can say this with confidence because our hiring is extremely, extremely selective. We're 15 people big, and growing fast. All bootstrapped. 

What can Creative Good do that no one else can? What is your expertise? What is your strategic advantage? 

Our advantages are our vision (no one else focuses on the customer experience), our team (no one else has such selective hiring), and our culture (one of openness, listening, and partnership). We're trying to build a solid company that actually creates good online. 

Final thoughts? Shameless plugs? What should every reader remember about this interview? 

I'll just plug the three things that might help WebWord readers the most: first, our free e-mail newsletter, the CG Update, explores the customer experience every two weeks or so. E-mail update@creativegood.com to sign up. 

Second, our white paper discusses the customer experience from a lot of different angles. Here it is in PDF format: http://www.zdstudios.com/internetinc/bt99/whitepaper1.pdf 

Third, the report Jakob Nielsen co-wrote with me, on online recruiting, is here: http://www.goodreports.com There are other reports on that page that may be interest to WW readers as well. 

A final thought: Creative Good is transforming the Web. We're making the Web easier to use, we're making our clients a whole lot more money, and we are rewriting the rules for how e-business is done. And we're the very first company to focus on the customer experience. We're sure there will be other customer experience firms in the future, but we'll welcome them -- just like we welcome and respect everyone working in the usability space. After all, we're all working towards the same goal: an easier Web. 

Mark Hurst
Founder and President, Creative Good
http://www.creativegood.com
212.736.2075

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