The importance of detail

I've had lots of debate today about the detail of various digital initiatives. I find days like this really inspiring. People asking the questions that really matter. For example, finding the right words to use. As things like language changes and evolves, so should the words we use to engage and motivate people. And social media becomes a really powerful source in understanding this. This sort of detail can really bring an interaction to life.

As people's expectations of the services they use online grow and grow the new battle ground between competing companies can often be found in providing users with those little moments of delight. Giving them something that provides a little more utility, or just making it a little easier to complete a task. These little moments are found in the detail.

Often we think of things like channel neutral services or marketing campaigns as big strategic initiatives, which they are, in these tasks the detail actually becomes more important. Even though we find these initiatives second nature in the agency, when thinking about human interaction we still strive to make sure things really come together. This is all in the detail. If you have a slight twist to your brand message, even the slightest shift, on a TV ad and someone 2nd screens it (c.17%), you would be surprised at how let down they will feel if this 2nd interaction doesn't reflect the brand in the same way, or better still identify that they are probably responding to a TV ad in the first place!

Why not spend a little time tomorrow thinking about the detail - I'd be surprised if it doesn't spark a useful thought or two.

Thought for the week

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy like art. It has no survival value;rather it is one thing that gives value to survival."

CS Lewis

Thought for the week

Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world. Schopenhauer

Donating my face

This November I'll be donating my face to a good cause: http://mobro.co/roryyates Please do what you can to support me and others and help us raise awareness. Much Appreciated, Rory

The mobile internet needs to get more mobile

One of the major things I can still see hindering the utilisation of mobile devices to access the internet is two network operator level issues:

1. The network coverage is still rubbish. It seems wherever I go I'm rarely on a 3G signal (across multiple devices).

2. The country-to-country connectivity either fails or is so cost prohibitive it renders using it to only the most critical tasks.

Whilst I also see massive increases in public wi-fi this is still too low to make a real difference. And often indirectly costs us anyway - "would you like an over-priced coffee with your 'free' wi-fi sir?".

The mobile Internet is shifting to a cloud / integrated model across most platforms, this is likely to make this problem amplify for users. The network operators therefore need to step up.

The irony is that I wrote this on my iPhone whilst travelling on a train, and I absolutely recognise how marvellous mobile has become in recent years (I just wanted to put this balanced perspective forward).

Thought for the week

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears. John Locke

RIP