If I could reinvent the term “user experience,” it would become
“digital human relationship.”

But since I’m not going to do that, instead, I will try to change your perception.

Most brands are not interested in one night stands. Every brand wants to establish a relationship with its audience. So, how do we do that? How do we nurture such a relationship? How do we make our audience understand and believe that we are in it for good?

It’s effortless, really: we change the perception!

Don’t talk to your audience as if they are just numbers or data, but instead, get to know them, learn their behavior patterns, their exact needs; what hurts them and what excites them. The bottom line is that we need to understand that we’re dealing with real people who have real needs and want to create long-term relationships with brands.

So let’s get down to business. Starting tomorrow, we are changing our perception:

“Me, me, and me.”
When I go on dates, I like talking about myself because I bring a fascinating story to the table, and I know how to tell it in a way that is interesting (to me). My dates survive about 1.5 hours, but only because they have no emergency escape plan from the narcissistic wonder whom they were so lucky to meet!

But if I were a brand and we were to meet in the digital ecosystem, along with countless alternatives one click away, they would close the tab on me (and not send me a “Hey, you awake?” text the next day).

So what is it that I’m offering? Surgical procedure of what your brand communicates to its target audience on that first date. But just before that, think about your website’s homepage and mark in your head all the places where you textually focused on yourself.

Try to put yourself in your target audience members’ points of view and ask yourself what is in it for them. How is what you’re saying going to improve their lives? What is their conclusion from that messaging? If you found that your site focuses on you, your brand is probably high on self-involvement, and you should keep reading this because here it comes — explanations, demonstrations, and all that jazz.

To summarize the principle, instead of starting by saying how amazing you are, start by saying what you can do to make their lives better.

In one single sentence, you can isolate the problem and provide an immediate solution for it. My formula is: Problem + Solution = Value. That is what you should be conveying to your audience in any initial interaction: “We know you, we know what your pain is, and we are here to help you in a way that is much better than the alternatives.”

“The postman always rings twice.”
And, in our case, he won’t stop delivering JUNK! Grr.
Have you heard of a newsletter?

Ok people, gather around:

Yes, yes, it’s the neutralizer from Men in Black, which erases parts of your memory and, in our case, the word “newsletter”.

Guys, we embraced enough stuff from print, and that’s okay. Up until not too long ago, that’s all we had. But enough is enough! Once we name something, the meaning of it inevitably starts infiltrating and influencing the quality and significance of what we do. There is nothing we can do about it.

So, just stop! We are not the postman! We are building relationships with our audience. We are preserving them through the value we pass on by engaging with them (via SMS or email). Treat it like that, and that’s what it’ll be. I promise to share some good cases about how to create valuable communication with your audience very soon.

Are you a robot? Are you?!
For those of you taking the bus, pick your head up from your screen and observe. I promise you, most of the people around you have their heads in their mobiles. At first, this technology was exciting; click here, cancel, order, pay. But guys, it’s not enough anymore, people are looking for human contact, they are craving it. Fact: people are more excited to click on “Awesome, Got it!” than “Submit.” So this paragraph has an optimistic touch because of what we all know as “Microcopy”, tiny textual interactions with a significant impact on engagement.

Value value value!
In every relationship, we are looking for value. We connect with people who make us feel good and valuable. On digital interfaces, we are looking for the same thing. It is super awesome to enter an online shop and BAM! get a reminder of the things I need. Or maybe get notifications for products similar to those I’ve purchased in the past. Oh, and if I want a product that went out of stock, I can sign up to get a notification the second it is back in stock. Now that is just super exciting! (Yeah, yeah, I’m a UX geek).

These four points are crucial. But there is so much more we can do to keep our relationship flourishing.

Starting tomorrow, you should ask yourself every morning — how am I going to improve my target audience’s lives today?