Responsive Web Design (RWD). The digital industry is buzzing about it. Our clients are asking whether to invest in it. And Fluid is at the forefront of it.

In order to get you answers I sat down with Steve Reichgut, Fluid’s Director of Engineering. He is a respected industry leader in RWD. Steve and his team live and breathe cutting-edge technology. They’re smart about when to, and when not to, apply it.

My top three take-aways:

1. This isn’t just about technology: Responsive Web Design with a “Big R” is about ensuring that the user experience responds effectively on multiple devices in multiple contexts. This broader concept can be implemented in many different ways.

2. RWD is not an all or nothing decision: The question ‘Should I use Responsive Web Design or not?’ is probably the wrong question to be asking.

3. Thinking through support for RWD is essential: Content updating challenges that currently exist between marketing and tech teams get amplified with RWD. Trade-offs between cutting-edge and desire for control are inevitable.

Now on to the interview…

[Amy] What is Responsive Web Design?

[Steve] In it’s purest definition, the “Big R” RWD, is about ensuring that what the user is experiencing responds effectively on the device they are using in whatever context they are in. This can be achieved in a lot of different ways.

RWD though is usually used as a technical term. It is literally using three things to build a responsive experience: a grid system, media queries to determine viewport size and flexible images that size appropriately.

[Amy] What’s the best thing about RWD?

[Steve] The best thing is the whole idea that the user gets an optimal experience no matter where they are coming from. RWD gives the user a great, seamless experience.

[Amy] What’s the biggest challenge?

[Steve] Determining how it’s going to be supported operationally. RWD doesn’t create new problems, it amplifies the ones you already have. Who’s going to make changes? And who’s going to make sure the changes render right on all devices?

The other challenge is that people are combining the “Big R” definition of RWD with a specific technical solution. So they end up asking “Do I do RWD or not?”

[Amy] Is “Do I do RWD or not?” the wrong question to be asking?
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Shopping is in our DNA here at Fluid.

We may be developers, designers, strategists and account managers, but one thing we share beyond our specialties is a passion for shopping. If you’re in the market for clothes, accessories, sporting equipment or kitchenware, there’s no greater place than where we many of us live and work—New York City.

Note to our San Francisco and Chicago colleagues: We love shopping in your cities, too!

Ever on the search for omnichannel excellence, we descended on some of our favorite department stores to see how well they’re adapting to—and adopting—the opportunities to reach in-store customers through digital technology. The results were, well, mixed.

Here are the winners—and the runners-up — among some national chains:

Macy’s:

We all know where The Miracle on 34^th Street took place, but still wanted to see what directions Macy’s store finder would give us.

Nearest location? Check.

Directions to the store? Check.

Wait a minute. It’s not loading the Google or IOS maps embedded on our phones?

It’s linking to Mapquest so we have to launch a browser?

Not very convenient or very 21^st Century.

Once inside the store, we see a variety of signs of digital life:

Giant digital screens set the mood for a modern experience.  Thumbs up.

A print poster with cluttered design encourages customers to pin items on Pinterest. Props for the campaign. Thumbs down on the poster.

Kiosks that allow you to scan an item’s barcode for product recommendations (the sign reads: More Choices! Free Shipping!) gave our shoppers’ hearts a flutter, but when we tried using them, they turned out to be duds. Each kiosk provided the product’s price (which was already on the tag) and told us to see a sales associate for more items. Is this because Macy’s hasn’t input their inventory into the kiosk system?

Thumbs up once Macy’s gets it to work.

We loved the wedding department gift registry because it prints out a full list of your friends’ wish list, including which items have already been purchased. We’d love it even more if the interface was equally as modern and engaging. Thumbs up.  Sort of.

Where Macy’s Omnichannel Excellence comes alive is within the individual brand sections of the store.

Michael Kors definitely gets the award for best digital display. A full environmental experience that incorporates lifestyle and product imagery defines the designer’s boutique, distinguishing it from the crowded environment, and sets the stage for a shopper’s paradise.

For pure utility, Clinique’s tablet hit it out of the park for Omnichannel Excellence.  A series of questions evaluates your skin type then prints out a list of products tailored to your specific needs. It’s attractive, personal, interactive, and action-oriented.

That’s what we call Omnichannel Excellence.

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The 2013 Tony Award nominees were announced today and it got me thinking about how much technology, people and shopping have evolved over the last 17 years. If Broadway theatre, technology and shopping seem like wildly unrelated topics, allow me to explain.

Back in 1996, I was the founding editor of the Tony Awards website, a joint venture between the organizations that run the Tonys and a startup Web development company. Because the Web was so new and unfamiliar, the folks running the awards (and everyone else on Broadway!) didn’t understand or appreciate the value of another communications platform. They tolerated our online efforts, but were strident about us not scooping the traditional press, even though we were an extension of the official brand.

On this morning 17 years ago, after the nominees were announced at Sardi’s, I was handed a print-out and CD-rom with the full list of nominees, straight-armed my way past the donut table to the subway, and hurried back to the office so we could post the full list on the site. As if this delay wasn’t bad enough, I came back to an email from the talented actor Mark Linn-Baker wanting to know why the Tonys couldn’t get our act together enough to post the nominees at the same time as the television announcement.

“What do you want me to say?” I considered replying. Instead I wrote back to tell him the nominees were finally up on the site. And that I’m a big fan of his work.

“Success requires agility, adapting to evolving human behavior, meeting your customers where they are, not forcing them to meet you where you are.”

Flash forward light years to this morning, when I turned on the TV just as the announcement was ending.

I sparked up the Tony Awards site on my iPad to read the full list.

An alert pinged on my iPhone from the New York Times with more information about the awards.

Facebook started lighting up.

I texted a good friend to congratulate her for receiving a nomination for her performance in a play.

I even started shoping for an appropriate congratulations gift on Amazon.

The changes in technology between then and now are obvious—smartphones, tablets and social media weren’t even glimmers in their creators’ eyes back then—but the changes in people (especially the ones responsible for brands) and shopping are especially noteworthy.

Organizations like the Tony Awards, not to mention retailers, financial institutions, healthcare providers, etc., have learned that they are content creators just like the media that they courted so assiduously for so many decades.  And, as content creators, it’s not enough to be present in just one platform.  To succeed in today’s environment brands—particularly retailers—need to be present where their customer lives—everywhere, immediately and always.  It’s the Omnichannel Evolution.

After 17 years in this industry, I understand firsthand how challenging it is to keep up with technology and shifts in human behavior. But I also understand the cost of not evolving and innovating.  Probably the most important lesson I’ve learned as a digital strategist is that there is no “one size fits all” solution to getting from here to there.  Success requires agility, adapting to evolving human behavior, meeting your customers where they are, not forcing them to meet you where you are.

That’s why I’m proud to be part of the Fluid team. My colleagues are experts in understanding what makes individual brands unique, what their customers want most from them, and leading the brands through the Omnichannel Evolution, be it through e-commerce, in-store tablets with endless aisles, shoppable images, or strategic planning.

Still, I envy the person who’s running the Tony Awards website today.  He or she probably had plenty of time to enjoy that donut table and didn’t come back to any angry emails from famous people. And he didn’t have to wander from store to store to find just the right gift that says, “Congratulations on your nomination!”

Facebook Home has launched. And it’s been in the marketplace long enough for opinions to be formed. My Tweet-like summary?

Status update: Facebook Home / Phone is more marketing campaign than product innovation. #homesortasweethome

How I described it to my mom: “Facebook Home is a screensaver for your phone that showcases Facebook activity.” I was feeling quite proud of this analogy until I realized that it’s a widely used description.

The exception to this is chat heads – which allow your live chat to carry across the mobile experience. This benefit is comparable to being able to talk on the phone and surf the web at the same time. It makes the user experience seamless instead of siloed. Yay.

The #1 thing Facebook Home has in common with digital commerce?
It achieves the goal of removing a click. It literally brings Facebook one layer up in the user hierarchy. And in the process trumps all other apps.

As anyone involved in digital commerce knows, this is a big deal. A bigger deal if adoption is large (or even a small percentage of Facebook’s users).

That said, I’m not sold that Facebook Home is a big deal. Interesting? Yes. Here are five reasons why…

1. Facebook Phone is not Facebook’s phone:
The phone is an Android. Facebook is usurping Google’s OS and user interface. Okay a different way to put it – Facebook is utilizing Google’s open source operating system. What makes it the Facebook Phone? It’s being marketed as such via Facebook and AT&T. And Facebook becomes the default experience on the Android. This could never happen on the iPhone because Apple’s OS is locked down.

Mark my words: Wherever Steve Jobs is – he is laughing.

At the end of the day, if open source thrives, Google will be laughing too. Who gets the last laugh remains to be seen.

2. There’s no bouncer at the open source door
Google got an unexpected partnership with this product. In fact, Google may not have even known about Facebook’s plans. Eric Schmidt has expressed that Facebook Home is a good thing. It definitely reinforces Google’s open position (and by default, Apple’s closed position). But if I’m on the Google brand team I’m thinking through the implications. If I’m on the Google+ team the gauntlet has been thrown.

Don’t get me wrong I love open source (and um also my iPhone). Open vs. closed is the creativity of a crowd of developers vs. controlled one-source creativity. It’s a dreamy head-to-head. (Although Google and Apple may actually be fighting different fights altogether.)

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(BEFORE ANY OF US HAVE SEEN IT, TOUCHED IT OR YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY LIKE USED IT)

Facebook will unveil its phone Thursday. Chances are, it won’t change the world. Why? Because the phone is a reflection of how the world has already changed rather than a shiny new device that is going to transport us to new heights.

But while the launch doesn’t warrant stocking up on either champagne or canned goods, it is a good reminder to pause and take stock of the three key things this event signals for retailers.

WHY SHOULD RETAILERS CARE:

1: IT’S OFFICIAL: SOCIAL’S PEANUT BUTTER IS IN MOBILE’S CHOCOLATE

Ultimately this is not about a phone. It’s not even about Facebook. It’s about the fact that social interactions are increasingly mobile. Which makes complete sense. People have more to say and share when they are on the go or on their couches watching TV.

50% of Facebook interactions take place on a mobile device. Almost all of Instagram & FourSquare use is mobile (Comscore Media Metrix 11/12).

Takeaway for retailers: Don’t worry about designing websites for a special phone. Think about how your customers are using mobile and social to shop. This impacts how you reach them and where transactions will take place. Hint: Shopping will be the next peanut butter – but bacon flavored of course.

2: “DIGITAL EFFORT” IS DEAD

Some are heralding the importance of the phone’s experience. By “experience” they mean everything Facebook is more or less automatic and seamless. From streaming status updates to your phone home screen to connecting your actions to your social graph, the design is reported to be more personal and customizable than that of the mobile Facebook app the rest of us poor slobs are hobbling along with.

Again, this is not about the phone or Facebook. Really, it’s about human nature. If necessity is the mother of invention, Laziness is the baby daddy. If you put it right in front of us, we might look at it. But if we have to download/register/type/think, well then you will lose “eyeballs.”

Takeaway for retailers: Surfacing, integrating and connecting are the new “designing.” Stop designing digital shopping experiences that require user effort/sign-in/registering etc. and start designing systems and features that magically surface what the customer wants and needs at each juncture.

3: IT’S NEVER EVER EVER ABOUT THE HARDWARE. IT’S ABOUT THE PLATFORM.

Not many people care that the Facebook phone platform is reported to be MSM8960 (Dual Core). And neither do we. Why? Because we don’t design for hardware, we design for people. And people need agnostic platforms that provide what they want and need, regardless of the device they are on.

The most interesting thing to emerge Thursday will not be the phone but rather the “Facebook Home” software. The software will potentially provide the Facebook home screen for any Android and let you Facebook chat while using other phone features, among other things. In other words, Facebook might be getting better for all Androids – not just the special Facebook phone.

Takeaway for retailers: Don’t get caught up in the technology. Focus on creating adaptable, transportable digital shopping experiences that provide the best features for everyone everywhere regardless of their device.

Like thousands, we will watch the Facebook phone launch webcast Thursday and read all of the reviews and probably buy one for “research purposes.” But the real news has already happened. The Facebook phone is just a reminder call that easy, everywhere experiences are a must.

This year omnichannel is omnipresent. Consumers are at the forefront. And retailers are sold on multiple touch points as the pinnacle of user experience.

Research via mobile while standing in a store aisle. Share an ecommerce purchase via social. Revel in catalog imagery gone interactive on a tablet. Order online, pick-up in-store.

You’ve seen the wheel diagrams with arrows pointing every which way. Seamless interaction is the panacea.

But what if you’re a branded manufacturer? For you, channels are retail chains upon which your business relies. Distribution networks may not look kindly upon direct competition. Retailers have been carefully courted and any perceived alienation could negatively impact your bottom line.

Feel conflicted about going full force into direct digital commerce? At Fluid, we’ve seen a resurgence of branded manufacturers grappling with this issue. You are not alone.

Internet Retailer reports that web sales for consumer branded manufacturers in their Top 500 had a 2011 YOY increase of 12%. Web-only merchants 32%. Store-based 15%. Catalog call center companies 12.3%. No one likes last place.

In 1998 Levi’s famously false started into ecommerce when their retailers negatively responded to their aggressive online strategy of retaining exclusive online rights to the Levi’s and Dockers brands. Long before digital, brands like Coach sold in branded stores and via department stores.

In other words, this is not a new dilemma.

The good news: With the right strategy the dilemma can be diffused. Branded manufacturers have a right to pursue the rich opportunity of digital commerce directly. Not doing so runs the risk of lost revenue. In the right circumstances this can be collaborative vs. competitive.

So how to strike the best balance?

At Fluid, we’re seeing six main models of direct digital selling for branded manufacturers:

1. Full On Swagger
2. Full Price Promise
3. Sharing the Spotlight
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Will Your Site Withstand the Onslaught of Holiday Shoppers on iPads?

It’s likely over the past 12 months you’ve seen an increase in traffic to your site from iPads. If you’re lucky, you’ve also seen a corresponding increase in revenue driven from iPads. With the holidays right around the corner (you’ve started holiday planning, right?) and no shortage of growth in the iPad user arena, it’s critical your site be ready to deliver on customer expectations when they shop (and purchase) from their iPads this holiday season.

We know that customer behavior and purchase tendencies are different on tablets than from standard browsers and also from smartphones and those behaviors are starting to drive a serious divergence in customer expectations as they traverse your site across their various devices. As far as tablets go, customers expect a richer, more immersive, and, well FUN experience relative to their standard browsing and smartphone usage and that demands a different design approach to meet customer expectations. Simply delivering the standard browser experience to your iPad visitors will not differentiate your brand in the emerging ‘tablet-first’ design space. Customer expect more and if you can capitalize on that expectation, it’s likely you’ll also capture your visitors’ dollars.

Surprisingly, the majority of Internet Retailer Top 500 sites not only haven’t starting delivering tablet-specific experiences to deliver on customer expectations, but a wide swath of them deliver sites to the iPad that have serious usability issues. Issues that aren’t problems for the standard browser, but can present serious barriers and frustrations to visitors on iPads.

Assuming there’s no time at this point for a tablet-specific design for your brand’s site, I’ve created a list of common usability issues seen when standard experiences are delivered to iPads, as well as some hints on how to avoid them. Take a look and see any of these issues plague your site, and fix them pre-holiday. Then, start planning for next year!
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An article was recently published claiming “Marketers Find Less than Half of Analytics Useful for Decision-Making!”   In full disclosure, I added the exclamation mark to the headline because I felt like the tone of the article implied a minor hysteria over the implication that ‘less than half’ was a staggering figure.  In fact the article caught my eye because that seemed to be a higher percentage than I’ve witnessed. Not because companies don’t understand the potential power of analytics but because “analytics” often simply becomes “data collection” which in and of itself, is not useful to anyone really.

Let me back up.  I’m a big believer in Avinash Kaushik’s “So What?” analytics philosophy that says if you can’t answer what action or recommendation could result by tracking a certain metric after asking ‘So what?” three times, you shouldn’t bother tracking it. It’s a great philosophy and in theory any organization subscribing to this philosophy should be running a lean, mean analytics discipline.  In practice however, most companies don’t ask “So What?” or even “Why?”.   Instead they are swimming in a sea of data with the end result being analysis paralysis.

Sometimes this is self-inflicted (tag everything and review hourly!) but in most cases they’ve companies implement an analytics package and now that data is being collected, they just don’t know what to look at or care about. So they end up doing nothing.  As a colleague once put it “Your web analytics tool is the best tool you’ve already paid for but aren’t using.”

Here at Fluid we’ve recently overhauled our Analytics practice within our Strategy group to make sure even our approach to data is user-centric.  Why?  Simple.  We want to help our clients:

• Achieve a deeper understanding of customer behavior and motivations
• Answer the “why” behind the “what”
• Make quantitatively as well as qualitatively informed design decisions
• Work within a clear framework for measuring success and proving ROI
• Get past analysis paralysis and turn mountains of data and isolated metrics into insights and actions

As digital design and user experience experts, we have the talent, knowledge and expertise to help our clients get beyond the “what” of their data and get to the “why” and “So What?”   Sounds great, right?

If what you’ve read so far is resonating, you know that it’s not always as easy as it sounds.

When we start working with clients on an analytics strategy we focus on a few key things.  If you are at a place in your organization where you’re ready to re-evaluate your analytics strategy, focusing on the following could help you get started.

1. Forget about current data, infrastructure, platform, etc.  What are the primary goals of your digital initiative whether it be web, mobile, social?

When answering this question don’t think about metrics.  Think about answering as a narrative. For example, “We want customers to learn more about our company.”  or “We want more people reading our blog.”  or “We want to increase revenue coming from our website.”

2. What are your current benchmarks?

It’s okay if you don’t know.  This may be a rhetorical question that turns into a ‘to-do’ once #1 is answered. In some cases we find out the benchmarks are completely arbitrary – in other words, not benchmarks at all but pipe dreams.  We don’t want to be set up for failure so establishing real benchmarks from which to set goals in imperative.  In other cases we find the benchmarks have nothing to do with the articulated goals and they need to align in order to really measure success.

3.  Who cares about this information?

We try and be realistic when we answer this question by framing it as not only “who cares” but “who can authorize the action?”   It is difficult and frustrating to put together a fantastic analytics strategy and have wonderful, actionable insights, only to realize the people who need to authorize budget for changes as outcomes of the data findings were never part of the fantastic analytics discussions.  Answering this question can help you make sure the right stakeholders are involved in the analytics strategy.  It also helps you, as the analytics “guy” or “gal” keep focused on the the bigger organizational goals and objectives.  It’s all too easy to get so excited or so deep into the data you become one of those “tag it all!” people so by leading up a focused practice, it will be easy for you to build a solid business case for change with the decision makers when you’re able to tie clear KPI trends to articulated business goals and objectives AND those decision makers helped formulate the KPIs.

Once you establish the groundwork by answering the questions above you can get more specific; feature ROI, custom reports and dashboards, real time data analysis, multi-channel funnel reports, conversion optimization, interval reporting and automation, etc.  All that good stuff that really helps you get a deeper understanding of your customers and their behaviors and issues with the experience and start formulating a story around your customer’s journey.

Just make sure you are always answering “So What?” when you enter into discussions around tagging X,Y or Z to track A,B or C.

Footnote:
If you are a Google Analytics user, check out Avinash’s blog.  There are always interesting discussions about web analytics and some good Q&A.  Justin Cutroni’s blog is another good resource for you.  He’s currently an “Analytics Advocate” at Google.  His stuff tends to be a lot more tactical and has great report templates you can add to your GA dashboards.

Visual has snuck up on verbal and become the new darling of digital. What do I mean? Digital shopping, design and communication are now ruled by vivid imagery that aims to stop consumers in their tracks. This is a window shopping world of show and tell. Sharing becomes irresistible. Making a statement can happen without words.

What’s driving this trend? At Fluid we see four main factors:

1. Mobile (and tablet) first design: Mobile is no longer the second thought to web design. The minimalism and functionality needed to make mobile sing is where designers are starting. Strong mobile growth projections and the shift in consumer behavior towards mobile access are fueling this fire. Just ask Facebook and eBay. Responsive design fits into this niche nicely.

2. Facebook timeline: In January 2012 Sophos conducted a poll that found that 51.29% of respondents said Facebook Timeline worried them (32.36% said they didn’t know why they were still on Facebook). With the roll out completed these numbers have likely changed. 900M active users now see their history of interactions visually.

3. Pinterest: In February ComScore reported that Pinterest passed 10M monthly uniques faster than any stand alone site ever. In March Pinterest served up 2.3B page impressions to 4M unique visitors. That’s 4000%+ growth YOY. Pinterest serves as such a strong source of referral traffic that two things are happening: Digital commerce sites are proactively pinning on Pinterest and Digital commerce sites are adapting their site photography to make pinning to Pinterest easy (and appealing). At Fluid we think infinite scroll is Pinterest’s secret sauce.

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I’ve $30 on my mind. $28.57 to be exact. This is the per user price that Facebook paid for Instagram last week based on Facebook’s $1B offer and Instagram’s 35M users. In my favorite article about the acquisition Andy Baio of Wired (my ten year-old self hopes he’s related to Scott Baio) breaks down the cost per user of thirty notable internet acquisitions over the last ten years.

His conclusion: Instagram was a good deal. And not indicative of a bubble. See his analysis here.

Three reasons why this is awesome:

1. Cold hard facts. Baio uses a cost per acquisition model to which any marketer can relate. It makes $1B tangible. eBay paid $84.42 per PayPal user. Yahoo $111.11 per Flickr user. Google $48.53 per YouTube user. Intuit $113.33 per Mint.com user. At $28.57 per Instagram user, Facebook is looking rather savvy.

If the relative data cohort was how much it costs to feed hungry children or how far to the moon Kevin Systrom’s 400M new $1 bills would reach, we’d be telling a different story. This is what I love about data – it holds rich stories.

2. $30 can get you a lot of different things. Some ways to spend $30:

15. Fifteen days of access to a San Francisco gym
14. 3.75 months of NetFlix (streaming)
13. Five round-trips over the Golden Gate bridge (cash not FastTrak)
12. Thirty $1 tips to buskers on the L subway platform in NYC
11. 37.5 clicks on a Facebook ad (based on average CPC of $.8)
10. Ten minutes of a therapy session
9. Two mixed drinks in a swanky Manhattan bar
8. Thirty songs on iTunes Read the rest of this entry »