Learn the 4 C’s to improve the customer journey


Digital marketers sometimes think that a “conversion” simply entails completing and submitting a form online, but it’s actually much more. The 4 C’s of the customer journey can help you deliver a positive customer experience, complete the sales cycle – and increase the chances of true advocacy from your leads, prospects and even existing customers.


Content

contentYou know the old chestnut about content being king? Yes, relevant content can make a huge difference in attracting and converting those potential customers. But beware of producing content for content’s sake, which simply adds more noise to an already crowded web. If you don’t have a solid business need for content, save your resources for planning – and looking at the context.


Context

contextEvery piece of content you produce must have a reason for being, and must set the stage for further audience interaction with you. Content with context offers prospects the reason to believe that your product or service is what they need. Make them believe and they’ll want to start the dialogue with you, which leads us to conversation.


Conversation

conversationMarketers overlook this component when developing visually attractive, well-written collateral that lacks a persuasive CTA. What do you want people to do with your content? Does it offer an avenue to interact with someone from your company? Without opening these compelling pathways to engagement, you’re just asking prospects to buy. This may be successful in the short term, but it doesn’t provide additional value. Conversation is stepping stone to conversion!


Conversion

conversionsWhen a lead converts online, it’s not time to wash your hands of them quite yet. Help quantify and qualify the leads by showing that you offered that lead a positive experience – building brand value that makes them more likely to become a loyal customer.


What can Signal do for your marketing team? Reach out and start a conversation with us.  

Animated visual cues

How Animated UI Enhances the User Experience

Animated UI


Traditional animation for the web – including animated slides and headlines or parallax features – focuses on adding visual interest and flare, not on enhancing the user experience. Adding “zing” has its place but as users have become more savvy and digital devices more sophisticated, users have become hungry for a better overall experience. Taking the traditional a step further, partnering animations with thoughtful user interface (UI) elements can improve website UX, by doing things like offering cues and directing the eyes.

How motion supports usability

Interface objects are either static (like photos or copy) or in motion (animations). When motion is involved, this invites the user to participate in the experience, effectively increasing website usability. Human eyes simply can’t resist objects in motion!

From the technical UX perspective, there are 4 key ways that motion supports usability:

  1. Expectation: Minimize the gap between what the user expects and what they experience in terms of how elements behave.
  2. Continuity: Create seamless user flow. Continuity isn’t necessarily about following a linear path but that the entire experience feels continuous, not jagged or confusing.
  3. Narrative: Lead the user down an expected, linear path using visual cues. Narrative is at work when animation helps show users where they are on the journey.
  4. Relationship: Guide user understanding and decision making with spatial, temporal and hierarchical relationships between interface objects.

UX in motion – the principles in real life

The great examples below illustrate some of the critical principles of UX in motion.

VISUAL CUES: Drawing attention to areas of importance to help users interact

As the user directly manipulates the floating button, the designer communicates to the user – via motion –  how the objects are linked, and the relationship between them. The floating action button allows the user to share his or her profile, and gives them five ways to do it in real time. This provides the user with visual cues for how the content should be shared – supporting usability by expectation.

 

Design by Rahul Bhosale

TRANSFORMATION: Creating a continuous narrative flow to pull the user along

This is an excellent example of the transformation principle, where an animation that grabs the user’s attention and draws them to the desired outcome. Transformation is a critical principle of UX in motion because it really stands out (think animated progress bars or flashing check marks to help guide users down the path). In this example, users clearly see what will happen next (continuity!).

 

Design by Volorf

VALUE CHANGE: Offering users a sense of dynamic relationship

When value based interface objects (text or numerals) load with no value change, it’s a missed opportunity. Motion can help distinguish dynamic values – such as time, income, game scores or business metrics – from single, static numbers. In this example, the countdown timer does a great job of reflecting a dynamic reality.


Design by Dawid Sobecki

OVERLAY: Using motion to show spatial relationship in “flatland”

Here, the bidding feature overlays the main content, creating a visual hierarchy while allowing users to maintain their sense of place. Overlay is a technique that allows designers to communicate relationship between “z-axis” positioned layers, helping users understand where they are oriented in space. Logical relationships, like the one created here, support usability.

 

Design by Ales Nesetril

NARRATIVE: Engaging users by telling a visual story

The animations in this banking app spin a clear visual narrative of the process, keeping the user both engaged and on task. Seeing this animation, the user will be able to complete the task quickly and efficiently. It also gives a sense of confidence about how the steps will unfold.

 


Design by Sam Borek

Ready to take your website to the next level? Our interactive designers are waiting to deliver UI elements that wow your users.

new and cool from world cup marketing

New & Cool in World Cup Marketing

In 2014, record-breaking social media coverage of the World Cup led to a tournament final that racked up more than 280 million interactions. However, the 2018 final between France and Croatia drove just as many interactions on Facebook alone! Given the social fan fervor around the beloved event, marketers had to step up the game with innovative and exciting campaigns. Here are just a few of our favorites.


new and cool in world cup marketing


Coca-Cola: Virtual ambassador

This year’s Coca-Cola campaign featured its own virtual ambassador, Uplifted Alex – a fictitious soccer player from the video game FIFA 18. This one scores points (wink, wink) for capitalizing on a hugely popular video game, which launched in September 2017 for engagement in advance of the big event. It also grabs the older demographic, who may notice that the Alex commercial is reminiscent of a famous 1979 Coca-Cola commercial featuring a young fan consoling real football player Mean Joe Greene.


BBC: Embroidered animation

The BBC’s “operatic montage” of memorable moments from World Cup history is one of the most notable of many unique graphic marketing campaigns surrounding the tournament. The campaign was inspired by how the world once recorded history – created in two different tapestry projects. The first, a seven-foot wall hanging, will go on public display. The second is an epic montage of iconic moments from World Cup history called “The Tapestry,” created by stitching more than 600 individual embroideries together for the film.


IKEA: For fans and non-fans alike

 The furniture company designed share-worthy social ads that cater to those who are gung-ho about the game…and those who find it just ho-hum. IKEA’s “Delaktig” sofa has seats facing both forwards and backwards, so both fans and non-fans can share the space. And the “Vallentuna” sofa model has a seat where the person cheering the wrong team can be quarantined.

Ikea World Cup


FIFA: Visual stories

International soccer’s governing body showed us that despite this year’s big ad spend, the World Cup is all about personal connection. World Cup Visual Stories gave us coverage of teams, players and coaches, highlighted in vibrant visuals. The interactivity of each story is a goal kick!


Want marketing magic for a big event? Let Signal help you create exceptional materials for that conference, tradeshow or fundraiser.

 


crop losses informational video

Crop Losses Informational Video


CropLife International is a global federation representing the plant science industry, addressing international developments in crop protection and agricultural biotechnology. The organization asked Signal to design and produce a short video animation on the topic of pre-harvest crop losses around the world. The objective was to explain the huge volume of crops at risk of being lost in the fields due to pests and diseases, and the value of plant biotechnology and crop protection products to help prevent these losses. The 80-second video features licensed photography and video clips with animated screen text and graphics.