On direct marketing and user experience

Usability maven John Rhodes published a clever piece last week entitled How Direct Marketing and User Experience Are the Same. The cited examples are quite good and worth contemplating (Rhodes is often right when it comes to UX matters). Particularly for ecommerce sites, the direct-marketing correlation is strong.

Something the article did not do, though, was reverse the angle. The piece focused on how the technical details of UX work are similar to the fundamentals of direct marketing. But direct marketing also has a lot in common with the qualitative side of user experience work. To wit:

• Simple, clear instructions maximize conversions. In any direct marketing appeal, the endgame is straightforward and easy to spot--as with the majority of UX-centered processes.
• First impressions are lasting impressions. Consumers decide in seconds whether they have a good or bad feeling about a product, company, or website (especially a website). Similarly, a good piece of direct marketing leaves consumers with a positive feeling that either leads to a sale or is retained until a later conversion opportunity.
• Understanding and relating to the end user is key to long-term success. Like a good website, a good direct marketer will fine-tune and localize messages over time, creating a more intimate and useful dialogue that leads to greater response rates.
  

One aspect that may not be the same is the value of the individual viewer. A user-experience expert would cite the necessity for all users to have as positive an experience as possible. Conversely, some direct marketers are looking for scale above all else, and are unafraid to sacrifice some people in order to reach others effectively. This is good for short-term sales, somewhat less so for customer retention and positive recall. Which, of course, is where UX comes in.