How are y’all doing? Welcome to the new subscribers who have joined us since the last edition!
Here are this week’s links:
Dogs have a legendary sense of smell - did you know that they have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to only 6 million for humans? Apparently, humans have another kind of “scent” that is also important to how we experience life online. If you are searching for information online, how do you know to choose one link over another? The Nielson Group calls this an “information scent”, and I found this article quite intriguing. Psychology plays a key role in design, and this is just one way it manifests.
I love reading about how insights from design research can change a business or a project. In this piece, we hear about how Bank of America got inspiration for their “Keep the Change” program. They spent time doing research, holding many design sessions and coming up with over 80 prototypes. Since launch, the program has attracted over 12 million customers.
Bonus Random Link
By now, most of you have heard that Tony Hseih has died. He had several startups, but he is best known for building an amazing customer-focused culture at Zappos. In fact, the company is fondly known as “a customer service company that happens to sell shoes”. He shares his guiding principles in this episode of the How I Built This podcast and in his book, Delivering Happiness. It’s worth going through these to see how a focus on customer experience can lead to great success.
Parting Words
I’m a scout at Microtraction. Know any good startups on the African continent with some traction that need funding? Let me know!
Keep well,
Uyai