Author: Susan Weinschenk

  • Obstacles To User Experience Success

    Obstacles To User Experience Success

    Have you ever been the User Experience point person on a product team and found yourself explaining over and over again what it is you are actually doing? Working with a team that doesn’t “get” user experience is one of the obstacles to creating a great user experience. I talk about that obstacle plus a…

  • Why I’m Still In Love With User Testing

    Why I’m Still In Love With User Testing

    I’ve been doing user testing for (I’m afraid to admit) decades. And I still love it. It’s a great way to get feedback from people about how effective your design, your product, your assumptions are. In these days of Lean everything you can’t beat user testing as one of the best Lean UX techniques to…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #15-24

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #15-24

    For this post I’ve put 10 ways to persuade and motivate altogether in one post! 15. Talk first – Research shows that people like to follow a leader and that the person who talks first when a group gets together becomes the leader. 16. Give a gift – When someone gives you a gift you…

  • The Brain Science Of Why Stepping Away Increases Creativity

    The Brain Science Of Why Stepping Away Increases Creativity

    We’ve all had the experience: You’re trying to solve a problem or come up with a new idea. You’ve been sitting at your desk, or discussing it in meetings, but you haven’t come up with a solution or the right idea. Then you step away — go for a walk, go to lunch, weed the…

  • The Art & Science Of Creativity

    The Art & Science Of Creativity

    I’m really excited to announce that my newest online video course, The Art And Science Of Creativity is now live on Udemy. How many times have you heard that certain people are just “born creative,” and certain people “aren’t.” It’s not true. Creativity is a process with clearly defined steps that you can learn and…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #14 – Think Social

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #14 – Think Social

    People are social animals. It’s in our biology. We just can’t help it. So if you want to persuade and motivate people to take action, put whatever you want them to do in a social context. Do you want people to use your product? Then make sure they know how many other people are using…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #13–Talk to the unconscious

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #13–Talk to the unconscious

    “We want them to type in their email and click on the “Join” button”, was the response from my client as I asked him what was the one action he wanted people to take on his landing page. Good. That was clear. But now the question was what else should be on the landing page…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #12 – Give them a warm beverage

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #12 – Give them a warm beverage

    You have an important meeting with a client first thing tomorrow morning. The main contact, Jeremy, is unhappy with some of the deliverables on the last project. He has been a little cold and distant with you on the phone and through email recently. This is the first time he is coming in to the…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #11 Identify The Operating Self-Story

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #11 Identify The Operating Self-Story

    Someone knocks on your door. You recognize him as a kid from your neighborhood. He’s selling popcorn as a fundraiser for a club he belongs to at school. The club is trying to go to the state convention. How do you react? It depends on the story, or persona, you have of yourself when it comes to topics…

  • 365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #10 Pitch When People Feel Regret

    365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #10 Pitch When People Feel Regret

    Of all the situations and feelings that motivate people to take action, regret is one of the most powerful. People don’t like to feel regret and will do a lot to avoid it. That’s not surprising, but you might be surprised to find out that the more opportunity people feel they have, the more regret they tend to…