mobile tapping research - south korea, uk and singapore

Mobile Tapping – South Korea, UK and Singapore September 2014 1

London | Norwich | Singapore

Mobile Tapping South Korea, UK and Singapore

September 2014

Anne Kehlet Bavngaard – UX Consultant

Nicole Harlow – Senior Practitioner

Samantha Yuen – UX Consultant

Tom Wood – Founding Partner

London | Norwich | Singapore


Foolproof wanted to find out more about

the landscape for mobile proximity marketing

and commerce…


We wanted to understand three things…

1. When are these technologies going to reach

mass adoption in Western economies?

2. How will adoption start and take hold?

(Which use cases will pioneer this?)

3. Why will people start to engage with these services

and start using them in their day-to-day life?


Background and methodology


Adoption of mobile proximity technologies has been slow

— Our focus is on technologies that allow

people to tap, swipe or bump their

phone to trigger an interaction.

— A high proportion of new smartphones

now ship with these capabilities.

— Services which use these technologies

are being piloted all around the world.

— The big corporate interest is around

mobile payments, but adoption in

Western economies has been limited.

iBeacon / BLE

NFC and other RFID

Scanning


We identified South Korea as the best place to explore mobile proximity tech in action

In April 2014 we conducted desk research on the

current landscape including news, market trends,

blogs and reviews of NFC trials conducted globally.

The research pointed to South Korea being the best

location to ethnographically explore mobile tapping.

— South Korea is at the forefront of technological

development and consumer adoption.

— There are several examples of technology being

adopted there and then spreading to the rest of

the world.

— Mobile tapping is already part of people’s everyday

lives so there are mass use examples to study.


We chose ethnography as our method

because exploring people’s use of

technology in situ allows us to understand:

— How people become aware of this technology, and how it

entered their own use;

— Why they find it beneficial (or why they don’t);

— What difficulties they encounter with the user experience.


Locations

— Participant observation, walking

ethnography, shadowing and

mystery shopping, rich

descriptions

— 8 semi-structured interviews with

core and fringe informants

— 27 intercept interviews with

end users and staff

— 10 email interviews around use

of mobile proximity services

The research took

place over eight

locations, covering:

— Subways

— Local and tourist

shopping areas

— Taxis

— A university

campus


We also did research in London and Singapore to understand the landscape

London

— Guerrilla interviews at bus stops

around NFC information services

— Participant observation at Museum

of London and a restaurant (Wahaca)

around NFC information and payment

— Website reviews of banks, telcos

and mobile payment services

Singapore

— Phone interviews with 12 owners

of NFC-enabled smart phones

and iPhones

— Mystery shopping at telco stores

— Intercept interviews with staff

— Website reviews of banks, telcos

and mobile payment services


Through our research we identified five factors

which lead to successful implementation of

mass-market mobile proximity services.


1. Have a long-term strategy

2. Identify existing pain points

3. Build on the familiar

4. Communicate effectively

5. Turn intrigue into use

Five factors for success in mobile proximity services

“ ?


Think about the long-term


— Embracing new technology is a

chance for companies to show

leadership and customer focus.

— But many proximity technology

implementations are tactical with

no link to long-term strategy.

— Too much work is put onto the

user, with little support from

frontline staff.

— Many services are left in market

with inadequate tech support and

little company commitment to

iterate and improve the service.

Panels placed either side of

subway doors make it difficult

for users to get an overview

and move between items

during rush hour

Customer must install Home

Plus app to read barcodes

and shop

Prices are similar to

convenience stores in or near

the station

Home Plus NFC store, Seolleung station, Seoul


Provide ongoing support & improvement


— Refine and iterate once in market. Create a feedback loop which includes the user.

— Successful brands such as T-money have a long-term strategy of incremental changes.

— Join up with other companies that can help you reach your target segment.

— If you can’t support services long-term, pull them out of market.

Poorly designed or faulty implementations send strong negative signals to users.

T-money card onto mobile App T-money micro mobile payments at subways

T-money micro mobile payments at shops T-money card

T-money dongle attached to mobile








“ ?


Whilst T-money is convenient for small payments

(transport), it is less convenient for larger payments

as most top up weekly with cash.

Payments on the subway

were more convenient

for those who always

had their phone in

their hand.

Those under 18 and not

yet eligible for a credit

card could use mobile

T-money as a convenient

way to pay for small

purchases.

Some use cases addressed user’s existing pain points

“It’s much easier, my cell phone is always in my hand…I’m lazy, I don’t want to have to get it out of my bag.”

Female, Nurse


“I’ve never used it to pay in the shop, my balance would keep getting depleted… I’d have to keep topping it up.”

Female 20

Others didn’t meet User’s needs, or created new pain points


“I used to carry all my loyalty cards in my purse. Now I use an app.”

“I used to carry all my loyalty cards in my purse. Now, I use a smart wallet.”

“I even collect cards and have 4 different designs in my app.”

“My phone is usually in my hand. I open the loyalty card app while waiting in the queue.”

“It’s quicker to open the app than to find the right card in my purse.”

“I can pay with points, collect points and immediately see my new balance.”


Solve existing pain points for the user


— Identify pain points in current use cases that could be

addressed through mobile tapping or proximity technologies.

— Determine who to design for first: who is going to lead the

way and spark wider adoption?

— Don’t assume that what’s in your interest will create real value

for your customer.








“ ?


Customer perception of risk is critical


We found several examples where services

suffered low adoption because they carried

high levels of perceived risk for users.

Often these perceptions did not stand up to

logical scrutiny: users would have ample

opportunity to prevent or limit fraudulent use.

But initial perceptions about the level of risk

limited people’s willingness to investigate, or

sign up for, mobile proximity services.

It’s important to explore and respond to

customer perceptions of risk in the concept

development phase .

Examples of ‘high risk’ services

were ones with negative potential

outcomes like:

— High value, or unlimited

payment fraud

— High value or unlimited

unauthorised use of a

paid-for service

— Data or identity theft


Successful use cases built on the familiar and expanded gradually

T-money to mobile micro payments

Loyalty cards to mobile micro payments

Plastic card to collect points

Mobile for point collection

Mobile for micro payments

Contactless plastic card for

transport

Mobile for transport

Mobile for micro payments


Credit card to mobile macro payments

Use cases that moved straight to a new medium with a high perceived risk are more likely to fail

Service with high

perceived risk New medium

Service with high

perceived risk New medium

Large payments on credit card

New medium and high

perceived risk

Large payments on

mobile


Mobile was successfully introduced where the perceived risk was low


There were two paths to success:

1. From a familiar medium to a

new medium when risk was

perceived to be low by users

2. From a low risk service to a

higher risk service, if the

medium is familiar

In time, a new medium becomes

familiar: it’s then possible to make a

new step with the customer in their

relationship with the service.

Familiar Medium

New Medium

Service with a low

perceived risk

Service with a high

perceived risk


Expand gradually from a trusted use case


— Move to new media or new services in small steps

rather than leaps.

— Build on an existing, trusted and ‘safe’ use-case, rather

than landing an alien use-case with a greater perceived

risk to customers.

— Build out new features or services only from familiar

service concepts.








“ ?


There were many different interfaces representing mobile proximity capability


“


The most effective interfaces indicated the action users needed to take


A shopping device which

gives users the option to

download a loyalty app

Taking the shape of a phone

and being the size of a

phone, the device is effective

in communicating the

interaction needed

The device has a clear user

interface and explains what

steps need to be taken to

download the loyalty app

“


Communicate and educate proactively

— Increase users’ awareness and

engagement.

— Demystify the service by:

— Educating users on what the

benefits are, how to get

started and how to use the

service

— Using language (written and

visual) which resonates with

customers; not tech language

— Address perceived barriers to use

including:

— Security concerns

— Cumbersome setup

processes

The use of loyalty cards

provides cash benefits at

many stores

Staff are helpful if customers

are struggling to use their

phone

Many stores have all available

loyalty schemes listed at the

till

Many stores signpost T-

money, but not specifically

mobile use


“





4. Communicate proactively



“ ?


The excitement of discovering a new feature on my mobile


“…I never knew my phone could do this!”

“Ah yes! I can see now that it has taken money out of my balance.”

“…I wonder if this will work. Oh, the screen needs to be facing upwards.”

?


Many users are open-minded about new uses for their phone

— Users can be playful as they discover and start

to exploit the capabilities of their phone.

— A positive experience with one proximity

technology service can lead to a period of

exploration and trial of other services.

— But negative or uneventful experiences

can deter potential users.

— Some early adopters have become cynical about

proximity services: unwilling to commit time and

effort to a trial of new propositions.

“It doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for a while. I think it’s outdated.”

Shop assistant


?


Make the most of user excitement

— Reduce usage barriers by perfecting the experience at

point-of-service:

— Ensure staff are enthusiastic advocates and can

effectively support and educate users

— Ensure written instructions and the user interface

make the service seem easy to use

and communicate clear benefits

— Build on intrigue and excitement: communicate with

new users to encourage continued use.

— Don’t leave broken or obsolete technology in the market.


?


Conclusion


User experience: “good enough” isn’t good enough

Conclusion

— Many early services in market were clearly

experimental: put live by a project team with

no long-term plan about how to support or

develop the service.

— In Seoul, London and Singapore we saw

similar patterns around poor quality

implementation. Not enough time or care

had gone into crafting the user experience.

This was often evident to users at their first

contact with the service.

— Companies without the resources and

appetite to craft an excellent user experience

may do more harm than good to their brand

and reputation.

Develop a high-quality experience

across all of these areas:

— Attracting attention to the service

and explaining its benefits

— Intuitive user interface and

interaction at point of service

— Simple sign-up and first use

— Low-effort sign-in and security

procedures for ongoing use

— Clear messages about what to do

if something goes wrong


Where next for mobile tapping?

Conclusion

— Mobile proximity technologies may be about to move into a new

phase now that more new phones are shipping with these

capabilities and that awareness of these capabilities is growing.

— However, business must learn from the past. In Seoul we saw a few

successful implementations, but mostly we saw the ‘wreckage’ left

behind by poorly planned, poorly supported projects. Customers

can see this too. Unless the quality and value of tapping services

improves they may reject them in favour of tried and trusted ways

to meet their needs.

— We hope that our report has given you some useful ideas about

how to develop successful services. If you would like to see more

findings from our fieldwork or discuss your own project with our

team them please get in touch.

— You can view more photos from our research in South Korea on

Flipboard here: http://flip.it/dAChP

http://flip.it/dAChP


Foolproof London | Norwich | Singapore

Thank you

Contact us

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+65 9435 2731

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