I had a blast at TechStars last year, and I’m thrilled that they’re having me back again this summer.  This coming Thursday I’ll be immersed in start-ups in Boulder, teaming up with the guys from Slice of Lime to do a talk on user experience.  From what I can tell they have put together another solid group, and I’m looking forward seeing them.

Because any time in Colorado is never enough, I’m heading out today so I can spend the first half of the week catching up with old friends and hopefully making a few new ones.  It’s no secret that we (Viget) want to reach out west more as the business grows, and I hope this trip sparks a few more.

The week wraps up with my family joining me for some R&R up in the mountains.  I can already tell that it’ll be hard to come back.

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I like “personality” in a web app.  It helps users form an emotional connection — a relationship — and that’s good for the user and the app.  The trick is to treat interactions between app and user the way you’d treat interactions between people.  Then, build your app with the “people” personality of someone everyone likes — charming, polite, a little bit funny even.

There are a few things to consider:

• Your audience.  The personality of BOOMj (social network for baby boomers) should be different than Nymbler (naming wizard for expecting parents).
• Your purpose.  Sites like Mixx and Twitter can afford to have amusing error pages because the state-of-mind of the user is rarely too serious.
• Your experience.  What is the user experience as they interact with your app?  Just as you would in the “real” world, communicate with your users in a way that takes into account the experience they’re having at that moment.

The advent of widgets, which allows a part of an app to be “plugged” into a larger site, creates a new challenge.  The personality of the widget needs to conform to the site it’s wrapped in. 

This morning, I was reading a very serious article on cnn.com about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.  I was intrigued by the option to continue reading about the topic with the “From The Blogs” feature, provided by Sphere.  My state-of-mind was somber — this wasn’t an amusing topic.  When I clicked on the widget, I got this loading message:

“Sit tight, we’re getting to the good stuff” sounds good if I’m reading about the foul-mouthed posthumous tipper (how is this news, by the way?) but given what I had been reading, it stopped me cold, like someone telling a joke at a funeral.  I wasn’t in the mood for “cute.”

The technical solution to this issue is simple — it just takes planning.  The best web apps will increasingly offer highly-personalized user experiences where every interaction is more and more human (and charming).  If you’re building one, build this in.

I ordered - or thought I ordered - a few things for Adena from Sundance.com last week.  Their site has always been frustrating from a usability perspective, and I found the checkout process particularly confusing this time (it’s been a year or so since my last order.)  I thought I checked out correctly, and when I didn’t get a confirmation email, I assumed it was caught in my spam filter or just delayed.

For once I was ahead of the game.  My order was placed (or so I thought) well in advance of Christmas and Adena’s birthday a few days before.  Regular shipping had it slated for delivery last Thursday or Friday, and even if it was a bit late, no big deal.  Until, of course, Adena decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday this past Saturday rather than the following one as I’d planned.

Friday morning, I logged into Sundance.com.  I saw the order in my history, but no delivery date was displayed.  Everything looked normal, just no indication that it had shipped.  I called, and they explained that the order had been “placed” but not “completed” meaning they never got the credit card information.  I had to provide that via phone to complete the order — there was no such option online.  When I complained about that, the rep gave my favorite archaic line (not a direct quote):

“We don’t work with the online group — you’d have to talk with them about the web site ordering process.  I don’t know anything about it.”

When will they get it?  I don’t care about their groups and misguided legacy divisions.  I just want to give them money — why do they make it so difficult?

The rep went on to say that if I wanted to get my gift in time, I’d have to pay express shipping.  Not acceptable, I explained, and to her credit she came through with approval from her supervisor to send it next day without any extra charge. 

I appreciate their independence and wisdom for the gesture, and I remain a Sundance fan, just not of their outdated web site.  Hopefully they’re tracking “customer service” costs like this in a way that will help their web group justify reworking their user experience.

I live in Virginia.  Falls Church, to be exact.  TomTom, the navigation system I have in my car to help me find things, knows this.  In fact, it knows exactly where I am at all times.  

When I enter an address that I’d like to find, the first step is to pick the city.  It’s smart enough to auto-complete (good UX).  As I type, it guesses where I mean, first by completing the city name, then adding the state.  For some reason, though, it completely ignores where I am right now and sorts alphabetically.

When I try to enter “Alexandria, VA” (which is about 15 minutes away) I first have to get through that long name, then scroll down as it displays “Alexandria, AL” and “Alexandria, TN” and every other Alexandria in every other state that’s 100’s of miles from where I am right now. 

Would it really be that hard to factor in where I am and sort the list by those cities closest to me, which one could assume with 99% accuracy that it’s the one I plan to drive to?  In the off chance I’m looking for that 1%, let me scroll then.

The same concept applies to web products.  Use the data you know about your web users to make some assumptions and create a great user experience.  It’s not that hard.