Things that make me stabby:
Why is it that the Mobile Marketing Association has a super crappy mobile web experience (redirects to desktop site two clicks in) and Mobile Marketer Daily sends emails that do not display properly on my mobile device?
Seriously, here’s what I got two clicks in when I tried to “Learn more”.
And here, Mobile Marketer is happy to offer me the chance to download their native iPhone app, but if I’m visiting their site via my mobile browser (you know, like if I clicked one of the links in the desktop formatted email I received), I guess I’m shit outta luck.
Why such a crappy experience from places claiming to be experts or sources of expert knowledge? I’ll tell you why. It seems today that a lot of people (marketers/experts) are more concerned with sounding smart, writing really smart blog posts/articles, generating ad revenue or conference revenue, feeling like social media celebrities, and pimping their speaking gigs, that they are perfectly fine with ignoring shitty user experience.
If you claim to be a “premier global trade association” or a “news leader in mobile marketing and media”, don’t you think you should practice what you preach? Hell, if you claim to be an expert in anything, you better damn well be able to walk the walk, right? Some of the first things my prospective clients want to see are examples of my work. Anyone can talk a good game, but the proof is in what they deliver. And truth be told, bad UX just pisses me off.
Seriously, walk the walk, “experts”.
Because you’re fucking killing me.
9 comments
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July 29, 2011 at 2:33 pm
positivelyrambling
Yes, and we’ve grown to expect a crappy experience on our mobile devices, so we often just move on to the next thing and forget about it. But it ain’t right, “experts”. Fix it. Please.
July 29, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Sara
Especially when this is the expert’s place to publish content…too many people willing to ignore the irony of their mobile articles NOT being formatted for mobile devices because their just happy as hell to be published. Thanks for weighing in on this, too!
July 29, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Bruce
Ok, I posted this on G+ but it has me riled up so I have to respond here, too.
This rant is so true. These so-called-experts are like Gob Bluth or any other supposed magician who spends all this money on a beautiful, elaborate, expensive friggin’ box to stuff his hot assistant into, but never actually learns how to “cut” her in half. Yet still claims to be a magician. TA DA!
/thud
I’ll stop now before I go off on a Dennis Miller-esque side rant.
July 29, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Sara
You *actually* know how stabby I get when it come to this stuff. Face. Melting. Off.
July 29, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Michael
This doesn’t seem too strange to me. Marketing and UX are often wildly at odds. They shouldn’t be, but are (often). The content in this post just reinforces that.
I’d also say that from what you’ve written, the organization you mention doesn’t necessary have a UX or marketing issue, but rather a content strategy one.
(and here’s where I admit that I’ve never heard of MMA)
July 29, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Sara
I disagree Michael. Using the provided navigation on the mobile site, I only got two clicks in before I was redirected to desktop formatted pages. Clearly, it fucked up my user experience. From that point, I need to pinch, stretch, click, re-pinch, re-stretch, and so on. Additionally, there was no option to self-select the mobile styled pages once I was re-directed to the desktop site. Again, this is terrible UX. I don’t imagine you’d disagree with me there. Now, to address your argument of it being an issue with their content strategy…there clearly is none, or a poorly thought out one. BUT! Content strategy is an element of user experience, not an altogether separate issue.
July 30, 2011 at 8:02 am
Michael
I agree that content strategy is a discipline within UX. It’s UX’s BUILDING BLOCK. And without a solid CS, well, you get a shitty IA, and then the shitty overall UX, like you’ve described!
So yeah, guess we’re saying the same things. I’m just using more acronyms! I’m lazy that way. Hah.
(Um…why don’t you do a mkeUX presentation on this topic?)
July 30, 2011 at 8:33 am
Sara
Building block, indeed! Well said, Michael. Thanks for adding your insights here!
July 30, 2011 at 9:31 am
positivelyrambling
Building Blocks will henceforth be known as BB….