the groop welcome kit sample

Welcome to The Groop

This Workbook Belongs to:Sam

ple

© GroopLab LLC, 2009 - 2010

Table of Contents

‣ Welcome

‣ Our Process

‣ Brand Driven Design‣Defining Your Brand‣Defining Your Users

‣Next Steps

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Welcome to the Groop family. The goal of this document is to share with you some of the key steps in our process that will help us define and agree on the direction that we will take together in the next few months.

Our goal is to make the process of working and learning with us one that is simple, actionable, visual and interactive. That is why this document is in the form of a workbook that you can do on your own or during a Groop workshop that we will do together soon.

Throughout the workbook this little guy:

will appear with rules, tips and guidance.

We hope you find this workbook valuable at foreshadowing what your experience with us will be like and how we will help your company achieve success!

Jose Caballer

Chief Visionary, Chief Creative Officer

Welcome

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Hi!


Our Process

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Step Description Deliverables

1. Immersion A deep understanding of your business and your users will help us better deliver a successful web experience. During this part of our process we listen intently and work to understand your needs. Most importantly how we can delight your customers.

‣ Review your site analytics‣ Identify usability issues‣ Interview stakeholders‣ Audit the competition ‣ User Immersion ‣ Develop User Personas

2. Plan If time and money where unlimited we would skip this step and get to the fun. Being that they are not, we take this step seriously to ensure that your investment has the maximum impact possible. The plan is adjusted throughout the process as we measure results and iterate.

‣ Develop success metrics ‣ Brand & Product Workshop‣ Develop creative brief‣ Create content plan‣ Create product roadmap‣ Identify risks and mitigation

3. Design Designing a successful website is both about art and science. We consider the design of your technology solution as important as the design of your buttons. Beauty meets utility. You can call it beautility if you would like. Your goals, your users and your brand drive the design of both experience and technology.

‣ Create user scenarios ‣ Information architecture‣ Develop functional specifications ‣ Annotated site wireframes ‣ Create visual “site scape” ‣ Design visuals & interactivity ‣ Visual style guide

4. Build Our technologists have been know to be artful. Or at least known to speak in plain language about technology no matter how experienced or new to technology you might be. Though we help you with your CMS, can develop in PHP, .NET and AS3 we’ll talk in english to you and your internal IT teams.

‣ Release planning ‣ Server set up ‣ Front-end development‣ Back-end development ‣ 3rd party integration

5. Launch Three, two, one, launch is easier said than done. Before we are even close to “three” we ensure that analytics are in place, your site is tested and that the process of launching is painless to you and your IT team.

‣ Analytics integration ‣ Release management ‣ Quality Assurance

6. Assess &

Iterate

After a brief (very brief) break to celebrate we get back to work and check the numbers. Assessing how effectively we met your goals and adjusting to do even better. We believe in ongoing incremental improvements. Unfortunately the “big bang” theory seldom works. Release, measure, release. Do it again.

‣ Review Analytics ‣ Review success metrics‣ Future iteration planning


Our Process

5

Step Description Deliverables

1. Immersion A deep understanding of your business and your users will help us better deliver a successful web experience. During this part of our process we listen intently and work to understand your needs. Most importantly how we can delight your customers.

‣ Review your site analytics‣ Identify usability issues‣ Interview stakeholders‣ Audit the competition ‣ User Immersion ‣ Develop User Personas

2. Plan If time and money where unlimited we would skip this step and get to the fun. Being that they are not, we take this step seriously to ensure that your investment has the maximum impact possible. The plan is adjusted throughout the process as we measure results and iterate.

‣ Develop success metrics ‣ Brand & Product Workshop‣ Develop creative brief‣ Create content plan‣ Create product roadmap‣ Identify risks and mitigation

3. Design Designing a successful website is both about art and science. We consider the design of your technology solution as important as the design of your buttons. Beauty meets utility. You can call it beautility if you would like. Your goals, your users and your brand drive the design of both experience and technology.

‣ Create user scenarios ‣ Information architecture‣ Develop functional specifications ‣ Annotated site wireframes ‣ Create visual “site scape” ‣ Design visuals & interactivity ‣ Visual style guide

4. Build Our technologists have been know to be artful. Or at least known to speak in plain language about technology no matter how experienced or new to technology you might be. Though we help you with your CMS, can develop in PHP, .NET and AS3 we’ll talk in english to you and your internal IT teams.

‣ Release planning ‣ Server set up ‣ Front-end development‣ Back-end development ‣ 3rd party integration

5. Launch Three, two, one, launch is easier said than done. Before we are even close to “three” we ensure that analytics are in place, your site is tested and that the process of launching is painless to you and your IT team.

‣ Analytics integration ‣ Release management ‣ Quality Assurance

6. Assess &

Iterate

After a brief (very brief) break to celebrate we get back to work and check the numbers. Assessing how effectively we met your goals and adjusting to do even better. We believe in ongoing incremental improvements. Unfortunately the “big bang” theory seldom works. Release, measure, release. Do it again.

‣ Review Analytics ‣ Review success metrics‣ Future iteration planning

This workbook will focus on this part of our process.


Process Overview

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User Profiles: CauseCast

Strategy Workshops

Project Planning

User Interviews

Competitive Audit

Design Immersion: Motorola

Here’s a visual overview of our process… super fast!


Process Overview

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Identity Design: ThisNext

Information Architecture Visual Designs

Content Planning

Analytics TrackingTech Development


Brand Driven Design

Three factors determine the direction your website should take. The first factor is your brand: Who are you? What do people’s guts say about you? Everything from what type of content to color to interaction style depends who you are to your users. The second factor is your goals: What goals are you trying to achieve with your initiative? Do you want to increase online sales? Do you want to make your customer service better? Do you want to increase enrollment? Finally there is the third and most important factor, which is your user. Who are they? What do they need? Meeting their needs is the key imperative. If we meet their needs, we have succeeded.

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YourBrand

YourGoals

Users’Needs

Defining Your Brand

YourBrand

YourGoals

Users’Needs


Branding vs. Identity

What is Branding?

A set of qualities, ideas, and attributes promised and delivered in every experience and every interaction a person may have with a companyBranding is not objective; instead it is a set of feelings and philosophies.It’s the gut feeling a customer gets when they think of you. The qualities that make up any company’s brand will inform the way that company presents itself and conducts business. From the highest levels of management to the smallest components of everyday interactions, a brand should be legible, clear, and well-articulated.

How is Identity different?

A Company’s Identity system is the visual expression of the brand through an identity (symbol and logotype), typography, color palette and layout.

But how do I define a brand?

A Company’s Identity system is the visual expression of the brand through an identity (symbol and logotype), typography, color palette and layout.

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Nike’s Logo

CustomersFeeling

vs


Brand Attribute Definition

How do I define my brand?

Reality starts with language. What we say becomes what we manifest. Therefore you can start by describing your brand in words. To help you come up with those words we use a process called Brand Attribute Definition. Or B.A.D. as in make my business “BAD Ass Awesome”. : )

Brand Attributes

How would you describe what you do, for whom you do it and how that emotionally benefits and tangibly provides value to them?

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Your Brand

General Attributes

Benefits User

Culture

Value

Personality

Describe your customer

Describe yourself and your culture

If your brand was a friend of yours how would you describe

their personality?

The advantages that your customers perceives that get

The cost/time/money/satisfaction your customer gets

General qualities your brand should convey


Define Your Brand Attributes

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General: Personality: Culture: Customers/

Audience:

Benefits: Value:

Fun Genuine Creative Entrepreneurial Peace-of-mind Financial gain

In each of the categories below write 5 adjectives that describe your business.

Rules:Try to say it in one word. Do not edit yourself. Anything goes here. Go for quantity not quality. You can say anything.Example: “Poop”


Select Final Attributes

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General: Personality: Culture:

Customers/Audience: Benefits: Value:

Choose 5 final attributes from each category and write them in below.

Rules:Ok, now you can edit


______________ provide(s) ______________

to ______________ in a(n) _______________

and ______________ way to help them

________________ and _______________.

Your Brand Statement

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Website / Product / Service

Users Culture

Personality

ValueBenefits

Name (Your Business)

Select 1 word in each category and place them in their corresponding place below.

how do we make them feel.

Lets try it out:Savings.com provides coupons and deals to savvy online shoppers submitted by both expert and

sometimes just savvy DealPro’s in a trustworthy manner helping shoppers save money and feel great

doing it.

This is not our mission statement, simply an example of how you could use the attributes. You should try it.

Example:

Hint:Try different ones and see how they sound. Keep doing that until you can “feel it”.You can use your general attributes and you can change the order if you want.

Defining Your Users

YourBrand

YourGoals

Users’Needs


The Basics

Why do I need to do this?

You know that customers are the most important thing in your business and therefore they are the most important driver of what you do online.

Creating a tangible picture of who your customer is requires you to “really see them” and to understand their needs. The first step is creating a customer profile. Whether you have done many of these or this is your first time our goal is to help you make these customers real, both in their profile form here but also in sales.

How do I come up with my customers?

If you are an existing business, you know them because you deal with them all the time. More importantly you likely have some data of who they are. If you are a new business and have already defined them you have them written down somewhere or in your head. If you are the founder of a start-up there is a high likelihood that you yourself are the main customer profile or know someone close to you is.

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Who are your customers?


The Basics

What do I need to define about my customer?

To start a name, any name. One that reflects their background. Giving them a name begins to make them real. You don’t have “customer 1” as a customer, you have Linda Johnson as a customer. Second demographic information such as age, gender, income & marital status. Third, their story. Describe the situation they are in that has created potential interest in your product or service. Finally, what do they need from your product or service? This can be a feature or it can be an attribute of how the feature work such as “easy to use”.

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Betty Peterson - “The “Accidental Entrepreneur”

Female, Brooklyn New YorkAge: 32, Ex - Advertising Creative DirectorIn a relationship

Betty just got laid off from an Ad agency where she was a creative director. Betty loves all things “Home”. From hand knit pillows, to cooking to decorating. She is already a big seller on Etsy.

Understands the internet, but not the first thing about business. Wants info in “her language”.Wants to start her own online store and brand.She needs to know about ecommerce. She also needs to know the basics of how to start a business. It needs to be super easy to user and understand.

Name

Story

Needs


User Definition: Part 1

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Picture Picture Picture

Name

Story

Needs

Create 3 users profiles for your online business. Start with the name, then the story then their needs. Finish by finding a picture in a magazine or online that you feel best represents what the user looks like.


Next Steps

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So what next?

First we hope you had a chance to think about and fill out some of this workbook.

Based on our conversation we recommend the following steps in our process next:

1. Immersion ‣ Review your site analytics‣ Identify usability issues‣ Interview stakeholders

‣ Audit the competition ‣ User Immersion

‣ Develop User Personas

2. Plan ‣ Develop success metrics ‣ Brand & Product Workshop‣ Develop creative brief

‣ Create content plan‣ Create product roadmap

‣ Identify risks and mitigation

What is our goal?

Our goal is to provide you with clarity and direction. To work together to develop an actionable roadmap for success. Once in hand, that roadmap will help drive your efforts and get you, your team, your strategic partners and investors all on the same page and excited about the possibilites.

I look forward to helping guide you to online success.

In person session

Our immediate next step is to schedule 2 hours to conduct the Brand Definition Workshop and User Definition Workshop.

the groop welcome kit sample

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