Check how UX can help you communicate your product at the early stage of your startup.

1. So what is it that you’re
selling?
How UX can help you communicate your
product at the early stage of your startup.
Anna Lankauf, UX Strategist
July, 2015

2. 7-38-55 rule
7%
38%
55% WORDS
VOICE TONE
BODY POSTURE, FACIAL
EXPRESSIONS, GESTURES
Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114
When someone
communicates their
feelings and attitudes,
what a receiver of the
message gets is in:
• 7% words
• 38% body posture,
facial expressions and
gestures
• 55% voice tone

3. Non-verbal communication wins!
7%
93%
WORDS
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114
A message receiver focuses
in 93% on non-verbal
communication.

4. You’d better be consistant!
Mehrabian, Albert; Wiener, Morton, Decoding of Inconsistent Communications, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 6 (1), 1967, s. 109–114
I am very sad.
This tendency is very strong.
Especially, when the words
communicate something
inconsistant with non-verbal
expression. People focus more
on what you do, rather than
what you say.

5. Internet is social!
We are a very
innovative
company
We communicate
feelings and attitudes
on the Internet too!
When we see an
incosistant message like
this one, there is no
doubt, we would
believe the picture
rather than the words.

6. Simon Sinek’s reason why companies succeed
HOW?
WHAT?
$WHY?
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?
Simon Sinek believes that
companies succeed, because they
communicate WHY they do what
they do, rather than just stay
focused on WHAT.
This is great for very recognizable
brands like Apple or Nike.
If you are a startup, nobody
knows you, and you have to
answer all of these three
questions What?, How? and
Why?. They are equally
important.

7. BJ Fogg’s Behavioural Modelmotivation
ability
trigger
high
highlow
low
Behaviour is the function of 3
variables:
1. Motivation
2. Ability
3. Trigger
The easier it is for a user to
buy, the less motivated he
needs to be in order to do it.
People who don’t know what
your product is, can’t be
motivated to get it, so you
have to make it the easiest for
them to buy it.

8. Landing page is the first contact with your product
PEOPLE SPEND ONLY 30 SECONDS ON
EXPLORING YOUR LANDING PAGE.
IF THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, THEY LEAVE.

9. Common mistakes - Loads of text
People don’t read on the
Internet, they just scan the text
in a search for very specific
information:
WHAT?
HOW?
WHY?
If there is a lot of text, they can’t
find it quickly.

10. Common mistakes - What is the product? + no CTA
The first impression is the most important. If you don’t explain what your product
is in plain English, you make your user search for the answer about ’What is the
product?’
Phrases like ’collaborative community’ are too complicated. You should use
simpler words, like ’together’ instead.
http://brainly.co/

11. Common mistakes - What is the product? + no CTA
There are two types of triggers:
1. Intrinsic (I feel I’m thirsty)
2. Extrinsic (I see a sign ’Grab a coffee’)
Since your users probably don’t know your product, they don’t realize they have
a need for it (no intrinsic trigger), you have to create extrinsic trigger for them.
No trigger means no Call-To-Action.
http://themakermafia.com/

12. Common mistakes - Fireworks
Fireworks are all functionalities and interactions on your website which weren’t
meant to accomplish the main aim -> sell / share / sign up etc.
Go to the https://www.gavick.com/
and look how much fuss there is around the cookie policy. It seems to be more
important than CTAs and it definitely draws a lot of attention, which might have
been used to sell the product instead.
https://www.gavick.com/

13. Common mistakes – Too many forms
The less form fields there are to
fill out, the easier it is to submit.
Don’t ask for information that is
not crucial to achieve your goal.
Ask only for the must-have
information e.g e-mail (to contact
your user).
Don’t ask for usernames, unless
this is a business-specific
information to gather. Email can
be a username.
http://www.pearltrees.com/ http://ethn.io/

14. All of these mistakes influence the MAT indicatorsmotivation
ability
trigger
high
highlow
low
Motivation
Ability
Trigger

15. How to do it better? – One sentence pitch
’My product [product name]
is a [what?]
which helps [who?] with [what?]
using [your secret sauce].’
Create your one
sentence pitch and put
it everywhere you can
(business cards,
website, presentations,
pitches).
Use simple words, as if
you were explaining
your business to your
grandmother!

16. How to do it better? – Use visuals
Pictures, videos, icons, gifs etc. are always better than words.
All visuals have to be about your business: product, team, mission etc. Don’t put a
picture with your cat just to have fun.
https://squerb.com/ https://popapp.in/

17. How to do it better? – Put your product out there!
If it’s possible, let your users try what your product is straight on the website.
The less forms they need to submit, or buttons to click to actually see the product
and its functionality, the better.
https://redpen.io/

18. How to do it better? – Parallax
If you have to explain complex issues or show a few steps of the process – parallax
is very helpful.
Users just have to scroll the page to get the information – easy and sleek.
http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil

19. Go and do it now!
1. Define what action you want to get from your users (buy,
leave contact info, sign up, share etc.) = MAIN AIM,
2. Answer What?, How? and Why? questions and
communicate it on your landing page,
3. Look for UX mistakes that may decrease motivation, ability
and trigger indicators and fix them,
4. Make your communication consistant and simple,
5. SELL YOUR PRODUCT!

20. Don’t worry!
The first draft is always crap!
Show it to your users to find out what
can be done better.

22. Questions? Need help?
Anna Lankauf
sales@divante.co
www.divante.co