Ecomodo - Meriel Lenfestey
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Collaborative Consumption in Action event NESTA 7 February 2011 Presentation by Meriel Lenfestey on Ecomodo.com
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Ecomodo - Meriel Lenfestey
- 1. Meriel Lenfestey MA(RCA) MMRS FRSA [email_address] follow on twitter.com/ecomodo A leap of faith?
- 2. 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 5. Desire & motivation must outweigh doubts People must feel comfortable using Ecomodo We must deal with problems as they arise
- 6. It 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008 Image borrowed from meerbabykat on flickr Create Desire & motivation
- 7. Choose to lend / borrow I want to earn or save money I’m looking for new ways of fundraising I want to connect with my community I want to be a good citizen I want to try new things I want to reduce my consumption I want to save space I want to justify my purchase
- 9. Image borrowed from Janet 59 on flickr Make people comfortable
- 10. Lending Circles school neighbours co-workers friends clubs interest groups
- 11. Fuzzy Locations 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 12. Insurance & Deposits 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 13. Lend tracking 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 14. Handholding & reminders 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 15. Feedback & reputation 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2008
- 16. 03/03/11 © ecomodo limited 2011 Image borrowed from jwgustavson on flickr Plan to deal with problems
- 17. www.ecomodo.com
Editor's Notes
- I’m Meriel Lenfestey from Ecomodo. This is my husband. No I’m not lending him out. It is also a great metaphor for how some people see the kinds of products and services we’re talking about today. Wholesome, healthy, positive, cheap and socially stimulating. Safe provided certain precautions are taken... But just outside of many people’s comfort zone. I’m here to share some of the thoughts and solutions we have developed at Ecomodo.
- Ecomodo.com enables individuals to lend and borrow each other's everyday objects, skills and spaces with confidence. We have a simple goal: To get communities of all types to make better use of the resources they already have.
- Exercise – I want you to mentally empty your cupboards, garages, lofts etc into this room. You’ll find sewing machines, surfboards, tools, new gadgets, party gear, catering gear, sports gear, fabulous dresses and shoes, cameras, camping gear, ski clothes and much much more. Add to that your skills and any spaces you have and we have a fantastic resource that always existed but was hidden from view. Imagine the parties you could throw, the hobbies you could try, the jobs you could get done if you could borrow any of that stuff. It would save you money, enrich your life and be more green. Lending and borrowing is good for people, pocket and planet. It encourages social engagement, saves people money and maximises the utility of the resources we already have. The carbon impact of people following their dreams, pursuing their interests and doing the boring jobs can be greatly reduced if people borrow instead of buy. The need for this is illustrated by the amazing fact that the average drill is used for only 12 minutes in its lifetime. The total lifecycle impact from the collection of raw materials, manufacturing and distribution, to disposal is unacceptable when the purchaser was probably within a few metres of an idle drill in a neighbour’s shed. Poor experiences of lost or broken items discourage the sharing of belongings and have given lending and borrowing a poor reputation. As a consequence, lofts, sheds, cupboards and garages across the country are filled with many of the same things, often barely used, collecting dust. Our challenge to collectively reduce consumption was to deliver a service that enables people to lend and borrow confidently, opening up their personal treasure troves for the common good. We know it makes sense financially, socially and environmentally... but... Some real barriers to success. People just don’t behave in this way and the society we live in encourages personal ownership. We recognised that this was a huge design challenge.
- Our creds Luckily we are perfectly placed to take on that challenge. As founder of one of the UK’s leading user experience agencies and as experienced interaction designers with experience working with many of the world’s biggest brands, we were able to apply our skills in creating the right user experience through insight driven design to modernising lending and borrowing. Our challenges always revolve around finding and shaping the sweet spot between what people want and what companies want. In this case we were the company and our goals were financial, social and environmental.
- Our research created a simple set of goals for the design of Ecomodo. These have remained at the heart of our design process and continue to drive our marketing efforts.
- Desire & motivation Need a compelling reason to choose to take part Need to believe in the provider
- Choose to lend / borrow Find reasons to lend and borrow for individuals... not rely on our reasons to drive lending and borrowing. We want mass take-up – that means appealing to a broad set of motivations: Earning / saving money Fundraising Social engagement / doing good Opportunity to try new things Reducing consumption Saving space
- Believe in Ecomodo When confidence is an issue the desire to join in, and the faith in the provider must be really strong. Once people have engaged with the idea of lending and borrowing, they then need to trust the brand. For a start-up social enterprise this is challenging considering we are competing for consumer attention with retail giants. We work hard to look and behave professionally, get plenty of press & media coverage, and create a buzz using social media. Social media, national press, local press & groups, awards, charities etc... And of course – make it easy to use.
- Make people feel comfortable Aside from making it easy to use, we built in various features to drive confidence and iron over points of weakness.
- Circles of trust Real-world communities can form lending circles. Circles provide community engagement that feels comfortable to the user by enabling people to restrict their lending (and borrowing) to people they know.
- Privacy Protection Fuzzy location specification empowers our members to strike their own balance between privacy & security. Both sides approve before any contact info given
- Insurance & Deposits
- Lend tracking
- End to end facilitation Introduction, negotiation and loan agreement Holding hire fees / deposits in escrow until completion of lend Reminders at key stages
- Reputation building Resulting feedback given has real implications as it may relate to people they know.
- Deal with problems as they arise No heads in the sand. It’s new, we’re small, people aren’t familiar with the idea and accidents do happen. We remain involved in the lend through to the end and make sure everyone is happy before releasing any funds. For the rare occasion that there is a problem, we have built a dispute resolution system which will identify how to handle most situations. Our technology is not perfect and we’re constantly refining our UI – but we are careful to respond to any problems fast and to try to delight our users with our answers. This all adds to the brand perception and encourages word of mouth take-up.
- Conclusion our motives are right, the climate is right, we’ve done all we can to reduce trust issue... Thank you for listening.