This report from experience design agency Foolproof sheds some light on mobile tapping technologies such as NFC. Based on ethnographic research in South Korea, Singapore and UK this report explores the five factors which determine success in mobile proximity services.

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London | Norwich | Singapore
Mobile Tapping
South Korea, UK and Singapore
September 2014
Anne Kehlet Bavngaard – UX Consultant
Nicole Harlow – Senior Practitioner
Samantha Yuen – UX Consultant
Tom Wood – Founding Partner

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Foolproof wanted to find out more about the landscape for mobile proximity marketing and commerce…

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We wanted to understand three things…
1.When are these technologies going to reach mass adoption in Western economies?
2.How will adoption start and take hold? (Which use cases will pioneer this?)
3.Why will people start to engage with these services and start using them in their day-to-day life?

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Background and methodology

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Adoption of mobile proximity technologies has been slow
—Our focus is on technologies that allow people to tap, swipe or bump their phone to trigger an interaction.
—A high proportion of new smartphones now ship with these capabilities.
—Services which use these technologies are being piloted all around the world.
—The big corporate interest is around mobile payments, but adoption in Western economies has been limited.
iBeacon / BLE
NFC and other RFID
Scanning

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We identified South Korea as the best place to explore mobile proximity tech in action
In April 2014 we conducted desk research on the current landscape including news, market trends, blogs and reviews of NFC trials conducted globally.
The research pointed to South Korea being the best location to ethnographically explore mobile tapping.
—South Korea is at the forefront of technological development and consumer adoption.
—There are several examples of technology being adopted there and then spreading to the rest of the world.
—Mobile tapping is already part of people’s everyday lives so there are mass use examples to study.

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We chose ethnography as our method because exploring people’s use of technology in situ allows us to understand:
—How people become aware of this technology, and how it entered their own use;
—Why they find it beneficial (or why they don’t);
—What difficulties they encounter with the user experience.

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Locations
—Participant observation, walking ethnography, shadowing and mystery shopping, rich descriptions
—8 semi-structured interviews with core and fringe informants
—27 intercept interviews with end users and staff
—10 email interviews around use of mobile proximity services
The research took place over eight locations, covering:
—Subways
—Local and tourist shopping areas
—Taxis
—A university campus

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We also did research in London and Singapore to understand the landscape
London
—Guerrilla interviews at bus stops around NFC information services
—Participant observation at Museum of London and a restaurant (Wahaca) around NFC information and payment
—Website reviews of banks, telcos and mobile payment services
Singapore
—Phone interviews with 12 owners of NFC-enabled smart phones and iPhones
—Mystery shopping at telco stores
—Intercept interviews with staff
—Website reviews of banks, telcos and mobile payment services

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Through our research we identified five factors which lead to successful implementation of mass-market mobile proximity services.

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1. Have a long-term strategy
2. Identify existing pain points
3. Build on the familiar
4. Communicate effectively
5. Turn intrigue into use
Five factors for success in mobile proximity services
“
?

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Think about the long-term
1. Have a long-term strategy
—Embracing new technology is a chance for companies to show leadership and customer focus.
—But many proximity technology implementations are tactical with no link to long-term strategy.
—Too much work is put onto the user, with little support from frontline staff.
—Many services are left in market with inadequate tech support and little company commitment to iterate and improve the service.
Panels placed either side of subway doors make it difficult for users to get an overview and move between items during rush hour
Customer must install Home Plus app to read barcodes and shop
Prices are similar to convenience stores in or near the station
Home Plus NFC store, Seolleung station, Seoul

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Provide ongoing support & improvement
1. Have a long-term strategy
—Refine and iterate once in market. Create a feedback loop which includes the user.
—Successful brands such as T-money have a long-term strategy of incremental changes.
—Join up with other companies that can help you reach your target segment.
—If you can’t support services long-term, pull them out of market. Poorly designed or faulty implementations send strong negative signals to users.
T-money card onto mobile App
T-money micro mobile payments at subways
T-money micro mobile payments at shops
T-money card
T-money dongle attached to mobile

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1. Have a long-term strategy
2. Identify existing pain points
3. Build on the familiar
4. Communicate effectively
5. Turn intrigue into use
Five factors for success in mobile proximity services
“
?

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Whilst T-money is convenient for small payments (transport), it is less convenient for larger payments as most top up weekly with cash.
Payments on the subway were more convenient for those who always had their phone in their hand.
Those under 18 and not yet eligible for a credit card could use mobile T-money as a convenient way to pay for small purchases.
Some use cases addressed user’s existing pain points
“It’s much easier, my cell phone is always in my hand…I’m lazy, I don’t want to have to get it out of my bag.” Female, Nurse
2. Identify existing pain points
“I’ve never used it to pay in the shop, my balance would keep getting depleted… I’d have to keep topping it up.”
Female 20
Others didn’t meet
User’s needs, or
created new pain points

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“I used to carry all my loyalty cards in my purse. Now I use an app.”
“I used to carry all my loyalty cards in my purse. Now, I use a smart wallet.”
“I even collect cards and have 4 different designs in my app.”
“My phone is usually in my hand. I open the loyalty card app while waiting in the queue.”
“It’s quicker to open the app than to find the right card in my purse.”
“I can pay with points, collect points and immediately see my new balance.”

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Solve existing pain points for the user
2. Identify existing pain points
—Identify pain points in current use cases that could be addressed through mobile tapping or proximity technologies.
—Determine who to design for first: who is going to lead the way and spark wider adoption?
—Don’t assume that what’s in your interest will create real value for your customer.

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1. Have a long-term strategy
2. Identify existing pain points
3. Build on the familiar
4. Communicate effectively
5. Turn intrigue into use
Five factors for success in mobile proximity services
“
?

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Customer perception of risk is critical
3. Build on the familiar
We found several examples where services suffered low adoption because they carried high levels of perceived risk for users.
Often these perceptions did not stand up to logical scrutiny: users would have ample opportunity to prevent or limit fraudulent use.
But initial perceptions about the level of risk limited people’s willingness to investigate, or sign up for, mobile proximity services.
It’s important to explore and respond to customer perceptions of risk in the concept development phase .
Examples of ‘high risk’ services were ones with negative potential outcomes like:
—High value, or unlimited payment fraud
—High value or unlimited unauthorised use of a paid-for service
—Data or identity theft

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Successful use cases built on the familiar and expanded gradually
T-money to mobile micro payments
Loyalty cards to mobile micro payments
Plastic card to collect points
Mobile for point collection
Mobile for micro payments
Contactless plastic card for transport
Mobile for transport
Mobile for micro payments
3. Build on the familiar
Credit card to mobile macro payments
Use cases that moved straight to a new medium with a high perceived risk are more likely to fail
Service with high perceived risk
New medium
Service with high perceived risk
New medium
Large payments on credit card
New medium and high perceived risk
Large payments on mobile

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Mobile was successfully introduced where the perceived risk was low
3. Build on the familiar
There were two paths to success:
1.From a familiar medium to a new medium when risk was perceived to be low by users
2.From a low risk service to a higher risk service, if the medium is familiar
In time, a new medium becomes familiar: it’s then possible to make a new step with the customer in their relationship with the service.
Familiar
Medium
New
Medium
Service with a low perceived risk
Service with a high perceived risk

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Expand gradually from a trusted use case
3. Build on the familiar
—Move to new media or new services in small steps rather than leaps.
—Build on an existing, trusted and ‘safe’ use-case, rather than landing an alien use-case with a greater perceived risk to customers.
—Build out new features or services only from familiar service concepts.

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1. Have a long-term strategy
2. Identify existing pain points
3. Build on the familiar
4. Communicate effectively
5. Turn intrigue into use
Five factors for success in mobile proximity services
“
?

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There were many different interfaces representing mobile proximity capability
4. Communicate effectively
“

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The most effective interfaces indicated the action users needed to take
4. Communicate effectively
A shopping device which gives users the option to download a loyalty app
Taking the shape of a phone and being the size of a phone, the device is effective in communicating the interaction needed
The device has a clear user interface and explains what steps need to be taken to download the loyalty app
“

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Communicate and educate proactively
—Increase users’ awareness and engagement.
—Demystify the service by:
—Educating users on what the benefits are, how to get started and how to use the service
—Using language (written and visual) which resonates with customers; not tech language
—Address perceived barriers to use including:
—Security concerns
—Cumbersome setup processes
The use of loyalty cards provides cash benefits at many stores
Staff are helpful if customers are struggling to use their phone
Many stores have all available loyalty schemes listed at the till
Many stores signpost T- money, but not specifically mobile use
4. Communicate effectively
“

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1. Have a long-term strategy
2. Identify existing pain points
3. Build on the familiar
4. Communicate proactively
5. Turn intrigue into use
Five factors for success in mobile proximity services
“
?

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The excitement of discovering a new feature on my mobile
5. Turn intrigue into use
“…I never knew my phone could do this!”
“Ah yes! I can see now that it has taken money out of my balance.”
“…I wonder if this will work. Oh, the screen needs to be facing upwards.”
?

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Many users are open-minded about new uses for their phone
—Users can be playful as they discover and start to exploit the capabilities of their phone.
—A positive experience with one proximity technology service can lead to a period of exploration and trial of other services.
—But negative or uneventful experiences can deter potential users.
—Some early adopters have become cynical about proximity services: unwilling to commit time and effort to a trial of new propositions.
“It doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for a while. I think it’s outdated.”
Shop assistant
5. Turn intrigue into use
?

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Make the most of user excitement
—Reduce usage barriers by perfecting the experience at point-of-service:
—Ensure staff are enthusiastic advocates and can effectively support and educate users
—Ensure written instructions and the user interface make the service seem easy to use and communicate clear benefits
—Build on intrigue and excitement: communicate with new users to encourage continued use.
—Don’t leave broken or obsolete technology in the market.
5. Turn intrigue into use
?

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Conclusion

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User experience: “good enough” isn’t good enough
Conclusion
—Many early services in market were clearly experimental: put live by a project team with no long-term plan about how to support or develop the service.
—In Seoul, London and Singapore we saw similar patterns around poor quality implementation. Not enough time or care had gone into crafting the user experience. This was often evident to users at their first contact with the service.
—Companies without the resources and appetite to craft an excellent user experience may do more harm than good to their brand and reputation.
Develop a high-quality experience across all of these areas:
—Attracting attention to the service and explaining its benefits
—Intuitive user interface and interaction at point of service
—Simple sign-up and first use
—Low-effort sign-in and security procedures for ongoing use
—Clear messages about what to do if something goes wrong

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Where next for mobile tapping?
Conclusion
—Mobile proximity technologies may be about to move into a new phase now that more new phones are shipping with these capabilities and that awareness of these capabilities is growing.
—However, business must learn from the past. In Seoul we saw a few successful implementations, but mostly we saw the ‘wreckage’ left behind by poorly planned, poorly supported projects. Customers can see this too. Unless the quality and value of tapping services improves they may reject them in favour of tried and trusted ways to meet their needs.
—We hope that our report has given you some useful ideas about how to develop successful services. If you would like to see more findings from our fieldwork or discuss your own project with our team them please get in touch.
—You can view more photos from our research in South Korea on Flipboard here: http://flip.it/dAChP

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Foolproof
London | Norwich | Singapore
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