You start working with a company, improving their UX, working on conversion optimization, and overall on growing their revenue.
Everything is going well.
You’ve gone through an extensive and deep research period. You’ve learned as much as there is to learn about the customers. You’ve made the changes to the website and to the whole purchasing funnel based on the learnings.
And now it’s time to present your work.
The team you’ve been working with is as excited as you are to see the results. You start presenting your work.
And then the door opens and you see a person you’ve never seen before and never have been in touch even by email. Turns out it’s a VP. Of something. An important person. He also wants to see the results. He heard good things about the ongoing project and he has high expectations.
And then this happens:
Where they expected a sleek, shiny, beautiful new website, they see… something completely different.
On one hand, it’s funny. For two reasons. First: it’s a lovely cartoon 🙂 Second: because the cartoon resembles real life.
On the other hand, it’s also a little frightening. Because… the cartoon resembles real life. And it happens a little too often to be comfortable.
Then you need all your arguments, research, and data to back up what you’ve done and why. Otherwise, HiPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) can derail the whole project.
And it would be fine if they were involved from the beginning. You’d be able to explain the whole process, manage expectations properly, and clearly define the deliverables. But HiPPOs often come in at the very end, not knowing much, and often expecting something completely different.
Moral of the story:
- Try to involve everyone in the project, from the very beginning.
- At least try to keep them informed or educated.
- If you can’t, be ready to justify everything with data and research. Otherwise, it’s your “I think” vs. their “I’m sure.” And HiPPOs win this argument.
- Cartoons are cool. Especially those with green monsters.
