COIN: A digital marketing lesson in powerful user experience (UX) using the power of simplicity.

If you are regularly on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn you have probably seen ads for a new product called Coin popping up in your newsfeed.  It's a very cool, techy gadget that allows you to have one card that contains information of all your credit cards onto one Coin.   While this may frighten some people to have all their financials on one card they have provided adequate levels of security, and even a GPS connection with your phone so if you forget your card in a restaurant and you walk outside the proximity of the restaurant it will send you a reminder text asking if you have left your card behind on accident.  A great feature for people like myself who are easily disgraced.

The real winner here is the design team for the Coin website.  I get asked a lot what makes for a good website.  My response is, "It depends on what you are selling."   But there are a few things that Coin does well here that make for a top notch user experience and worth learning more about why this website hits the mark.

1). Keep the main thing the main thing 
When you arrived onto the Coin website the main thing is the video.  They entice you to learn more right away.  Frankly, after watching the Coin video I nearly bought one myself as their pitch was simple, clear and solved a problem we all have with multiple credit cards out there.    You will also notice in the top right corner a bright blue Call To Action button.  Its even gift wrapped for the holidays: subtle but nice touch, giving major bonus points to the designer.   The main thing is the main thing here.

2.) Less is more
In years past websites would be chalked full of as much content & information as possible.  More recently designers are becoming more savvy to only show what you absolutely need to see and get you into the right conversion path as quickly as possible depending on the stage of the buying cycle.  Coin hits the mark as the navigation is simple and I know what to do right away.  When you visit their homepage your have 3 options:  Pre-order, watch the video, or scroll down to learn more.   I like this strategy because it puts people into 3 simple conversion funnels and leads the consumer to the place they want to go.  It also helps to know what path they are on to re-market to them via opt in email marketing channels with the appropriate messaging.  And since its 2014 and we are all obsessed with our smartphones, this site is built with responsive design and is mobile friendly:  a must have these days on the web.


3)  Don't tell me. Show me. 
People don't want to read all about your products.  They want you to show you how it solves a problem they have.   Video is a great way to share a lot of content in a 2 minute visual.  According to Hubspot's Magdalena Georgieva shared that, "33% of viewers click away from a video after the first 30 seconds, and 44% will leave after the first 60 seconds." So you'd better keep your videos short and sweet right? Not necessarily true. Lately, we've started to notice a trend of some very high-quality online videos that seem to be successfully maintaining the attention of viewers for well over a minute, Coin is another great example of this.  In fact, for more than three, five, and some times ten minutes.  This dynamic is primarily due to engaging video content, which isn't promotional and boring, but informative, entertaining and solves a real problem.

4) Close the deal
A lot of businesses out there miss the mark in web design with a strong call to action.  You've done all this work to market your product, get a real live visitor to your site , the last thing you want is for them to bounce off the page because they didn't find what they were looking. Or even worse, they are ready to buy and get annoyed with how many hoops you make them jump through just to purchase.  Coin really helps close the deal on this. Once you scroll to the bottom of the home page you have simple call to action assuming the close.   Its not pushy or spammy but compels the user to get started.   As a marketing play, what's even more interesting is the fact that they have a call to action on a product that won't even be available until Summer of 2014, which appeals to the Apple-ite, Silicon Valley techies who like to be early adopters.

Well done Coin and lesson learned.