Yesterday we talked about how “consuming better”, in a more mindful way, can lead to producing better.

Let’s see a quick example of what I mean.

I talked about my experience of buying leather boots from Thursday Boot Co.

First I had to pick the model I wanted.

This is about orientation on the site.

When it comes to your business and what you’re producing, how can you make your offering as clear and as differentiated as possible?

One thing Thursday could do better is to include some of those review and comparison videos on their site, rather than have people like me – highest in intent – move to Youtube to find out.

Nothing better than third party social proof, on your own site.

After narrowing down to one model and color, I needed to make sure that the size was right.

That’s when risk comes in for users.

The risk, in case the size is wrong, in wasting time, the risk in having to spend energy to repackage the item and return it, etc.

So I observed myself looking for what could alleviate that feeling of risk.

On the product page it’s clearly laid out for me:

“Size (US): Order ½ size smaller than you wear in sneakers. Find my size”

It clearly tells me what country are the below sizes for (US) and what ideally I should choose. In turn my mind is now anchored to an hypothetical size that might be a good fit, in my case 12 UK is 13 US, so probably a 12.5 US should be fine.

But let’s move on…

Clicking on “Find my size” would bring up a slider with step by step, easy instructions.

First, I had to select my Gender and location.

Love the copy here too:

“Before we get started, we need to know what sizes to show you! Selecting your gender and country allows us to pair you with the right size standard. For example, if you select “Men’s” and “US”, we’ll show you sizes in the US Men’s size standard.“

Excellent example of explaining and setting expectations for what’s next.

Moving on, in the next step I just needed to select the sneaker size in my country’s unit (UK). Peace of cake.

A couple of additional details in case I also wear dress shoes and in which sizes, and boom – my final recommended US size was, as expected 12.5.

I went from selecting a size I was familiar with, to finding out exactly what I needed to add to cart (including a CTA button to add it right there).

I love this because it’s a perfect example of orientation, clarification and confirmation.

All micro moments in the user experience that business often take for granted.

I completed my purchase happy and confident to receive exactly what I ordered.

I’ll report back when I actually get my order, but for now here’s a recap of what I learned by simply observing myself going through the process:

• 1. Make your offering and product range as clear and as differentiated as possible
• 2. Use third party social proof on your own site to instill trust and and retain visitors
• 3. Alleviate perceived risk in all possible micro interactions
• 4. Do your best to always explain and set expectations for what’s next. Never think people will just know what you mean.
• 5. Don’t stop once prospects convert, confirm to them that they’ve done the right thing

Lots of great points and reminders from simply being mindful of how I “consumed” the site.

Do it often and you’ll automatically build these lessons into what you produce too.

Curious, how can you apply at least one of these to your business today?

P.S. If you want to get a more visual look at the whole process, I posted a micro teardown on TikTok.