If you love your phone so much, why don't you marry it?!

People’s relationship with technology is complex. Computers (no matter what size, shape or form) are not just seen as tools but are so integrated into our daily lives we forget they are just machines. And it’s been that way for quite some time now. But the smart phone, although it too has been around for a while, takes it to a whole new level. An no doubt wearable technology will take it further again.

In a previous role, we did some studies around what type of information people willingly give on a desktop site versus a site they view on their phone. It was a specific test for a function that helped car insurance customers find the car they want to insure.

The standard way of finding your car is to choose the manufacturer, choose the make, the model, the year, engine size, etc from a variety of dropdown menus. Then you chose from the stunningly complex array of model types, engine sizes and hope you are right. It’s not a great experience and a lot of people give up and phone the call centre.

Some new functionality was developed and we tested it. It was an option to type in your registration number to find your car. Using individual state roads and traffic information the system could then find your car for you – the exact car. No mistakes (well, it was 95% accurate) and it was done in a matter of seconds. Pretty simple right? Type in your rego, find your car and move on.

We first tested this functionality on desktop. In short, the desktop tests tanked. Customers hated it because they thought it was some kind of black magic.
“How could the computer know this about me?”
“ What else does it know?”
“ It’s big brother and I hate it!”

All the messaging in the world about how it was standard recorded information from a trusted source could not change their mind.

Then the mobile test. A completely different story.
“That’s cool”
“So much easier – makes sense”
“Wow – amazing”

So what is the difference?

Think about your smart phone. Whether you realise it or not you have a personal relationship with your phone, it is a 1:1 relationship and they are the ones you most trust. You most likely spend more time with your smart phone than with your partner or your kids. It’s likely to be the first thing you pick up in the morning, and if you realise you don’t have it you launch into a frenzy of pocket patting, break out in a sweat and freak the f*ck out.

You most likely spend more time with your smart phone than with your partner or your kids.

You tell your phone your secrets, through text messages to friends, facebook statuses, Instagram. You store the most precious photos of your family on it. You transfer money through it with internet banking apps. For some reason, you consider your phone safe. It’s in your hand, you set it up, it knows what you like – and it will never betray you. But, it’s just a computer.

It seems that because we asked for 'personal' information on a phone customers were happy to give it. The phone already knows so much about them that they are happy to tell it more. And when it returns back information specific to them, they love it. Their phone should know what car they drive, because it is their phone and they love it.

Understanding this relationship helps good designers as they consider not just the capability of a device, but the power that device has on influencing it’s owner. Understanding context, situation and location of a customer when they are online can open up new possibilities and create better and more personalised experiences.