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Users do not like to be visually distracted when filling in forms. They often want to get it done as quickly as possible. Therefore it is vital to design a clear and tidy form. Users do not mind filling in a rather long form with easy to understand and neat design than a short, visually cluttered and complicated form.

n this article, we contrast the "sales cycle" and related models with the "experience cycle" model. The sales cycle model is a traditional tool in business. The sales cycle frames the producer-customer relationship from the producer's point of view and aims to funnel potential customers to a transaction. The experience cycle is a new tool, synthesizing and giving form to a broader, more holistic approach being taken by growing numbers of designers, brand experts, and marketers. The experience cycle frames the producer-customer relationship from the customer's point of view and aims to move well beyond a single transaction to establish a relationship between producer and customer and foster an on-going conversation.

Requiring prospects to register for content is a standard B2B lead gen practice. But what if your audience is rather old-school and not used to signing up for content online? Listen to a marketer who knew that promoting a new product to a traditional audience required a demo of its value and a voluntary registration form to avoid scaring away prospects. Almost one out of four (23%) demo viewers were converted into leads.

The harder the choice will be; and the harder the choice is, the more people make their decisions based on what choices are easiest to justify. In most cases, the easiest choice to justify is the one that favors function over form, frugality over luxury, and practicality over pleasure.

Mention the product or subject in the headline and don't play coy. The headline should flag people down. "If you are selling a remedy for bladder weakness, display the words Bladder Weakness in your headline; they catch the eye of everyone who suffers form this inconvenience."

Thank you pages typically don't receive much design or marketing attention. After all, by the time a site visitor sees a Thank You page the chase is over, right? The visitor purchased a widget, filled out the signup form, or downloaded a white paper - in other words, the web site has won, and another conversion stat has been chalked up in the company's analytics package. Success! Check out our positive ROI!

In the near future, I believe that you'll be able to get an advanced degree in Business Design. Some programs like the d.school (a formative experience for me) and Rotman are playing with this idea, but I don't think these programs really nail it yet.

Design a pipeline system where the best ideas rise quickly to the top and form the burnt sugar crust your team is going to crack through. You want to taste the sweet stuff underneath. So be ruthless! Let all of the other ideas-even the decent ones-fall away. Be flexible and take comfort: what might seem as wasted energy goes right back into your system as learned experience and improves the new ideas piping in.