How I got an interview at MOO
I love MOO. I use them to make my Minicards, for my company, my jewellery and my personal cards.
In 2013, I started to look for a new permanent role. MOO was my ideal company.
After trying different ways to make contact, I finally went for awesome.
I made MOO a scrapbook.
Hello. My name is Paola.
"A creative intellectual with a capacity for good decision-making, ideally placed to develop plans and strategies that may pay off hugely in the long term" (via Belbin)
I've been using MOO for years.
I use MOO for the jewellery I make and sell.
Hopefully I have demonstrated that I know MOO from a customer's perspective.
My friend asked me to make her wedding invites. To MOO!
I explained the process I used to create wedding invitations using MOO postcards. I had sent my friend a list of links to the pre-designed packs. She misunderstood what the packs were and picked a single design from one of the packs. I created something similar to her specifications. I uploaded images for the front and back of the postcards to be used as the wedding invitations.
Afterwards, I realised that my friend wouldn't have been able to use MOO herself. Why not?
MOO thinks about products.
No mention of wedding invites on the products page.
Think about your products in terms of customer needs.
Group your products around needs.
Example of MOO products grouped into customer needs.
In 1995, Barclays asked us to put their 200 brochures online.
These are the kinds of brochures Barclays Bank have today. They're about banking products and not about how people think about money.
Customer goals informed the site structure and content.
When you group your products by your customer's needs...
... new products emerge.
There is a market of independent artists (who need things printed).
And hobbyists with disposable income who need things printed.
(Ignore the left-hand pages from here. They are my portfolio in the other direction.)
Internet user since 1987.
In over 40 projects I performed these tasks in these industries.
I'm a Plant / Monitor Evaluator according to Belbin.
Rational Creativity, Improving, Integrating, Correcting
analytical, methodical, outspoken, imaginative, eccentric, self-reliant, helpful, meticulous, disciplined, logical, efficient, accurate, free-thinking, reliable
"As a prolific thinker, you possess talents for both originating and evaluating new ideas."
What motivates me
I've talked to various people at MOO.
I am an unusual candidate. Here is an unusual proposition.
What do you have to lose?
The finished package.
Three weeks later - June 2013 - I was invited to an interview with the Head of UX (I'd applied for that role in April!). The outcome was a recognition that I was more suited to the product space (yah, which is why I'd written to the CPO) and that there were no roles for me at moment. I was told that they'd keep me in mind for future opportunities.
When the brand becomes bigger than the company
My interviewer presented MOO as a B2B company that made business cards. However, any company that uses bright colours and an informal tone that includes stickers with "Yay!" on them is going to attract non-business custom too. And I think you'll find that there are more people than businesses.
I know - and MOO know - that people use MOO for personal print projects too. They have a hugely loyal customer base.
Why not talk to personal customers directly, and in the language of personal need? MOO have already built a system that takes, prints, dispatches and supports orders; that's the hard part and they've got it sorted. Why not widen the offering - maybe through a sister site - to more customers? A new site - or changing the existing one to align with customer needs - is a relatively small thing to do to greatly increase revenue.
Comments (3)
Louise Badawi
says:Paola, this is simply amazing!!
Why they weren't more open minded and didn't offer you a job on the spot is beyond me. I bet they're already looking at integrating some of your ideas into their business though.....
Dominic Frazer-Imregh
says:Good stuff... I tend to agree with your outlook. I had a print colour problem that got a nice and polite response about me converting everything I do to CMYK... easy enough for a printers but not really for the person on the street who is busy doing other things...
paolability
says:@Dominic Yes, technology needs to work for *people*. People shouldn't have to work around the technology.