Questions, answered straight.
The things people ask before we start, and a few honest opinions about AI and what really moves a small business. If your question isn’t here, just ask.
The work.
- What does Product of Experience do?
I help small businesses fix the experience their customers get, and the processes behind it, so the business runs better and you get your time back. The goal is always an outcome: a better experience for your customers, and a better experience for you running the business.
In practice that's four things: auditing and redesigning how people move through your website, app, or service; automating the admin that eats your team's week; working out what to build next; and training your team so the know-how stays in-house.
It's run by me, Scott Byrne-Fraser. Twenty years building products at BBC Sport, Amazon Prime Video, and DAZN, now the same craft for smaller businesses.
- Is this just AI consulting?
No. AI is one tool I use when it earns its place. The job is making your business work better, which often means fixing a confusing customer journey, joining up systems that don't talk to each other, or cutting a manual process. Sometimes AI is the right answer. Sometimes it isn't, and I'll say so.
- Do you build things, or just advise?
Both, and the building is the point. The Spark is advice: an hour to tell you where to focus and find the opportunities worth chasing, with something you can start doing the next day.
Everything past that is hands-on. I redesign your customer flows, and where you need it I build the websites and the automations behind your internal tools, set them up properly, and leave them running well.
- Do you build mobile apps?
I can, but usually I won't, and I'll tell you why. Building an app from scratch is time-intensive and often means working around whoever built the original, so you're better served by a dedicated app team. I'll help you find the right one and stay close to keep it pointed at the outcome. What I build is the experience and the systems around the app.
- What do you mean by a UX audit?
I look at how real people move through your site, app, or service: where they hesitate, what saps their confidence, where you lose enquiries without realising, and how the experience holds up over time. That last part matters for retention, not just first impressions.
It starts with you, working out what outcomes you're trying to drive for your customers and your team, then checking whether what you have in place gets them there. Where it doesn't, I redesign the parts that are costing you. It covers the journeys your customers take and the internal ones your team works through every day, and it tells you where to put your effort first.
- Can you help with internal operations, not just customer-facing work?
Yes, and it's often where the fastest wins are. The repetitive admin, the copying between systems, the same questions answered over and over: that friction is also what hurts the customer. Internal inefficiency shows up as:
- how quickly you can get back to a customer
- the quality of what you can deliver
- how fast your website and information stay up to date
A good team with good process drives a good end experience far more reliably than the other way round. I work out what's working and what isn't, agree with you what's worth automating and what's worth setting up, and leave the rest alone. Often this means fewer tools used better, rather than more of them.
- Do you offer training?
Yes, on two things.
First, using AI in everyday work, safely and ethically, in a way that helps rather than gets in the way. Less about opening a chatbot and asking questions, more about knowing where AI earns its place and where it becomes a distraction or a risk to the customer experience.
Second, recognising good user experience and improving your product yourself: how to gather insight from customers through conversations, reviews, on-site behaviour, and word of mouth, how to make sense of it, and a light framework for making quick, sound decisions. Enough to make the right call, no more.
Working together.
- How do we start?
With a free chat. It isn't a pitch. We talk about what's going on in your business, where it's starting to creak, and any burning questions you have, then where I might help. Usually that's a Spark session, and the aim is simple: you leave with something you can act on the next day, whether or not we ever work together again.
- What does it cost?
Every price below includes VAT.
The Spark is £250 for an hour of focused direction. The Foundation, where most of the building happens, starts at £3,000 for a defined scope with a fixed end: a project to get you up and running with a proper site and the right technical setup behind it. The Engine is a monthly retainer for clients who want me to keep running and improving things rather than hand them back. And if you're just getting going, the Startup Launch Kit is £795 to get a business online properly.
I'll always point you to the smallest thing that solves your problem.
- What does the Startup Launch Kit include?
Everything you need to have a business online properly:
- your domain and DNS set up correctly
- Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 set up, with email routing properly on your domain
- a simple landing page that puts your business in front of people
- basic placeholder branding if you have none yet
It covers the setup work, not third-party subscriptions. If you choose Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, those monthly fees sit with you, which keeps you in control; I can manage them as a small ongoing job if you'd rather. Analytics beyond free tools like Google Analytics, and any premium domain, are also yours to cover. A standard domain is often included in your Workspace cost, while a bespoke one usually runs £20 to £50 a year. Full branding work is a separate thing I can bring partners in for. I'll advise on what you need and what you don't, which for most people is a Workspace account, a basic site, and your domains in place.
- How long does it take?
The Spark is one focused hour. Some people use me by the hour on a rolling basis, an hour a week, a month, or a quarter, to unlock a specific thing.
A Foundation is usually a few weeks: understand the problem, design the service, build it, and put it all in place. Faster turnarounds can be discussed, subject to availability, and usually carry a little extra cost.
The Startup Launch Kit is quick, around 48 hours of actual work. Most of the calendar time is waiting on things outside our control, like DNS changes, sign-off, and getting your assets together.
- Where are you based, and do you work remotely?
I'm in the Northwest of England and work with clients across the UK. Most of the work is remote, with in-person time where it helps. If a project needs travel, that's added to the cost, though in most cases none is needed. A coffee in person is great when it makes sense, and the rest we can do online.
- What size of business do you work with?
Small and medium businesses, and ones that are scaling. I also work with enterprise teams who have a project or problem that looks like a scaling challenge. The sweet spot is a business growing faster than its systems can keep up with. I take a small number of clients at a time, on purpose, so each gets the attention the outcome needs.
- What happens when the work is done?
You're left better off than I found you, with a foundation in place to keep going without me. If something we built breaks or an issue slips through, that gets fixed. Most of the time, once a Foundation is agreed and in place, the site simply works.
Where things are more complex, say an e-commerce platform handling a lot of products, I'll be honest that it may need dedicated engineering support, and we'll talk through what that looks like month to month. Some teams take it on internally, and then it's about a clean handover to people with the right skills. Either way, the conversation is about what you need to do your job with as little friction as possible.
On AI, tools, and data.
- Will AI fix my business?
No. AI won't fix your business. It scales whatever you've already got. Get the foundations right and it gives you hours back every week. Get them wrong and it just makes your mess faster.
There's a lot of hype, and most of it is theoretically true, but a chatbot alone rarely gets you there. The real value is in automating work that would otherwise eat time, baking in sound judgement so decisions get made for you, and helping with content, handled lightly, because you're building trust with customers and that comes first.
- When is AI the wrong tool?
When a mistake would be obvious to a customer. When being wrong really matters. When you'd want to look someone in the eye.
AI is brilliant for the boring stuff: drafting, summarising, pulling information out of documents. It's not brilliant for everything, and I won't pretend it is. The job is getting your customer to the outcome you both want, and AI helps with that right up until it becomes a barrier between you and them. If your customer ends up in a relationship with your AI instead of you, you've lost something, and they tend to see through it.
- Do I need to buy a load of new software?
Usually not. I'd rather use the tools you already have, or affordable ones you don't, than sell you a whole new system you didn't ask for. The point is fewer moving parts, not more subscriptions.
If you're starting fresh, there's a baseline you'll need:
- an email provider
- something to manage your calendar
- maybe a CRM
- maybe a hosting solution
- maybe an e-commerce platform to plug into
The aim is the fewest things that get the job done, tailored to where you are now and where you're heading, and clear about what you don't need yet. It's easy to overcomplicate this and end up working on your tools instead of your business.
- Is my data safe?
I set things up so your data stays somewhere you control, and I tell you plainly where it goes and why. If a tool's data handling isn't good enough for your business, we don't use it.
Anything I store for you is kept in secure storage in the UK or EU. The exception is AI tooling, which is often cloud-based and can sit outside the UK and EU. Before we use it, we agree what data is fair to include and what stays out, like anything confidential. The point is keeping your data as secure as it can be while still being useful.
- Everyone's pushing AI right now. Why should I trust your take?
Because I'll tell you when it doesn't help, which is not what someone selling AI does. Most of the noise comes from people with something to sell. I've spent the last few years building with these tools, so I know where they earn their keep and where they don't.
My take is a blend of optimism and a healthy dose of scepticism. I won't suggest a tool unless I've used it myself the way I'm suggesting you use it, and I'll try to break it before it ever goes near your business.
- Do I need to be technical to work with you?
No. That's the point of bringing me in. You know your business, your customers, and your team; I handle the digital side and explain things in plain terms.
Where there's jargon, I'll tell you what it means and why it matters. Anything I leave you with, a tool or a process, I'll make sure you understand before I go, and you'll have an easy way to reach me with questions afterwards.
Scope, money, and guarantees.
- The UX audit found a lot to fix. What next?
That happens. An audit often surfaces more than you expected. The next step is to work out the solutions with you and prioritise them, defining the scope and the flows for the foundational fixes that matter most.
If the work is bigger than we first thought, we have an honest conversation about where your time and money go. Usually that means one of two things: focus on a priority handful of journeys and fix the basics first, or build a roadmap and work through it on a rolling basis. Either way you get the information to make the right call.
- What guarantees do you give that UX work will pay off?
We agree the KPIs we're trying to move up front, usually around acquisition, retention, or customers reaching a specific outcome, and prioritise the work against them.
I don't give a hard guarantee on those numbers, because plenty sits outside my remit and can move them: the marketing team driving traffic to a page I've improved, a physical product affecting service, and so on. What I do is tie the work to those KPIs and, if we move into an ongoing relationship, keep monitoring and driving them with you. Learning what works isn't always a straight line, and I'm straight with you about that.
- Do you do total website rebrands?
A full rebrand isn't my craft, and there are people better at it than me. If that's what you need, I'll bring in the right branding partner and run the brand work alongside the UX work. We'd sort that out at the first conversation.
- I need a website but only have a scrappy logo and no content. Can you help?
Yes. I can bring in people for photography, copywriting, and the rest of the content so you've got what you need to start. We'll look at what you already have and shape the scope around it.
For a Startup Launch Kit I assume there isn't much content, so I do the best I can with what's there or make quick pieces to get you moving, and create a basic placeholder brand if none exists. When you want the real thing, I'll introduce you to people who build and manage brands properly.
- What are your payment terms?
Straightforward. Thirty-day terms. For new clients I invoice the first half of a project on signature, and the second half either at the end of the first month for ongoing work, or at the end of the project for a short turnaround. That gives me the room to commit the time, and it de-risks it for you, since you pay the final part once the work is done.
- How do the Engine contracts work, and can I cancel?
The Engine runs on a six-month rolling contract, renewing every six months. That books dedicated time for your work and gives you reliable ongoing support. To stop, you let me know in writing before the next six-month term begins. Once a term has started, it runs to the end of those six months.
The honest stuff.
- What if AI or automation isn't right for us?
Then I tell you, and we don't do it. I'd rather lose the work than set you up with something that doesn't fit. Often the real fix is simpler and cheaper than what you came in asking for. It isn't unusual to solve the whole thing in a Spark session by rearranging how the work is done, without building anything. The goal is you doing your job better, not doing more of it.
- Why do you take on only a few clients at a time?
Because I do most of the work myself, as your main contact or with a small network of trusted people I've worked with before. I'd rather do it properly for a few businesses than thinly for many, and it means I get to know your business well enough to make good calls.
- Will I always work directly with you?
Most of the time, yes. Occasionally you'll work with one of my associates I've worked alongside before, which is fine, and I'll stay close throughout.
- How are you different from an agency or a big consultancy?
No twelve-week strategy decks, no account managers, no junior team doing the work while a senior name sits on the invoice. You get me doing the work, or a colleague from my trusted network, and I'm always at the table. Two decades of building real products sits behind it.
This isn't a big agency where a sales team sells you the big names and you end up with a different group entirely. Those firms suit some projects, and if yours is one, I'll say so. If something's too big for me, I'll tell you and point you to the right team. I do this because I like it, and I like working with small companies and people like us.
- What won't you do?
A few firm lines:
- Sell you software you don't need.
- Dress a simple problem up as a complicated one, or talk you into AI or a process for the sake of it.
- Take on projects that are too big for me to deliver well; I'll point you to who can.
- Work with clients whose objectives don't line up with ours, or whose approach I don't believe in.
If the honest answer is that you don't need me, that's the answer you'll get. And I'm upfront about all of this from the start.
- Will you speak to my team or run a session?
Gladly. Whether it's training, a general session on what's possible, or a deep dive on a particular skill, let's talk about what would be useful for your team.
- Do you do podcasts and panels?
Yes, often. I'm happy to come on a podcast or speak at your roundtable. Get in touch.
Still wondering if I can help?
Ask me directly. The first conversation is free, there’s no pitch, and the worst case is a fresh pair of eyes on whatever’s been bugging you.
Prefer email? scott@productofexperience.com