George A. Miller penned a research paper in 1956, “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” It was groundbreaking in its time. In it, Miller hypothesized the human working memory can hold up to seven bits of information, plus or minus two, at once. Often referred to as “Miller’s Magic 7,” that theory is the basis of many Web page design decisions. Below, some modern day extrapolations and design conclusions rooted in…

...continue to read "Debunking Miller’s Magic 7"

While many of those in the persuasion business are hunting and scammin’ for the next big trick or technique to help increase sales, at Future Now we rely on one big trick ourselves…

Curiosity

We are constantly researching and gaining a deeper understanding of the reasons why people do the things that they do. And while conversing with our clients it is not uncommon for us to toss around terms as “Dorsolateral Prefrontal Association Area”, “Jungian Archetypes”, “Progressive Disclosure”, etc. It’s not…

...continue to read "Leave No Brain Unturned"

According to ClickZ stats there are even more numbers that prove that you should be optimizing your site for offline sales, that is where the internet is currently have the most monetary influence.

Majority of US Consumers Research Online, Buy Offline

There are those who walk into a store not knowing what they may find. Then, there are those that come in to a retailer already knowing exactly what they want because they’ve done their product research online.

Forrester Research has a name…

...continue to read "Optimize Your Site for Cross Channel Shopping"

In the October edition of the UI Design Newsletter, Kath Straub and Dr. Eric Schaffer of Human Factors International share their take on breadcrumb navigation.

Here are some highlights…

The resistance to using breadcrumbs is perplexing. They increase efficiency. They support site learning. They reduce the user’s “where-was-I?” memory burden by providing a list of recently visited pages. They make it easier to cross levels of the navigation decision tree within the browse environment.

Breadcrumbs make site learning and navigation more efficient. And…

...continue to read "Bread crumbs, Tasty or Not? You Decide"

We recently discussed steps to increase and optimize a site’s ability to generate leads. We looked at suspect, prospect, and lead customers, as well as different tactics to persuade visitors in all stages of the buying process.

What if your company has a complex business-to-business (B2B) product offering? And what if specific customer needs, budgets, and personalities drastically differ? Simply accounting for a visitor’s buying-cycle stage doesn’t suffice.

We suggest using personas to help manage a complex sales process, an array of product…

...continue to read "Jumping B2B Hurdles: Lead Generation and Complex Sales"

Think “personas” – grapple with the mindset and needs of your visitors to design a conversion process that satisfies everyone

A news clip just informed me: a phenomenal 80 percent of all purchasing decisions are made or influenced by women! I can’t actually verify that statistic for you (the talking head certainly sounded credible enough), but I can tell you that women - in one way, shape or form - are behind the majority of actions folks take on…

...continue to read "One of Yours?"

Our Strategic Partner Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads gives us his insight and suggestions on the cultural shifts taking place all around us.

Marketing in 2005 and Beyond

The Age of the Baby Boomer ended in 2003. The torch has been handed to a new generation with new ideas and values. Sure, we Boomers still hold the power at the top, but the prevailing worldview that drives our nation is completely other than the one we grew up with. Businesses…

...continue to read "Marketing in 2005 and Beyond"

Gentlemen, it’s has finally happened.

Through the modern miracle of the consumer survey, a research firm has actually revealed, what women want.

This is of course, an earth shattering breakthrough for the male race, considering that most of us have been trying to answer this question since ..well.. Adam and Eve?

Ohh wait never mind, no such luck.. this research is confined to what women want online. Now that’s something a tad different.

What do women want online? Easier, more personalized shopping

Women want…

...continue to read "What Women Want … Online"

Just ran across this on Internet Retailer…

Web research leads to 70% more spending offline than online, new study says

A survey of 3,000 adults found that online research led to $180.7 billion in offline retail sales, 70% more than the $106.5 billion in direct online consumer spending, The Dieringer Group said today in its latest American Interactive Consumer Survey. “The data confirm that the Internet`s role as a consumer product information utility is much larger than its role as a…

...continue to read "When Conversion Happens Offline"

If everyone had the same needs, same motivations, and were in the exact same stage of the buying process persuading them on the net would be as easy as whipping up a persuasive linear Powerpoint presentation, but that would be sad under-utilization of the internet’s greatest talent, interactivity.

Hyperlinks allow visitors to interact with your site on their own terms.

But how does one manage the persuasive process, how can you make your persuasive case to visitors if they are flailing around…

...continue to read "Two Types of Hyperlinks"