Archive for December, 2005
Online Auctions
Bob Hughes, Wall Street Journal reporter who’s covered the auction market and author of the novel "Late and Soon" (published in October 2005 and worth reading), was discussing online auctions with us. We asked him if he would share some of his thoughts.
"Way back in the last millennium – 1999, to be exact – the world of big-money art auctions meeting the online world looked pretty grim. Sotheby’s, the renowned auction house, joined forces with online heavyweight eBay to offer fine art. Four years later, the joint venture was dissolved, at a loss of about $100 million to Sotheby’s. Buyers just weren’t ready to spring for five- and six-figure art online. In fact, more than a dozen high-end art sales Web sites began and faded around the same time.
This seems funny, in a way, since people are willing to spend a lot of money online for cars, computers, even homes. But something about high-priced art caused people to think twice. Auctioneer eBay still sells art online, as do other, smaller sites, but there isn’t a site where a connoisseur might plunk down $10 million for a Monet. Back at the time of the dissolution of the Sotheby’s venture with eBay, Sotheby’s chief executive William Ruprecht said there were not as many people “prepared to buy authenticated fine art online as we had hoped.”
That’s still the case, but perhaps not for much longer. As more people become comfortable ordering online. On the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. shoppers spent $305 million on online purchases, excluding travel, a 22% increase over the comparable day a year ago, according to comScore Networks, a Reston, Va., market-research firm. Nielsen//NetRatings reported that the volume of Internet search queries grew to more than 5.1 billion in October 2005, up 15 percent from five months ago. While that kind of interest may not translate into sales of Picassos and Renoirs immediately, it’s bound to open the market for lesser-priced but still
quality works.Indeed, the auction houses themselves are now embracing the Internet as never before. Sotheby’s and Christie’s – the two main auction houses in the world, with about 95% of the business – now publish their auction results online. Sotheby’s also makes its catalogs available online (these can cost $40 or so apiece for the bound versions), and both of the Web sites for these houses have excellent search tools, too. Another art site, ArtNet, is a valuable resource for art news and for tracking the price histories of certain artists – something that collectors once relied exclusively on their dealers and the auction houses for."
What’s missing still, though, is the kind of publicity that the auction houses can drum up, the scholarship and provenance research that auction house can bring, as well as their reputations. Not to mention the excitement of the auction floor for the big sales. (In my novel, “Late and Soon,” I give readers an insider’s view of just such an auction.) Some auctions permit live bidding online during an auction, so there are strides being made. But as the blogosphere grows, who knows what kind of universe may await interested collectors in the next decade?"
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
Seven Thoughts to Arm Yourself With in 2006
2005 was a great year for conducting business online. The rising tide of the Internet continues to improve our top and bottom lines alike. Many of us are pleased with ourselves, and we should be. Yet many want more: higher conversion rates, speedier growth, and decimated, humiliated competitors.
So our gift to you is seven profound thoughts that, if expounded upon, understood, and executed, will make you a hero. Pick one or all and run with them. Soon, you’ll experience increased marketing ROI (define).
These aren’t new thoughts; I’ve shared all of them before in this column. Still, you’ll find them valuable to your 2006 efforts.
When in Doubt, Create Personas
In 2005, personas moved beyond being a buzzword. Marketers discovered they really work. If you were a pioneer who invested the time and energy into creating personas in 2005, you likely learned:
Continue reading my column on ClickZ…
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
I’m Just Browsing
Walking around Manhattan, the crowds are just too much for me. That’s why I’m trying to buy most of my presents online. I like to browse the stores for presents and the easiest way for me to browse around sites is using the navigation. Stores usually are laid out with different departments that display specific styles. Websites have to use navigation to accomplish this. They forget that they have to speak to the visitor in their language to help guide them with the buying process. This language helps guide the visitor to find what they look for by using specific categories provided by the navigation.
Many visitors immediately are baffled by the navigation titles on websites. The navigation is only useful if it can be understood. For example Sephora.com has a category named “smile”. What kind of product is a “smile”? Bloomingdales.com has a section named “beauty” and Fossil.com has a category named “watch bar”. Can I get some drinks after work at your watch bar?
Visitors use their own trigger words to describe their search. If navigation is the means by which we get around a site, and the business owners use their own terms, or terms with little meaning in the context of the search, navigation (and momentum) ceases. Don’t you think the customers would appreciate it if you spoke to them in their own terms?
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Written by:Josh Hay
Error Messages Shouldn’t be Confusing
I love to going to concerts. Living in New York, I can catch two to three shows a week. A lot of times I can just walk right up and buy tickets, but for popular shows I need to plan and get them in advance. Wanting to go see “Thursday” next week at the Starland Ballroom, I go to Ticketmaster.com.
Knowing that there are tons of shows listed, I decide to type Starland Ballroom into the search engine. I find Thursday and I click the link to get to the show page. After selecting two tickets, I choose the only option, general admission standing room. I hit the look for tickets button and went through the word verification tool. Suddenly this page pops up:
This is the least informative message I have ever received. It doesn’t define my problem and it just lists every possible problem that might have occurred while checking out. There is no indication of what I should do next and even if the show is sold out. Did I select too many tickets? Was there a problem with my ticket section selection? I will never find out the answers to this question because I will call the venue and buy the tickets myself. Ticketmaster, since you aren’t the only solution you can’t make consumers jump through so many hurdles to get what they want.
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Written by:Josh Hay
Speak to Me
Living in New York has been a bit of a shock. It is cold, really cold. Coming from California, I didn’t realize what it’s like walking to the subway in twenty degree weather to get to work. I figure that a jacket would be a good gift for my sister who is coming to New York at the end of December. I decide to check out Gap.com because it sounds like a good place to get something affordable and nice.
I click the Women’s icon and I get sent to a page that has a large graphic that says “Last Minute Gifts”. This sounds perfect so I click it and get sent to a page of bestsellers. Even though there is red everywhere I continue on and click on the essential belted coat.
There are a bunch of cool tools that show off the features of the coat. It’s a great looking page and they let me see the coat in each color available by just passing my mouse over the color swab. Also listed are all the materials made to manufacture the coat and its features. All this information is great, but where is the copy? Will this coat really help her brave these cold winters or is it just for show? Does the included belt have any benefits? Will she enjoy this present for its fashionable design and do different colors have specific benefits to different types of people? All these technological bells and whistles look great and get me interested in looking at the coat. The lack of persuasive copy keeps me from buying it. Even if I would have bought it there is no text reassuring me that this would have been the right gift for my sister this holiday season.
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Written by:Josh Hay
Fishing for a Holiday Present
My dad likes to fish. He is in California and I figure I could still order something to get over to him in time for the holidays. I figure that Sportsmansguide.com would have something to interest him.
After typing in the URL I am sent to a page that redirects me over to the site. This page had a text link that will send me to the page if I’m not redirected automatically. Suddenly I see this:
I did not come to your site to enter some contest. I want to buy something fishing related. If you wanted to offer me a contest put it somewhere on the side. This is taking up almost all of my Active Window and it looks very unprofessional. It reminds me of the pop-up ads that used to run rampant on the web. I click the “No Thank You – Close” button and finally I can see some of the top navigation. Seeing no product categories, I decide to “Amazing Deals”. I see two keyboards, and digital drums. What would a sportsman do with these items? Play his theme song? With no way to refine my search and no other navigational options on the page, I feel lost and I leave the site.
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Written by:Josh Hay
Trying to Get an iPod the Hard Way
With this being the year of the podcast, I’ve decided that an iPod would be a great present. I check out PCMall.com and I and notice that iPods are all over the homepage. After scrolling down, I select the iPod Nano with engraving.
While going through their sales process I was faced with counterintuitive steps, no status indicators, and no scent. The Calls to Actions on the site are misleading micro actions and there are too many steps to get to the checkout process. This is the only site that I’ve been to that hasn’t taken me to the shopping cart or shown me a message after clicking the “Add to Cart” button. Why couldn’t I have just checked out right away? With all of these steps just to get to the checkout process, how many people are actually going through them?
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Written by:Josh Hay
Interested in a spot on our team? A starting role has just opened up…
We’re currently accepting inquires for our open Engagement Coordinator position. This NYC-based, entry-level position provides a great opportunity to grow within our Consultancy. Becoming an expert in Conversion does not happen overnight. The first step is learning and honing your skills at listening to customers, and planning to meet their needs.
Our newest Engagement Coordinator is responsible for the first line of communication between Future Now and our prospects. This teammate begins spending time interacting with our prospects, engaging them to share their experiences and their issues, uncovering their needs and resources. The teammate is responsible for taking these customer needs to the experts and learning to plan engagements which resolve these needs within the resource constraints. Finally, the teammate will explain this engagement to our prospects, in plainly spoken English, and once their final questions have been overcome, will craft an agreement reflecting this engagement. The measures of success for this position will NOT be tied to sales, but rather satisfied customers and successfully planned engagements.
Are you, or do you know, someone who has a college degree, ideally with a Psychology or Communications background? Someone who’s extremely sociable, an excellent communicator, both orally and in writing; someone who’s had some work experience (at least one year); most importantly, someone who’s interested in Marketing Consulting in this brave new world of overwhelming customer power where the push marketing and advertising strategies of yesteryear are dead?
Are you up to the challenge? Please send an email to pleasehiremefuturenow@gmail.com
and spend a few minutes letting us know why you’re interested in being included in this hiring search. Let us know what exceptional skills you bring to the table that make you worthy of this opportunity. Please do NOT send any attachments or resumes, as they will not be considered at this time. We appreciate and thank you for your interest in this position.
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Written by:Howard Kaplan
Angles of Information
I’m a potential customer for your product. Where do I begin my search? How would I find your product? What would I call it? If I’ve heard of it, what’s my perception of it? I’m also looking at your competition, so how should I evaluate you in light of them? What do other people saying about your product?
You want to persuade me to become your customer. How should you package your product? How will you ensure I find you? How do you manage my perception of your product? How do you market to me and Joe Customer 2, whose needs are entirely different, at the same time?
The Speed of Information
As little as a decade ago, businesses could trot out their finest marketing and sales packages. Businesses could gift-wrap their products and better control how I perceived, even labeled and spoke, about their products.
That was back when information crawled like maple syrup.
She who controlled the speed of that information usually won the battle of my perception.
Continue reading my column at ClickZ…
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Customer Disservice
The holidays came early for me this year when my desktop at home literally started smoking, so I need to get a replacement fast. I find what I need at Tiger Direct, and decide to break the bank for 2nd day air shipping. My order goes through, and then I receive a cryptic email saying something about my order may require something from the Credit Department prior to shipping, for security reasons. On the email there is a link to check the order. A day after their email, the order has still yet to begin processing.
I call them and the customer service agent tells me if I can’t get my credit information verified within a half hour my order won’t get shipped today. Why do I need my credit verified, I’m not financing this PC? I’m less than thrilled, but I’m transferred to a credit agent who exclaims they haven’t begun to process my credit card order. When I placed the order online, there were none of these issues. After a long and involved process, I was told my computer was finally being shipped. Excellent.
I asked her to transfer me to a customer service manager because I wasn’t informed of the delays. I asked the manager for my extra shipping costs to be refunded because there won’t be anything expedited about my shipping. He told me they sent an automated email about the credit problem and I was supposed to contact them, except the email explicitly stated I should wait to be contacted. He then acknowledges the computer is on backorder and it will be shipped until the 15th. Now I’m very upset.
The manager tells me they can offer me a similar system with the same specs for the same price. Upon checking the site, we find a machine, but the manager now tells me they can only give me a machine at their cost, which is $200 more than I spent.
Is paying online with a credit card too difficult to process in real-time? Is it to much to “assume” when shopping online that stock indicators will be provided at the Point of Action? Is it too much to ask that communication be accurate and timely when unforeseen errors arise? Sadly, this is level of customer service, and online experience is out there, and on sites who truly should know better. What happens in this rave new world of customer empowerment? Well, I think you just read about it…
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Written by:Josh Hay
