Archive for January, 2006
Does your product solve my problem?
Reading last week on Working Knowledge @ Harvard I came across a gem of an article from quite a collection of minds- the uber-smart author of the Innovator’s Dilemma, the co-founder of Intuit, and the Chief Strategy Officer of the Advertising Research Federation. What drew me in was this editor’s note:
Marketers have lost the forest for the trees, focusing too much on creating products for narrow demographic segments rather than satisfying needs.
Naturally, this being a Harvard pub, the editor referenced the legendary HBS marketing mind credited with popularizing the notion that people don’t want to buy drills, they want to make holes. Anyone who’s heard us speak can attest to how much we agree, and how often we’ve used his metaphor. But I was still stuck on the note, and as I continued the article, my disagreement with their collective contention grew. While I would never question their academic (and corporate) intellect, I have to challenge a few assumptions.
Are marketers responsible for creating products?
Is polling demographic subsets of a customer base the same as understanding one’s customers?
The article ultimately leads to a conclusion I’d agree with emphatically (although I find the metaphor of problem/solution more effective than their choice of job/employee)- to sell more products, marketers must better understand the needs of their customers, and how their products resolve these needs.
But the notion that understanding the customer is secondary to understanding the product is fallible- understanding the product is understanding the customer. Putting together groups of "target demographics" has no value toward understanding the customer. Considering the "typical customer" provides no insights into who the real customers are.
A marketer’s job is not to re-create and re-design the product; that’s Product Development and Engineering’s responsibility. A marketer’s first job is to:
- understand the customers whose problems are solved by their product, not those whose could be
- to consider all the various angles of approach these potential customers can take toward the product, and all the various handles of information they can use to consider their purchase
- to allow the potential customer to control the experience, and plan the communication that answers their questions, empathizes with their situation (their context), and demonstrates how their needs are met
To understand the product is to understand the needs of the customer.
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Written by:Howard Kaplan
Ten E-Business Proverbs for 2006, Part 1
2005 was a great year for e-business.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., Nielsen//NetRatings, and Harris Interactive Inc. reported online sales grew 30 percent year over year this holiday season. That’s great news. If you were one of the businesses that experienced this level of growth (or better), your online business should get lots more attention in 2006. On the downside, you’ll be challenged to hit some lofty growth goals.
A few weeks ago, I shared some thoughts and advice on what you should work on in 2006. This week, I want to share some profound wisdom from my friend Sam Decker, former e-commerce and customer-centricity leader at Dell. Decker recently joined Bazaarvoice, a new company providing managed technology and services to bring word of mouth closer to a company’s online experience (it’s still in stealth mode, and, in full disclosure, I’m an advisor to the company).
Bottom line: when it comes to online success, Decker knows what he’s talking about. He spent seven years at Dell, four of them leading the consumer site, Dell.com, to double conversion annually in the midst of a struggling PC industry and online sales slowdown after the dot-com crash. By 2003, Dell’s consumer online sales reached $3.5 billion, making it the largest e-commerce site (according to comScore).
For several years, I’ve tapped Decker’s expertise and shared his advice in this column as well as my recent book, “Call to Action.” I asked him to reflect on his 13 years of online experience and share his top 10 principles for lasting e-business success. Like orange juice concentrate, below I’ve attempted to squeeze in as much of Decker’s great ideas on e-business strategy, operations, metrics, and merchandising:
Continue reading my column at ClickZ…
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Does Your Website Stink?
Evaluate whether your site preserves the scent trails your customers want to follow
Every time customers initiate a search, they’re sniffing for scent. People hunting for data on the web behave remarkably like animals sniffing out prey. It’s the most effective means of finding a teeny-weeny squirrel in awfully biggish forest.
Preserving and creating intentional scent trails on your site translates to improved ROI for your paid and organic search terms. How well does your site preserve the scent trails your visitors are following?
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 123
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Written by:Anthony Garcia
Word of Mouth Meets the Internet
Learn how to harness the power of old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing in cyberspace
Time to start gathering around those virtual fences, o dearly beloved reader - that’s where a lot of marketing action is taking place. Word of mouth, the oldest form of marketing, is shaping up to be the most talked-about trend of 2006. Forward-thinking brands are already racing to encourage and harness consumer-generated media to drive greater business impact.
The proof that word of mouth has hit the mainstream? As Pamela Parker reported, top marketing minds are jumping to word of mouth companies: Jupiter’s Gary Stein has joined word of mouth research firm BuzzMetrics and Forrester’s Jim Nail has joined Cymfony, a company that tracks consumer generated media. And Sam Decker, who led the growth of Dell.com into the world’s largest ecommerce site, has announced he left Dell to join word of mouth startup Bazaarvoice (still in ’stealth’ mode).
I convinced Sam to take a minute out of his hectic schedule to chat with us about the future of consumer-driven marketing.
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 123
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Written by:The Grok
Bazaarvoice.com Launched!
Future Now would like to extend our congrats to Bazaarvoice for launching their new website today. Bazaarvoice helps customers build business with word of mouth on their eCommerce website.
Our very own Chief Persuasion Officer Bryan Eisenberg is an advisor as well.
We expect big things.
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Written by:Persuasion Architects
Sony’s Not Too Subtle Upsell
I was shopping for a laptop and found something interesting while configuring one that I liked. Take a look, at the upper right had corner of the image after clicking on it, at the title of this page. It is obviously labeled correctly. I’m just not sure it was appropriate to share it with the public. Do you agree?
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Written by:Jeffrey Eisenberg
How Many Personas Do You Need?
In past columns, I’ve talked about creating personas and evaluating them. Today, I’ll explore how many personas are enough.
When clients ask us how many personas they should have, we typically tell them a handful — two to seven — is enough.
Not long ago, a client tried to identify its market segments and announced it would need 42 personas. After the uncovery process, we identified a need for 7 personas, not 42. The client was skeptical, believing we couldn’t address the needs of its entire customer base with only seven personas. We began creating scenarios for the personas, and the team realized one persona was so similar to another it wasn’t adding any value to the persuasion planning process. They suggested we remove that persona. We did, committing what we affectionately term “personacide.”
Uncovery can also introduce a persona that’s being ignored or overlooked by marketing or sales. Another client resisted using a persona we developed largely from a gap we identified researching its lost prospects. The team kept telling us, “This doesn’t seem like our customer.” We agreed, telling them they were failing to close this persona (or market opportunity) because its needs and motivations weren’t addressed by the current sales process. By creating new scenarios for this persona and staying aware of what it needed during sales calls, the client began to close more of these prospects types.
Continue reading my column at ClickZ…
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Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
Victoria’s Real Secret
Lay down a good scent trail to sustain momentum beyond your banner ad
People are bombarded by advertisements. The things are everywhere - blazoned on surfaces from taxicab roofs to bathroom stalls. And banner ads appear on virtually every website with traffic worth talking about.
But the ad isn’t an end unto itself. It’s great when your ad’s salient and catchy enough to snag someone’s interest. The payoff is what happens after someone clicks through.
Now, Vicky’s one smark cookie. And it seems she knows something many players in the advertising and marketing game don’t.
So let’s let her whisper in our ear.
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 122
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Written by:Howard Kaplan
Creating and Writing for Personas
Come learn how to create and write persuasively for personas
I’m sitting on a stark metal folding chair. There’s a sole bright light bulb glaring overhead. Out of the shadows walks a man in an Armani suit and $400 sunglasses. He stares at me. “Ok - I’ve just about lost my patience. Talk. Don’t hold anything back. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
I squirm uncomfortably in my chair, but keep my mouth shut.
“If you don’t start spilling the beans - this could get ugly. I’m just about out of patience here. For the last time - tell me - how do you create personas?”
Read the rest of this article.
Read the entire newsletter: Volume 122
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Written by:Holly Buchanan
