Archive for November, 2007
Word of Mouth Down the Toilet
When’s the last time you were out in public and had one of those must-go-now moments? You’re torn between embarrassment and physical agony. The panic’s rising. Perspiration beads on your forehead. What do you do? Hope the first store you walk into lets you use the employee-only washroom? (This usually works only if you are desperate and pregnant.) Lean into the stranger next to you as you turn beat red and whisper, “Where’s the nearest bathroom … it’s kinda urgent“?
One company empathizes with your predicament. Not only do they help you prevent those can’t-hold-it-in situations, they’ve created a great public service that puts public restrooms on the map and at your fingertips. Just go to http://imodium.com/page.jhtml?id=/imodium/include/3_5.inc
“That was page-dot-what?” Yeah. See a major mistake here that’s just flushed a, um, boat-load of word-of-mouth marketing right down the toilet?
Of course you can awkwardly type this gibberish into your portable device and bookmark it. I would. But where do you really want that link living, on the road and off the computer? In memory!
When you’ve really really got to go, the only words going round and round in your head are: I need a bathroom! No “include-slash-three” about it! So use a domain name that reflects the need and helps market your product.
Give people - especially desperate people - something easy to remember and share. Here’s a compassionate, useful reference tool that is also a perfect place to promote a brand. So make it easy to share when the need is crucial. What a way to help people remember you were there when their need was … pressing.
I’ve registered NeedaBathroom.com. The nice people behind the bathroom finder can contact me, and I’ll gladly transfer the domain. No cost. As a thank you, because you’ve done something good for the public. Whew!
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
How Men and Women View Images Differently
Ever look at an ad and it just didn’t sit right with you? That happened to me recently when I was reading a post on Copyranter, critiquing a Hearts On Fire diamond ad that uses “monogamy” as a slogan.
Now, I’m all for monogamy. I think it’s a wonderful thing. And I am not a girl to turn down a diamond. It seems like the perfect message. So why was the image bothering me? Here’s what I came up with:
- The man is a non-entity. His face is in shadow and partially cropped off the page. The entire focus of the ad is the woman.
- The word “monogamy” is written across her chest. The word is visually attached only to her.
The message the ad appears to be sending is, “Guys, want to keep your woman monogamous? Give her a diamond!”
Now, I’m assuming this is an ad aimed at men, so I give it high marks. (I also don’t know the publications in which the ad appears.) But if “Hearts On Fire” wants to take this message to women, I have two suggestions:
- Make the ads focus on both the man and the woman, and let us see both of their faces and emotions.
- Make sure the word “monogamy” touches both people, like a thread holding the two of them together.
Pay very close attention to the images in ads and on your website. Men and women may not view them the same.
Related Posts:
Written by:Holly Buchanan
Web Analytics Association 2008 Industry Survey
This just in from the WAA:
Help uncover the future of the web analytics industry while gaining valuable insight at the same time. It’s easy. Answer the questions in this groundbreaking survey: Web Analytics Association Survey: Outlook 2008. We’ll send you an invitation to the results webcast in January 2008, and provide you with a complimentary survey report.
How are other organizations like yours using web analytics as a function in their business? What are the pressing issues, and the top concerns? Now is your chance to find out answers to these questions and more!
So take part in this unique survey for the industry by the industry. It will take just a few minutes of your time, and it just might give you the answers you need to make more informed decisions in the coming year.
If you’d like to see the analytics industry shape up for the new year, don’t be shy, take the survey!
Related Posts:
Written by:The Grok
The Double-Bottom Line on In-Text Ads
You may have noticed double underlined links on sites that create a pop up advertisement when moused over. These are “in-text” advertisements, and they’re increasingly appearing on content sites to generate additional revenue.
For content providers, the question remains whether additional short-term bursts of ad revenue will be justified against the potential decrease in brand affinity. Since the ads work under the guise of a regular-old hyperlink, some visitors are completely turned off after clicking on them.
From a usability standpoint, they’re a real pain. Text becomes a pop-up minefield with any slight mouse movement touching one of these ads triggering pop-up advertisements. This creates friction for the visitor, who’s simply trying to do what they came to a site for: to read the content.
The content’s credibility is also put at stake. Writers, and journalists in particular, are expected to be objective. These in-text advertisement pop-ups are further muddying the lines between editorial integrity and the sales team’s agenda, while posing as unbiased writing.
Speaking of “fair and balanced,” FoxNews.com adopted this measure and claims that they think its great. According to The Wall Street Journal, “FoxNews.com says it doesn´t consider in-text ads to be advertising, because they help provide information about the topic.”
Of course, many bloggers and other writers strive to make money for their work. When the content becomes the ad, visitors may not want to come back. Who in their right mind wants to actively read an infomercial in disguise when they can passively watch one on TV?
The bottom line is that these ads may present a good opportunity to monetize your content, but you risk losing credibility — and once that’s damaged, it’s not easily repaired.
Related Posts:
Written by:Ronald Patiro
Godin Was Right — Threadless is Better than “Seamless”
A few months ago, Seth Godin put the word “seamless” into a better context.
…seams are important.
Try throwing a baseball or a football without seams.
Wear clothes without seams and you look like you’re on Star Trek.
Seams make it possible to get a grip.
The goal, it seems to me, is not to create things that are seamless. It’s to put the seams in places where they are actually useful.
That’s exactly what Threadless.com does for its customers. If you’ve done business with them before and have selected an item that’s running low in their inventory, and you abandon the checkout process before buying, they’ll send you a follow-up email like this:
Their shirts come with seams, as does their marketing. The copy is spot-on without being pushy. They seem to be doing us a favor. Threadless knows that their customers know that the t-shirt designs they print sell out fast. They don’t shout “buy now!” when we’re just browsing the products. Nope. This message is tailored for people who’ve shown genuine interest. And despite the exclamation points, it reads something like this: “Sorry to bother you, but here’s what you should know about our inventory. If you really do want to buy this item, you should probably do it soon-ish.”
(Hat tip to Rishi at the Better Retail blog for the subtle link to this via comment. Great seam!)
Related Posts:
Written by:Robert Gorell
They’re Suave, They Sprint, They’re “In The MotherHood”
Have you ever tried to get a coffee stain out of a cashmere sweater? It’s not easy. In fact, I’ve given up trying, and have instead decided to bill the replacement cost to the fine folks at Suave and Sprint. It’s all their fault. I was watching their original online webisode series, In The MotherHood. This isn’t just giggle-to-yourself funny. It’s laugh-out-loud, spit-coffee-all-over-your-sweater funny.
Lots of folks have predicted short-form webisodes could have a huge future on the Internet. But I haven’t found a whole lot of brands that have A) done it well, or B) found a way to make money from it. Then along comes InTheMotherHood.com, sponsored by Suave and Sprint. [One quick note to the sponsors: I know there’s an MSN (aka Microsoft) tie-in, but nobody using Firefox, Safari or browsers other than Internet Explorer can view the content on the homepage, including the videos. You’re missing a sizeable chunk of your audience.]
In The MotherHood is the first scripted Web series by moms, for moms and about moms. Conceived by Suave and Sprint, the story will be written in part by YOU, based on your funny, comical and no-holds-barred experiences of motherhood.
I love this concept for so many reasons. But before I explain, take a look…
(If video doesn’t load, click here.)
How many moms have hilarious stories about their kids? Because of the heavy involvement of real moms, other moms see bits of themselves in these characters. They can relate to and bond with them. And moms can vote on their favorites. It’s a very interactive and collaborative effort that includes the audience rather than just talking at them.
The sponsors are building authenticity into the script. And best of all, the webisodes are really well done. I don’t know what the budget was for producing these, but I’m guessing it is a wee bit smaller than Desperate Houswives. In The MotherHood may not super-slick, but it does not come across as super low budget either.
The short format makes it easy to digest in-between other online activities. There are forums, discussion boards, articles, and more to engage visitors. And there are lots of chances for Suave and Sprint to advertise in this content. But there are also advertiser tie-ins that make sense. There’s a section where you can meet the cast. I liked the characters and wanted to know more about them. On each character’s page, they have a “playlist.” I checked out “Heather’s playlist” and was taken to the sprint website with a list of songs we’d expect to find on Heather’s mp3 player. You can even click on a song and download it as a ringtone! Sprint has obviously woken up and realized moms like to download customized ringtones, too.
Now, I realize not everyone has the time or budget to create webisodes of this caliber, but I’m telling you, this short-form online format is going to be a huge winner with time-starved women. Mothers are looking for a quick laugh; a way to connect, and a way to see parts of themselves and their lives reflected back to them in a positive and humorous manner. It’s so rare that you see this in advertising, or even on TV — and that’s why In The MotherHood is real treat.
The other takeaway from this project is how to find better ways to integrate advertisers or sponsors into your content. Sprint wanted to promote downloadable ringtones. But instead of starting with what they were interested in, they started with what women are interested in. Women are interested in the show. Women are interested in the relatable characters. They want to know more about the characters. They can click to meet the cast. They can click on the character’s playlist. They can see songs the characters enjoy. They can download those songs as ringtones on their own phones. Brilliant job.
Check it out. Great short videos, viral opportunities where you can send the video to a friend, and quality branded content that isn’t heavy-handed. InTheMotherHood is a real winner. Just have a bib ready.
[Editor’s note: Anyone else find it offensive that Microsoft hasn’t optimized InTheMotherHood.com for browsers it doesn’t own? In order to find the video to share with you, we had to leave the website and go to a search engine, where we eventually found it on AOL, which was able to embed it on their own, iVillage-branded site thanks to YouTube, which is owned by Microsoft’s competitor, Google. Thank you, Google.]
Related Posts:
Written by:Holly Buchanan
A Tourism Site that Makes Visitors Feel at Home
If you’ve planned a trip at some point in the past decade, chances are, you started online. Tourism sites can be a great help, but not all of them are equal. Let’s say you’re going to New York City, where the possibilities are endless. How do you narrow down your options?
Scenario #1: Broadway’s on strike. Your plane tickets were booked in July. And even though the stagehands’ union might reach a deal within the week, it’s going to take a serious act of diplomacy to convince your 10 year-old daughter — who’s been waiting patiently (or so she says) for the past year to see The Little Mermaid performed in real life — that a trip to the Empire State Building observatory would be just as fun. You’ve got the tap-dancing part down, but you don’t want to turn into a flounder. Are there any kid-friendly plays happening off-Broadway?
Scenario #2: You’re going to propose to your girlfriend, who grew up in Manhattan, when the two of you visit her parents in the Big Apple for Christmas. She’s usually the one carting you around the city, but you want to surprise her with a romantic night on the town; dinner at a high-end vegetarian-friendly restaurant, an art opening perhaps, then cocktails at some trendy hotel bar that, at the moment, only exists in your head. You have no idea where to begin, other than Google.
NYCvisit.com is a good example of a tourism site with excellent customer focus. Not only is it full of great restaurant suggestions, it also serves food for thought to online marketers. For instance, notice how, front-and-center on the homepage, they acknowledge how the stagehands’ strike could affect your trip:
How’s that for a timely jolt of relevance?* They address the problem and basically tell you, “Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of New York for everyone.” It’s also worth noting how they give visitors in fast-paced Spontaneous or Competitive modes — (more about the different buying modes here) — links to “plan it now” or “play video now.” Perfect! Move ‘em right along…
Which brings me to my favorite part about the site: They help you find out what type of New Yorker you are with a brief personality quiz. For the people who visit NYCvisit, this is an especially great idea, since many of them will be in slower-paced Methodical or Humanistic modes.
Sure, NYCvisit.com has its problems, but which site doesn’t? They’re helpful without being heavy-handed, and instead of stereotyping their visitors, they’re at least kind enough to help us stereotype ourselves.
So, what type of New Yorker are you?
[*The only problem here is that the links go to .pdf downloads, which would probably be better kept online. That way, they could not only link visitors to the restaurants and events, but they could give them the option to download instead of just assuming that they’d want to. Whatever their reasons, a lot of folks are still wary about downloading from sites they haven’t been to before.]
Related Posts:
Written by:Robert Gorell
Which Interface Do You Prefer?
I stumbled across this interesting bit of interface research. The quiz guides you through a series of different interfaces and you choose whichever you prefer. At the end, it runs you through each individual result. Check it out and see how you do compared to the 10,000+ people who’ve already run through it.
How do you think Uncle Jakob would vote?
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
7 Deadly Claims (Part 1) — “Superior Customer Service”
There’s a great paragraph in Gary Klein’s book, The Power of Intuition, that explains everything you need to know about the pitfalls of branding claims. It provides a two-part litmus test for substantive, credible claims — and even tells you how to quickly spot unsubstantiated claims that threaten to drain the credibility right out of your copy. Here it is:
“The defining feature of information is that it reduces uncertainty. If I say that I want our company to be profitable this year, that isn’t offering very much useful information. What else would I want? It only counts as information if there is a reasonable alternative position that I am rejecting. To say that ‘Customer satisfaction is my number-one priority’ is public relations, not information. If, however, I say that customer satisfaction needs to improve and that I would be willing to trade .5 percent of profits for an increase in satisfaction ratings of 10 percent, that would count as information. If I can’t tell you what costs I am willing to bear in order to achieve customer satisfaction, then I’m just blathering”
Based on Klein’s test, a claim is unsubstantiated (and unpersuasive) when it fails to…
A) reject a reasonable alternative position, and
B) show what costs the claim-maker is willing to bear in fulfilling the claim/promise.
The idea for this series, in case you’re wondering, came when I found this list of the most-popular gobbledygook claims used in Press Releases. So, I thought it would be fun to use that as a basis for this slightly different list of common, persuasion-killing claims found in Web copy:
- “Superior Customer Service“
- “Easy to Use“
- “Most Experienced“
- “We’re #1“
- “100% Risk-Free“
- “Cutting Edge“
- “Best Value“
Looking at Klein’s first requirement, I can’t think of any company on the planet that’s ever publicly claimed lousy customer service, or marketed their product as difficult-to-use and frustrating. But if done right, acknowledging the flip-side to some of these has the potential for marketing genius, a la Avis (a testament to the power of accentuating the negative).
Of course, none of these claims tells the reader what costs the claim-maker is willing to bear in order to fulfill them. And that, of course, means we’ve got a solid gold list of unsubstantiated blather — and a pretty clear roadmap on how to transform each claim into credible, persuasive copy.
For the next few weeks, I’ll work through each of these 7 claims. (This first one might be the most popular of all.)
1) Superior Customer Service
Here’s the problem: Experiencing great customer service opens peoples’ mouths to spread the good word about a company. Hearing or reading unsubstantiated claims of great customer service, meanwhile, opens their mouths wide for a good yawn. (And I’m hardly unique in this way. As my colleague, Tim Miles, likes to say, “Don’t tell her you’re courteous. Open her door!“)
My first advice is to consider NOT re-working this claim, but simply dropping it altogether. Let your great customer service surprise and “wow” new customers, lest your solid service fail to live up to the “wow” hype.
But if you must claim “superior customer service,” the first step in making it believable is to make your online visitors’ experience as intuitive and pleasant as possible. Anticipate and meet visitors’ needs online, and they’ll more likely believe your intentions to do so offline.
The second step is to have a few Nordstram-type stories up your sleeve in order to capture the emotional essence of great customer service, allowing your website visitors to experience some of your “door opening” vicariously. Prospects who can picture your over-the-top service in their minds become customers who pay for that service in your stores.
The third step is to make the actual claim as tangible and specific as possible by…
- Making a verifiable promise.
- “You’re phone call will be answered by a human being within 7 rings. We never use automated answering services.”
- “We’ll arrive within the hour you’ve scheduled or the repair is free.” (Notice the use of the “or ____” formula. Tell the reader what she’s entitled to if you don’t come through.)
- Measuring the effect of your fabulous customer service
- “Our customer turnover is less than 5% per year — that’s 7 times lower than the industry average, and 5 times lower than our nearest competitor!”
- “Our repeat customer rate is 80% — 4/5ths of the people who do business with us re-hire us!”
- “We resolve 9 out of 10 insurance claims within 48 hours.”
- Establishing (or implying) the cost of your customer service.
- “Last year we spent $800,000 training our 70 service technicians. That’s more than $10k per technician in order to keep them at the cutting edge.”
- “We staff our own help desk – no answering services, no off-shore technical support. For your convenience, the desk is staffed 24/7 with technical service reps who have no less than 2 years experience .” (Notice how I verified the quality of the service. Always close the loopholes.)
Isn’t it amazing how real information sounds completely different than generic claims? While customers are rapidly becoming deaf to the blather, their ears remain tuned to the sounds of substance; tones worth using in Web copy.
[Editor’s note: Has your site left visitors under-served? Sharpen up your virtual sales pitch at our Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar on March 28th in San Francisco. Jeff and Holly will be your instructors for this first-ever West Coast edition of our popular one-day copywriting crash course. Class size is limited so that attendees can get real advice and actually learn something. You’ll even get $100 off if you register by 2/29.]
Related Posts:
Written by:Jeff Sexton
Future Now’s 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study
How Much Money Do Retailers Leave on the Table?
Our 2007 study clearly shows that online retailers are not capitalizing on the customer experience and are overly focused on innovation while ignoring the basics.
U.S. online retail sales will more than double over the next six years, reaching $316 billion by 2010, according to a new report from Forrester Research — they expect e-commerce will grow to account for 12 percent of total retail sales in 2010, up from nearly 7 percent in 2004.
Industry observers report that, since the advent of the Internet, online sales have increased overall by about 25% annually (“Online Sales Lose Steam,” The New York Times - June 17, 2007). But they also note that sales are leveling off as customers return to brick-and-mortar venues for a more satisfying shopping experience.
A similar Forrester study in April 2006 revealed that only 26% of online consumers were simply satisfied with their shopping experience. This suggests a whopping 74% — three-quarters of online shoppers — weren’t even satisfied. And what of the remaining 26%? They weren’t delighted. They were merely “satisfied.” In other words, the shopping experience was, at best, adequate. Are retailers in a race to see who can be the “most adequate”?
The Importance of Customer Experience
With all the investments and improvements within the last five years in redesigns, usability, analytics, multivariate testing, and the increases in broadband speed and availability, one might have expected significant improvements in bottom line. Yet, according to Shop.org, conversion rates are still hovering around 2.5%. Customers aren’t delighted.
Research by companies like Bazaarvoice, however, paints a different picture of the current “leveling off” in the e-business world. Their results indicate the problem doesn’t lie in the allure of the offline shopping experience, but in the failure of online stores to present a customer-focused shopping environment. In our experience, many of these sites also fall short of customer-focused excellence because they fail to effectively integrate with their offline counterparts.
Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice said, “According to customers, what were once ecommerce nice-to-haves are now table stakes. Easy checkout, product search and the right policies are as important as multi-channel integration and authentic user-generated content, such as ratings and reviews. The way customers research, shop and buy has evolved. Future Now’s study underscores the need for retailers to do the same and reconsider priorities.”
To analyze the extent to which websites focus on the customer experience, Future Now sent mystery shoppers and Conversion Analysts to over 300 retail websites to gather information for our 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study.
What the Customer Focus Study Reviewed
The study consisted of visiting a retailer’s website and answering a series of Yes/No questions about the availability of 69 different factors that reflect a focus on customer experience. These factors were weighted based on our 10 years of optimizing retail website experiences and totaled to arrive at an eventual score for each site. The features we asked our shoppers and analysts to address include:
• Quality and detail of images (e.g., “Could the shopper zoom in?,” “Did the retailer provide product images from multiple angles?”)
• Product copy description answering the shopper’s implicit questions
• Whether the retailer offers customer reviews
• How the retailer met the shopper’s gift buying needs (e.g., “Did the retailer offer gift wrapping, messaging or gift certificates?”)
• Ease and simplicity of checkout (e.g., “How many pages did it take to check out?” “Did the retailer provide a progress indicator?”)
• Retailer’s ability to address the shopper’s concerns (e.g., return policies, guarantees, third-party seals and security assurances)
• Ease and clarity of retailer return policies
• Providing of shipping and tax totals early in the checkout process
• Offering multiple payment options (e.g., pay-by-check, PayPal, etc.)
• Offering estimated delivery times and showing in-stock availability for items
• Offering in-store pick-up where physical stores exist
We specifically asked the mystery shoppers to ignore:
• price points (inclusive of tax, shipping and handling);
• the ease in locating the products;
• the efficacy of the brand in conveying confidence;
• the impact of overall design on credibility and sales;
• the entire customer experience from search to purchase fulfillment.
Rather than evaluating the entire customer experience, this study provides a benchmark for retail sites based on more objective criteria. Therefore, our 2007 Retail Customer Experience Study provides a thumbnail view of how businesses speak to the needs of their customers.
There’s much work still to be done and plenty of opportunity for improvement. The top-rated site in this study scored only 67 out of a possible 100. Even the top-rated company has plenty of room to grow before it has thoroughly delighted its customers and improved its bottom line.
Given the results of our study, Future Now further believes that companies which lavish attention on improving customer focus will reap more sales and experience superior customer-retention rates in the long term .
The Results: 2007 Online Retail Study for Customer Focused Excellence
Congratulations to the top fifteen retailers for their efforts at providing visitors a customer-centric experience.
The Overall Leaders:
1. SmartBargains.com 67
2. BestBuy.com* 66
3. Compactappliance.com 66
4. BlueNile 65
5. EasternMountainSport 64
6. BackCountry.com 63
7. TigerDirect.com 63
8. CDUniverse.com 63
9. Ebags.com 63
10. Staples.com 63
11. AmericanMusical.com 62
12. Landsend.com 62
13. Crutchfield.com 62
14. Walmart.com 62
15. Walgreens.com 62
*Moved from 11th to 2nd since launching customer-generated reviews.
Average score for all retailers = 43 (± 11)
The Leaders by Category:
Apparel / Fashion
1. eBags.com
2. Landsend.com
3. Lids.com, Bluefly.com, LLBean.com
Electronics
1. BestBuy.com
2. TigerDirect.com
3. Crutchfield.com
Food
1. SurLaTable.com
2. Cooking.com
3. Berries.com
Jewelry
1. BlueNile.com
2. Ice.com
3. Diamond.com
Children / Toys
1. OneStepAhead.com
2. KBToys.com
3. BabyAge.com
Housewares / Kitchen
1. CompactAppliance.com
2. BedBathandBeyond.com
3. SurLaTable.com
Office
1. Staples.com
2. OfficeDepot.com
3. OfficeMax.com
Mass Merchants
1. SmartBargains.com
2. Walmart.com
3. Target.com
Selected highlights learned from the study:
* 58% offer gift certificates.
* 24% do not allow customers to enlarge the product image.
* 37% offer multiple image views of products.
* 33% offer customer reviews.
* 38% of sites have difficult to read fonts. (This is especially telling considering that, this year, our average age of reviewer was younger than ever before. Only 14% allow customers to change the default font size while viewing their website.)
* 43% offer free shipping.
* 61% do not offer any information on the product page regarding in-stock availability
* 52% of retailers have physical stores; only 10% of all retailers offer in-store pickup of orders.
* 74% offer estimated delivery times.
* 42% provide shipping cost early in the checkout process. 35% have a checkout process with more than 4 steps.
* (Only) 58% correctly answer an e-mail question within 24 hours.
* 20% offer pay-by-check, 10% offer Google Checkout, 20% accept PayPal and 18% offer Bill Me Later.
This study reflects significant factors that customers have come to expect. Having worked with online retailers for the past decade to observe how customers buy at retail websites, Future Now knows that customers notice the little things. In the long run, customers vote with their dollars for companies that have an intense focus on satisfying their needs.
Curious to know how your e-tail site measures up? Contact us to find out how you rank.
Related Posts:
Written by:Bryan Eisenberg
